Laser-sensing plasma: US Navy technology could be misidentified as UFO

The United States developed the first Sidewinder heat-seeking missile in the 1950s, and the latest version of the AIM-9X is still in use around the world. In order to increase the chances of survival and distract the enemy, recently, the US Navy has researched and used lasers to create illusions with the aim of fooling enemy missiles.

A laser pulse of sufficient intensity can ionize and produce a bright plasma beam. The laser-generated plasma effect program uses individual plasma explosions to either flash or stun a grenade - such a rapid series of laser pulses can even be tuned to deliver a spoken message. In 2011, the Japanese company Burton Inc demonstrated a use of this rudimentary idea to create a moving 3D image in mid-air with a series of rapidly generated plasma dots.

Laser-induced plasma formation is a rapid process that has been studied for several decades due to its flexible and complex nature. Intense laser pulses can deliver energy to a target surface for a very short period of time, instantly excite, ionize and vaporize the material into an extremely hot vapor beam also known as a
"plasma plume" ".

A more sophisticated approach is to use a high-intensity, ultra-short, self-focusing laser pulse to create a filament or channel of light-emitting plasma - called laser-induced plasma filaments (LIPF), which can be generated at a distance of tens or hundreds of meters. Because LIPFs conduct electricity, as early as the 1990s, they have been studied as a means of triggering lightning or creating a beam gun.

One of the cool things about LIPFs is that, with the right tuning, they can emit light of any wavelength — visible, infrared, ultraviolet, or even terahertz waves. This technology is the basis of the US Navy project, which uses LIPF to create infrared emission "ghosts" to deceive heat-seeking missiles, or in other words, they can generate Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the sky confuse the enemy.

Air Force jet fighters can use this defensive technology to create a virtual image of the sky that mimics heat-seeking signals from aircraft exhaust systems. The researchers call them "inductive laser plasma filaments," which can be projected at distances of up to hundreds of meters, depending on the wavelength of light the laser system uses.

In fact, the Navy declined to discuss the project, but the project's original database was described in a 2018 patent: By principle of operation, when a missile is detected approaching, the laser system installed on the tail of the aircraft will emit infrared and optical signals with characteristics in appearance and parameters that simulate a real fighter in motion.

The patent goes on to explain that the laser creates a series of columns of plasma in the air, forming a 2D or 3D image using a raster scanning process, similar to how old cathode ray televisions displayed an image. image.

"There could be multiple laser systems mounted on the rear of the air force vehicle, with each laser system creating a 'ghost' to distract an oncoming missile."

Unlike flares, LIPF decoys can be generated instantly at any desired distance from the aircraft and can be moved at will.

A powerful enough laser beam can create a glowing plasma beam, or plasma explosion, to produce a dazzling effect like a stun grenade. In 2011, the Japanese company Burton Inc showed a preliminary 3D rendering of mid-air motion with a series of plasma dots exploding suddenly.

In addition, engineers are studying the possibility of applying this technology to aircraft carriers and various types of weapon systems, including warships. In the future, this camouflage tactic has the potential to become part of anti-missile defenses, naval squadrons, and carrier escort strike groups.

Laser beams are unique energy sources characterized by spectral purity, spatial and temporal coherence and high intensity. When a laser interacts with matter, it can reflect, scatter, absorb or transmit depending on the properties of the material (i.e. composition, physical, chemical and optical properties) and laser parameters. Laser energy, wavelength, spatial and temporal coherence, exposure time/pulse duration, etc. are parameters with important influence in laser-matter interaction.