At 02:47 AM 6/5/99 PDT, Raymond G. Van De Walker wrote:
>I work with a medical manufacturer of lasers (Holmium, infra-red at about
>1.2 microns). To get 80 watts (3.08J at 26 pulses/S) , they use tens of
>Kw of power for the pumping lamps and cavity-cooling. The laser has a
>600A 210V connector. Although I don't know if it actually uses all that,
>I do know they have a private substation, and we can only run two at a
>time in the lab.
>
>What's he gonna use for power? Most lasers are less than 1% efficient,
>especially short-wave lasers.
>
Perhaps the 10W / cubic inch turbine Mike Lorrey mentioned, or explosive flux generators (one shot per charge). Small ultrafast flywheel?
Somehow, I get the impression this gadget will end up looking like the dynamite plunger powered 'death ray' featured in Woody Allen's 'Sleeper' - it kept blowing up everything EXCEPT it's intended target, and was clumsy to boot...
Chuck Kuecker