1
00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:07,880
[electronic beeping, buzzing]

2
00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:09,240
[indistinct chatter]

3
00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,160
[narrator] October 2021.

4
00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:20,680
A US garrison in Syria comes under attack
from an unpredictable, lethal adversary,

5
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:23,080
suicide drones.

6
00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,040
Capable of flying up to 60 miles,

7
00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,640
they come armed
with deadly nail bombs or worse.

8
00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,720
For military and civilian targets
on land and sea,

9
00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,720
the growing threat
of high-tech terrorism is real.

10
00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,000
[explosion rumbles]

11
00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,120
[man] We have seen these kinds
of attacks in the past.

12
00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:49,760
It was complex. It was deliberate.

13
00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,000
[narrator] But a new weapon
is coming to the rescue.

14
00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,640
Capable of spotting, tracking,

15
00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,440
and instantly destroying
even a swarm of these silent killers,

16
00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,800
a device straight out of science fiction,

17
00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:04,920
a weaponized laser.

18
00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,720
But for most of us,
lasers are not a devastating weapon.

19
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,800
They're an indispensable part
of our everyday lives.

20
00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,640
The 16-billion-US-dollar laser market

21
00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,480
embraces everything from entertainment

22
00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:26,160
to heavy industry,

23
00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:28,920
medicine

24
00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:30,960
to the Internet,

25
00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,200
which only works as fast as it does

26
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:38,480
thanks to nearly four billion miles
of laser-powered high-speed optical fiber.

27
00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:44,760
Enough to wrap
around the Earth 150,000 times.

28
00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,480
Lasers are generally harmless,
making our lives better,

29
00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,240
but laser weapons are becoming
ever more powerful.

30
00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,640
The US Army is developing a laser
ten times stronger

31
00:01:57,720 --> 00:01:59,160
than their anti-drone ray,

32
00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:02,640
powerful enough to destroy a helicopter

33
00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:05,480
or a cruise missile.

34
00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:07,800
And globally,

35
00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:13,080
{\an8}the laser-weapons market
is worth about $4.37 billion,

36
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,960
{\an8}a figure that's only growing
with every year.

37
00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:22,560
Sure, laser tag with friends
is still a fun way to spend an afternoon,

38
00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:25,840
but the latest laser technologies

39
00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:29,240
have powers out
of a big-budget superhero movie.

40
00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:31,600
How dangerous are they?

41
00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,800
Will lasers soon become too hot to handle?

42
00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:50,480
They're pulling us up.

43
00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:53,480
[narrator] In the 1940s and '50s,

44
00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:55,720
before the laser is actually invented,

45
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:57,120
it already exists,

46
00:02:57,720 --> 00:02:59,000
at least in fiction.

47
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,360
They set up an electronic screen!

48
00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,600
[narrator] Writers and artists
imagine ray guns so powerful

49
00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:09,440
they can shoot beams of light
capable of vaporizing anything,

50
00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:11,600
from a human being to a battleship.

51
00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,240
They're gonna hit us!
They're gonna hit us!

52
00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:20,440
[narrator] In science fiction,

53
00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:24,600
death rays are so common,
you'd think they were already a thing.

54
00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:27,160
No!

55
00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:29,800
[yells]

56
00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:33,720
[narrator] But it isn't until 1957

57
00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,160
that this fantastical idea
of a deadly beam of hot light

58
00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:38,960
becomes more than a fantasy.

59
00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:42,000
{\an8}I like thinking of things.

60
00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,040
{\an8}I like inventing.

61
00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,000
{\an8}[narrator] Columbia University researcher
Gordon Gould

62
00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:51,560
{\an8}is fascinated
by Einstein's radical quantum theory,

63
00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,680
which explains
how light is made up of photons

64
00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:56,400
that behave in a particular way.

65
00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:59,360
Gould wants to take Einstein's idea

66
00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,400
and create a new light source
of great purity

67
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,400
that will give humanity
a powerful, focused heat source

68
00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,600
and potentially a new weapon.

69
00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,400
Gould knows that when energy
is added to atoms,

70
00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:15,560
they emit light or photons.

71
00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:21,160
Like when a poker glows red-hot
in the fireplace.

72
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,000
His big idea is to capture those photons

73
00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,240
in a mirror-lined container
so that they rebound,

74
00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:32,960
triggering a chain reaction of photons

75
00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,640
that can be focused
into a concentrated beam,

76
00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,560
{\an8}one that he hopes
could be capable of heating a target

77
00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:41,520
{\an8}to the temperature of the sun.

78
00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,280
{\an8}He gives his idea a name,

79
00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:48,040
{\an8}light amplification
by stimulated emission of radiation.

80
00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,240
{\an8}The concept of the laser is born.

81
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,800
But not the thing itself… yet.

82
00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,560
The race is on
to see who will be the first

83
00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,960
to create a fully functioning,
commercially viable laser.

84
00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:06,320
And guess who sees the potential?

85
00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:08,400
The military.

