Chinese researchers have manufactured the world\u2019s largest barium gallium selenide (BGSe) crystal, a breakthrough that could pave the way for ultra-high-power laser weapons capable of zapping satellites from the ground.<\/p>\n
The synthetic crystal, measuring 60 millimetres (2.3 inches) in diameter, efficiently converts short-wave infrared lasers into mid- to far-infrared beams that can penetrate atmospheric windows for long-distance transmission.<\/p>\n
Crucially, it can withstand laser power as intense as 550 megawatts per square centimetre \u2013 exceeding the damage threshold of existing military-grade crystals by an order of magnitude.<\/p>\n
The resulting laser frequency converter \u2013 measuring 10\u00d710\u00d750 mm (0.4×0.4×2 inches) \u2013 dwarfs conventional optics, typically limited to tiny and thin components.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis represents the largest specimen reported globally to date,\u201d wrote the research team led by Professor Wu Haixin in a peer-reviewed paper published in June by the Chinese-language Journal of Synthetic Crystals.<\/p>\n
For decades, self-damage in laser weapons has crippled their power and range. The US Navy\u2019s 1997 MIRACL mid-infrared laser test, which accidentally melted its own components while targeting a satellite, underscored the challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chinese researchers have manufactured the world\u2019s largest barium gallium selenide (BGSe) crystal, a breakthrough that could pave the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3845],"tags":[108544,17854,108543,108547,74,108546,70,3435,16,657,15,1709,61824,108545],"class_list":{"0":"post-291776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-bgse-crystal","9":"tag-chinese-academy-of-sciences","10":"tag-chinese-researchers","11":"tag-miracl","12":"tag-physics","13":"tag-professor-wu-haixin","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-starlink","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-ukraine","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-university-of-michigan","20":"tag-us-navy","21":"tag-zeus"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114916397170624575","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}