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PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
X-ray range, X-ray lasers can also be energized by nuclear weapons.
The person most closely associated with the X-ray laser is the physicist Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb.
Teller, of course, was the physicist who testified before Congress in
the 1950s that Robert Oppenheimer, who had headed the Manhattan
Project, could not be trusted to continue work on the hydrogen bomb
because of his politics. Teller's testimony led to Oppenheimer's being
disgraced and having his security clearance revoked; many prominent
physicists never forgave Teller for what he did.
(My own contact with Teller dates from when I was in high school.
I conducted a series of experiments on the nature of antimatter and
won the grand prize in the San Francisco science fair and a trip to the
National Science Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I appeared on local
TV with Teller, who was interested in bright young physicists. Eventually I was awarded Teller's Hertz Engineering Scholarship, which paid
for my college education at Harvard. I got to know his family fairly well
through visits to the Teller household in Berkeley several times a year.)
Basically, Teller's X-ray laser is a small nuclear bomb surrounded
by copper rods. The detonation of the nuclear weapon releases a
spherical shock wave of intense X-rays. These energetic rays then pass
through copper rods, which act as the lasing material, focusing the
power of the X-rays into intense beams. These beams of X-rays could
then be directed at enemy warheads. Of course, such a device could be
used only once, since the nuclear detonation causes the X-ray laser to
self-destruct.
The initial test of the nuclear-powered X-ray laser was called the
Cabra test, and it took place in 1983 in an underground shaft. A hydrogen bomb was detonated whose flood of incoherent X-rays was then
focused into a coherent X-ray laser beam. Initially, the test was
deemed a success, and in fact in 1983 it helped to inspire President
Ronald Reagan to announce, in a historic speech, his intent to build a
"Star Wars" defensive shield. Thus was set in motion a multibilliondollar effort that continues even to this day to build an array of devices
like the nuclear-powered X-ray laser to shoot down enemy ICBMs.
(Later investigation showed that the detector used to perform the mea-
PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
X-ray range, X-ray lasers can also be energized by nuclear weapons.
The person most closely associated with the X-ray laser is the physicist Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb.
Teller, of course, was the physicist who testified before Congress in
the 1950s that Robert Oppenheimer, who had headed the Manhattan
Project, could not be trusted to continue work on the hydrogen bomb
because of his politics. Teller's testimony led to Oppenheimer's being
disgraced and having his security clearance revoked; many prominent
physicists never forgave Teller for what he did.
(My own contact with Teller dates from when I was in high school.
I conducted a series of experiments on the nature of antimatter and
won the grand prize in the San Francisco science fair and a trip to the
National Science Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I appeared on local
TV with Teller, who was interested in bright young physicists. Eventually I was awarded Teller's Hertz Engineering Scholarship, which paid
for my college education at Harvard. I got to know his family fairly well
through visits to the Teller household in Berkeley several times a year.)
Basically, Teller's X-ray laser is a small nuclear bomb surrounded
by copper rods. The detonation of the nuclear weapon releases a
spherical shock wave of intense X-rays. These energetic rays then pass
through copper rods, which act as the lasing material, focusing the
power of the X-rays into intense beams. These beams of X-rays could
then be directed at enemy warheads. Of course, such a device could be
used only once, since the nuclear detonation causes the X-ray laser to
self-destruct.
The initial test of the nuclear-powered X-ray laser was called the
Cabra test, and it took place in 1983 in an underground shaft. A hydrogen bomb was detonated whose flood of incoherent X-rays was then
focused into a coherent X-ray laser beam. Initially, the test was
deemed a success, and in fact in 1983 it helped to inspire President
Ronald Reagan to announce, in a historic speech, his intent to build a
"Star Wars" defensive shield. Thus was set in motion a multibilliondollar effort that continues even to this day to build an array of devices
like the nuclear-powered X-ray laser to shoot down enemy ICBMs.
(Later investigation showed that the detector used to perform the mea-