86
00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,360
[man] You'll marvel
at the superior intelligence

87
00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:11,840
that unleashes its deadly ray.

88
00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:13,360
Steve! Steve!

89
00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:19,640
[narrator] In the late 1950s,

90
00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,000
as the United States
is in the grips of a Cold War arms race

91
00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:24,480
with the Soviet Union,

92
00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:29,000
the Pentagon starts pouring millions
of dollars into laser research,

93
00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:30,800
but… no luck.

94
00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,040
The actual winner of the laser race?

95
00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:39,480
Eccentric film producer
and billionaire inventor Howard Hughes,

96
00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,040
or at least a physicist
in his California lab.

97
00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:45,560
In 1960,

98
00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,320
with a budget of just $50,000,

99
00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:50,920
Theodore Maiman comes up
with a simple design

100
00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,640
based on the laser concept.

101
00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,800
[man] A pencil-shaped rod
of artificial ruby, surrounded by mirrors,

102
00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,400
is energized by a type of photo flash.

103
00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,560
The mirrors focus the flash onto the ruby,

104
00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,800
and a beam of pure red light emerges
at the ends of the rod.

105
00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:06,760
This is reflected back and forth

106
00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:09,160
until it builds up
to the fantastic power source

107
00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:10,680
known as the laser beam.

108
00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:13,480
[narrator] The laser has arrived,

109
00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:15,680
and researchers quickly discover

110
00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,720
that various materials
produce specific types of laser light

111
00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,160
that are useful in different ways.

112
00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,720
The original ruby laser
is surgically precise.

113
00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:29,720
Literally.

114
00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,160
It can destroy a blood vessel
without damaging surrounding tissue.

115
00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:36,560
In 1961,

116
00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:41,320
{\an8}it's used to destroy a tumor
on the retina of a very brave patient,

117
00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:43,480
{\an8}the first laser medical procedure.

118
00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,880
{\an8}Later, it will prove the go-to laser
when you need to remove a tattoo.

119
00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,600
The energized material
doesn't have to be a solid like a ruby.

120
00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,680
Gas lasers are more powerful,

121
00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:58,000
making them useful
for cutting steel plates

122
00:06:58,080 --> 00:06:59,200
and welding metal.

123
00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:04,040
Other semiconductor lasers
actually use an electrical current

124
00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:05,960
{\an8}to generate low-power beams

125
00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,120
{\an8}that are perfect
for, well, laser pointing.

126
00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:11,360
[cat meows]

127
00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:15,040
The laser is proving
a handy thing to have,

128
00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,440
but still, in the popular imagination,

129
00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:23,640
there's an expectation that ultimately,
they'll prove to be an effective weapon.

130
00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,000
{\an8}[man] We spotted a chap playing
with a combination of laser tubes

131
00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:32,720
{\an8}and a toy construction set.

132
00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,440
The range of this rather cumbersome toy
is only five yards.

133
00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,720
[narrator] The truth is,
much to the dismay of the military,

134
00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:51,640
real-world lasers just aren't
powerful enough to do much damage.

135
00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,280
And they're too complicated
and expensive to build

136
00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:00,280
for them to be useful outside
of specific industrial applications.

137
00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,360
At least that's what everyone thought.

138
00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:08,160
But lasers are about to have
a huge impact on people's daily lives

139
00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,280
in the most ordinary way.

140
00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:14,160
{\an8}[Muzak playing]

141
00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,040
{\an8}June 26th, 1974.

142
00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,920
The first real-life laser guns
are not what anyone envisioned.

143
00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:24,560
Instead of blasting aliens,

144
00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,760
they're reading barcodes
at a supermarket checkout.

145
00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:28,760
Barcode scanners

146
00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,320
are based on low-power
semiconductor and gas laser designs

147
00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:33,640
from the early '60s.

148
00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:36,360
It may seem low-key,

149
00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,560
but this cheap
and simple bit of laser tech

150
00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:41,800
will spark a revolution in commerce.

151
00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,240
[man] In the marketplace, coded markings,

152
00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:47,360
scanned and registered by the computer,

153
00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,040
serve the consumer
with a fast, accurate record

154
00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:51,880
of all purchases.

155
00:08:52,680 --> 00:08:54,240
[narrator] These low-powered lasers

156
00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,240
will prove useful
at scanning more than just barcodes.

157
00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:00,240
In 1978,

158
00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:02,280
the LaserDisc player arrives.

159
00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:05,640
CD players appear the following year.

160
00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:08,320
They work more or less the same way.

161
00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,800
Lasers read discs by measuring
minute changes in the distance

162
00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,320
between the laser source

163
00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,120
and tiny indentations
on the disc's surface.

164
00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,320
Changes that are translated
into digital data,

165
00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:23,560
ones and zeros.

166
00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,040
The laser's accuracy
in measuring distances

167
00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,120
makes it a useful tool
for surveyors and architects,

168
00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,120
allowing measurements
from the size of a room

169
00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:35,880
to much vaster distances.

170
00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,160
So why do lasers
make such great measuring tools?

