An enhancement to the available force from a solar/laser sail is being investigated. This enhancement involves the use of a high power laser as the main source of propulsion or as a supplement to a solar sail. The enhancement utilizes a high power laser and multiple photon reflections to amplify the laser photon flux impinging on a sail. It is thus possible to amplify the force by as much as a factor of 50 or more. This paper explores the use of a stable optical cavity and will illustrate the optics involved in producing a stable cavity. A breadboard of the optical system was constructed and a stable cavity was demonstrated. Once the breadboard system was complete and a stable cavity achieved, the system was placed in vacuum and photon force amplification was measured using a vacuum compatible microbalance.
Photon Flux Amplification for Enhancing Photonic Laser Propulsive Forces
AIAA 33rd Plasmadynamics and Lasers Conference ; 2002 ; Maui, HI, United States
2002-01-01
Preprint
No indication
English
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