WATCH: Scientists make real-life Star Wars laser bullet 

 

Unlike its flashy cousin in the "Star Wars" movies, the so-called laser bullet in real life is almost invisible and could be better used in peacetime.

 

A team from Poland's Instytut Chemii Fizycznej PAN recreated the laser bullet—or laser missile—in a film in cooperation with the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw.

 

"The laser pulse, lasting a dozen or so femtoseconds (millionths of a billionth of a second), was generated by a laser constructed at the Laser Centre of IPC PAS and FUW. It was so powerful that it almost immediately ionised the atoms it encountered. As a result, a plasma fibre—filament—was formed alongside the pulse," the team said in a YouTube post.

 

 

Researchers used a new compact high-power laser in their filming of the passage of an ultrashort laser pulse through the air.

 

The film showed a light projectile moving at an extremely slow rate, as there is presently no camera that can record billions of frames per second in one sequence.

 

“If you wanted to film a single light impulse to move as slowly on film as in our recording, you would have to use a camera operating at a speed of a billion frames per second,” said Dr. Yuriy Stepanenko, who led the team that constructed the laser.

 

Stepaneko added that while the light from the laser is in the near infrared range, "a laser beam like this travelling through the air changes color to white."

 

"This happens since the interaction of the pulse with the plasma generates light of many different wavelengths. Received simultaneously, these waves give the impression of white,” he said.

 

To film the traveling laser pulse, the researchers used an earlier trick by synchronizing a camera with a laser generating pulses at a rate of about 10 shots per second.

 

Under the setup, the camera recorded an image minimally delayed than the previous one.

 

“In fact, a different laser pulse can be seen in every frame of our film. Luckily, the physics always stays the same. So, on the film one can observe all the effects associated with the movement of the laser pulse in space, in particular, the changes in ambient light depending on the position of the pulse and the formation of flares on the walls when the light passes through the dispersing cloud of condensed water vapor,” said Dr. Pawe? Wnuk.

 

Pollution

 

The team indicated the laser may be useful in penetrating the atmosphere over long distances.

 

Warsaw researchers used this when demonstrating LIDAR, a device that may be used to remotely test atmospheric pollution.

 

"The fact that the pulses generate white light during passage is an important advantage in this context. Light at different wavelengths interacting with the atoms and molecules in the air is able to provide a far greater wealth of information," the team said.

 

It added LIDAR constructed using the new laser "will be able to detect a larger number of elements and compounds polluting the atmosphere." — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News