Deflector shields and lenses created from the atmosphere Friday, 20 January 2017

Aerospace company BAE Systems is working on a new type of directed energy laser and lens system, called a Laser Developed Atmospheric Lens, which could be used to manipulate the atmosphere to form lenses, allowing high-range observation activities and also forming the basis of possible 'deflector shields'.

The Laser Developed Atmospheric Lens concept was developed by technologists at BAE Systems' military aircraft facility in Warton, Lancashire, in the UK. It simulated naturally occurring phenomena to temporarily change the Earth's atmosphere into lens-like structure, that can then be used to magnify or change the path of electromagnetic waves such as light and radio signals.

According to the scientists, Laser Developed Atmospheric Lens is based on known science, exploiting two existing effects in nature: the reflective properties of the ionosphere, and desert mirages.

The ionosphere, which is a naturally occurring layer of the Earth's atmosphere, can reflect radio waves, allowing listeners to tune in to radio stations that are very far away. The radio signals bounce off the ionosphere, allowing long distance travel.

The desert mirage provides the illusion of a distant lake in the hot desert, because hot air near the surface refracts the light from the blue sky into the vision of a person looking into the distance.

Within the next fifty years, scientists at BAE Systems believe that battlefield commanders could deploy a new type of directed energy laser and lens system, called a Laser Developed Atmospheric Lens which is capable of enhancing commanders’ ability to observe adversaries’ activities over much greater distances than existing sensors.

The Laser Developed Atmospheric Lens technology simulates both of these effects by using a high pulsed power laser system and exploiting a physics phenomena called the ‘Kerr Effect’ to temporarily ionise or heat a small region of atmosphere in a structured way.

This allows the atmosphere to be used to replicate mirrors, glass lenses, and structures like Fresnel zone plates, allowing the physics of refraction, reflection, and diffraction to be exploited. If high power laser weapons become a reality in the same time period, these atmospheric lens structures could be used to protect aircraft, ships, land vehicles and troops from incoming laser attacks, effectively becoming the deflector shields that thus far have only been seen in science fiction.