July 23, 2009

Fighter jets electronics to be protected by laser etched metals

by anoop

Most of the modern systems have a problem. They can’t take much heat! From the tiny laptop to the major weapon systems, the major concern was heat. The United States Air Force is mostly concerned with only this problem. Why it is so important is that if this is left unchecked, the heat created can be damaged severely beyond repair. Imagine a multi-billion dollar fighter jet becoming invalid just because the micro chip burnt! The United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) funds the research of one Dr. Chunlei Guo of the University of Rochester. Guo’s work in high speed lasers, known as femtosecond lasers, in which he was able to create super bright incandescent light bulb filaments by blasting nano and microscopic patterns into the metal. His laser is also able to change the color emitted by the light bulb, as well as the color of raw metals, by forming different patterns on their surfaces. One possible color is a very absorbent shade of black in which the modified metal absorbs almost 100% of the radiation that finds it.

Guo’s laser, using only normal 120-volt wall power, strikes a metal surface with the power of the entire national energy grid at a diameter smaller than a pin point. It is able to pattern a surface the size of a quarter in about 30 minutes, but Guo’s team plans to improve this speed. There is going to be a lot more discoveries and improvement s in the future based on Guo’s micro-patterning laser process. You will never know, the next thing you will be hearing will be transparent aluminum and invincible titanium. Who know! The possibilities are endless.
[Dailytech]