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Post by RiftandRend on Mar 5, 2017 12:31:57 GMT
One of the more interesting weapons is the nuclear pumped laser. While this sort of weapon cannot be added to the game it would be an option for future space combat, so I though I would start a discussion on it.
I was wondering if using ultralight nukes (100t yield) would allow the weapon to fire multiple bursts before breaking.
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Post by Enderminion on Mar 5, 2017 14:34:53 GMT
using mini-nukes would not allow mutipule shots, even if the laser medium survived the first shot, all the other nukes did not
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Post by n2maniac on Mar 5, 2017 20:33:03 GMT
Random thought: can a nuclear reactor's radiation pump a laser cavity? Why use nuclear to pulse the laser medium in a likely destructive manner if you can run it continuously instead?
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Post by RiftandRend on Mar 5, 2017 22:52:10 GMT
using mini-nukes would not allow multiple shots, even if the laser medium survived the first shot, all the other nukes did not You could store the other small nukes away from the chamber.
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Post by theholyinquisition on Mar 5, 2017 22:56:21 GMT
using mini-nukes would not allow multiple shots, even if the laser medium survived the first shot, all the other nukes did not You could store the other small nukes away from the chamber. Um, the chamber would be destroyed, along with everything else. Because you've detonated a nuclear bomb.
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Post by RiftandRend on Mar 5, 2017 23:00:05 GMT
You could store the other small nukes away from the chamber. Um, the chamber would be destroyed, along with everything else. Because you've detonated a nuclear bomb. Would a 100t nuke do that much damage? A few cm of diamond and AM carbon seems to resist it quite well even when the nuke detonates on contact. If chamber erosion is to difficult to overcome then you could have disposable chambers with each nuke, somewhat like a conventional bullet case.
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Post by theholyinquisition on Mar 5, 2017 23:14:23 GMT
Um, the chamber would be destroyed, along with everything else. Because you've detonated a nuclear bomb. Would a 100t nuke do that much damage? A few cm of diamond and AM carbon seems to resist it quite well even when the nuke detonates on contact. If chamber erosion is to difficult to overcome then you could have disposable chambers with each nuke, somewhat like a conventional bullet case. 100t nukes detonate with the equivalent energy of 100 tons of high explosive. If you can create something that can withstand that, then try. Furthermore, small nukes are inefficient and leave a lot of fallout, so you get less pumping.
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Post by RiftandRend on Mar 5, 2017 23:42:11 GMT
Would a 100t nuke do that much damage? A few cm of diamond and AM carbon seems to resist it quite well even when the nuke detonates on contact. If chamber erosion is to difficult to overcome then you could have disposable chambers with each nuke, somewhat like a conventional bullet case. 100t nukes detonate with the equivalent energy of 100 tons of high explosive. If you can create something that can withstand that, then try. Furthermore, small nukes are inefficient and leave a lot of fallout, so you get less pumping. Ship armor can take 1 kt nukes with ease, I don't see why that can't be used for the chamber. The fallout and inefficiency might be a serious problem that cannot easily be overcome.
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Post by ash19256 on Mar 7, 2017 16:36:39 GMT
100t nukes detonate with the equivalent energy of 100 tons of high explosive. If you can create something that can withstand that, then try. Furthermore, small nukes are inefficient and leave a lot of fallout, so you get less pumping. Ship armor can take 1 kt nukes with ease, I don't see why that can't be used for the chamber. The fallout and inefficiency might be a serious problem that cannot easily be overcome. Except you still need to have the lasing medium able to receive the gamma ray/x-ray pulse from the detonation, which means your armor either needs to be transparent to x-rays/gamma rays (boron definitely isn't in the kind of thicknesses we use in our armors, and I'm pretty sure all of the other materials we use are just as x-ray/gamma ray opaque), or you can't armor the lasing medium.
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Post by Enderminion on Mar 7, 2017 18:13:57 GMT
most armour is quite dense to
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Post by Enderminion on Mar 7, 2017 18:15:04 GMT
Random thought: can a nuclear reactor's radiation pump a laser cavity? Why use nuclear to pulse the laser medium in a likely destructive manner if you can run it continuously instead? yes, the thermal radiation from the reactor is used to power the Arc Lamp
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Post by darthroach on Mar 8, 2017 0:46:32 GMT
using mini-nukes would not allow mutipule shots, even if the laser medium survived the first shot, all the other nukes did not I am by no means an expert, but wasn't the original nuclear-pumped laser idea just a bunch of x-ray spectrum gain rods being exploded by nukes? You'd dump them out the arse of your project Orion battleship and turn them in the direction of the enemy to produce a deadly high frequency radiation burst.
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Post by Enderminion on Mar 8, 2017 3:28:46 GMT
using mini-nukes would not allow mutipule shots, even if the laser medium survived the first shot, all the other nukes did not I am by no means an expert, but wasn't the original nuclear-pumped laser idea just a bunch of x-ray spectrum gain rods being exploded by nukes? You'd dump them out the arse of your project Orion battleship and turn them in the direction of the enemy to produce a deadly high frequency radiation burst. that was casabal howitizer, a nuclear shaped charge
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Post by RiftandRend on Mar 8, 2017 5:33:40 GMT
I am by no means an expert, but wasn't the original nuclear-pumped laser idea just a bunch of x-ray spectrum gain rods being exploded by nukes? You'd dump them out the arse of your project Orion battleship and turn them in the direction of the enemy to produce a deadly high frequency radiation burst. that was casabal howitizer, a nuclear shaped charge What darthroach described was one of the Starwars SDI concepts, namely a single use nuclear pumped laser. As far as I know a casaba howitzer does not involve any laser technology.
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Post by Enderminion on Mar 8, 2017 11:47:06 GMT
no but that was what was with the Orion Battleship idea.
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