3 ms·
Ask HN: Can directed energy weapons be rendered impotent using mirrors?
The U.K. has just successfully demonstrated its DragonFire laser weapon. 50kW of power, with the option to scale up in future.
I’m curious. Could I defend myself from such a weapon by dressing in mirrors? Or, more realistically, wrapping a reflective surface around my military drone?
- smoldesu 4y agoDirected energy weapons don't exclusively exist in the visible light spectrum, as far as I know. Reflecting the stuff you can see only protects you against the least-harmful effects of the weapon.
- jleyank 4y agoFreshman physics was too long ago. Are there wavelength effects on how the mirror reflects, or is there thermal or shock limitations from the impact of the photon stream? As I recall, clouds of small particulates (phosphorus smoke?) screw up lower-power lasers but it's possible it can blow/burn a hole through at higher E? Remember, photons have momentum proportional to frequency. So a whole lot of them at higher frequency might blow a "protected drone" away by force not by optics?
- gvb 4y agoNo. a) The mirror would need to be continuous. No gaps. b) The mirror would have to be perfect. No dirt. No smudges. Ref: https://www.quora.com/Will-a-laser-burn-through-a-mirror https://www.quora.com/Will-a-laser-burn-through-a-mirror