171
00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,200
Laser beams travel at the speed of light.

172
00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:48,880
{\an8}So the time it takes
to reflect off a surface

173
00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:50,840
{\an8}can be used to find distance.

174
00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,200
{\an8}That's why, when Buzz Aldrin
and Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon

175
00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:56,960
in 1969,

176
00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,680
they not only left behind their footprints

177
00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:03,080
but also installed
a two-foot-wide mirror array.

178
00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:08,000
Scientists could then bounce laser beams
off the mirrors on the Moon

179
00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,040
to keep track of how far away
from the Earth it is.

180
00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:13,120
{\an8}FYI,

181
00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:17,240
{\an8}it's getting almost 1.5 inches
further away every year.

182
00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:22,040
Though born out of a desire
to create the ultimate weapon,

183
00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:23,360
by the early 1980s,

184
00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,600
lasers have become an everyday technology

185
00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:27,840
at the heart of music,

186
00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:29,680
movies, medicine,

187
00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:32,480
even laser pointers and printers,

188
00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:35,600
but the death ray
is about to make a comeback.

189
00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:40,480
It's 1983,

190
00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:44,120
{\an8}and the Star Wars movies
are a global cultural phenomenon.

191
00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:48,160
{\an8}Ask any kid, and they'll tell you
what lasers are really for.

192
00:10:48,680 --> 00:10:49,560
{\an8}Lightsabers.

193
00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:55,120
But real-life lasers might finally
be catching up with science fiction.

194
00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:00,200
If you'll pardon my stealing a film line,
the Force is with us.

195
00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,400
[narrator] March 23rd, 1983.

196
00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:06,280
President Ronald Reagan
announces a new approach

197
00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:08,320
to deal with the Soviet nuclear threat.

198
00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:12,400
He calls it
the Strategic Defense Initiative

199
00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:13,320
or SDI.

200
00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:18,160
I'm taking an important first step
to achieve our ultimate goal

201
00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,880
of eliminating the threat
posed by strategic nuclear missiles.

202
00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:26,240
[narrator] At the heart
of Reagan's SDI program?

203
00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:27,200
Lasers.

204
00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:35,880
The idea is that a network of satellites
detects incoming Soviet missiles

205
00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,440
then destroys them with space lasers

206
00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,640
or by reflecting
a powerful laser beam from the ground.

207
00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:43,160
The trouble is

208
00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:45,360
the technology is a fantasy.

209
00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:46,680
It doesn't exist yet.

210
00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:52,600
But that doesn't stop the government
spending $250 million a month

211
00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:54,000
{\an8}to make it a reality.

212
00:11:58,200 --> 00:11:59,840
In 1983,

213
00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:02,920
work begins here
in the California wilderness.

214
00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,920
[man] This enormous accelerator
is at the frontier of the laser technology

215
00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,800
always seen as a key element
in any defense against Soviet missiles.

216
00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,200
[narrator] Not everyone
is convinced it's a good idea.

217
00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,240
Senator Edward Kennedy
can't resist referring to SDI

218
00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,480
as a reckless Star Wars scheme.

219
00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:27,240
[man] But at the Pentagon, SDI officials
reject this narrow interpretation.

220
00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:29,840
[narrator] Despite the criticism,

221
00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:32,560
SDI does achieve one of its key goals,

222
00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:34,680
spooking the Soviets.

223
00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:38,840
Soviet Premier Gorbachev
pleads with Reagan to abandon SDI.

224
00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,960
[man] It's future development
of exotic technology like this

225
00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,480
which the Soviet Union
says must be limited

226
00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:47,680
before they will agree to a treaty,

227
00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:50,960
cutting the arsenals
of the big strategic weapons.

228
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:52,480
[narrator] The truth is,

229
00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:56,200
SDI is plagued by delays
and technical problems.

230
00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:58,280
[man] To shoot down missiles,

231
00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,080
there must be
a phenomenal increase in power.

232
00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,520
The hardware must be
a more manageable size.

233
00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:07,960
[narrator] It turns out
military lasers are still too unwieldy

234
00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:09,240
and lacking in power

235
00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:11,880
to work as weapons in the real world.

236
00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:15,040
After serving its role
as a largely diplomatic prop

237
00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:16,760
to win concessions,

238
00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:20,280
the SDI program is quietly dismantled.

239
00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:24,040
Meanwhile, on the domestic front,

240
00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:27,920
by the 1990s,
lasers are common in our daily lives,

241
00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,600
from serious science to laser-tag games.

242
00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,160
And while the military hasn't been able
to turn them into death rays,

243
00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:38,400
lasers are proving useful
for the targeting and aiming

244
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:40,160
of conventional weapons.

245
00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,760
[man] An aircraft
equipped with a laser illuminator

246
00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,840
approaches the target
and directs the beam on it.

247
00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:47,600
The bomb is then delivered.

248
00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,840
{\an8}It continually corrects its course
all the way down,

249
00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:53,480
{\an8}homing in on the target.

250
00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:01,600
[man 2] See space-shaking last battle
of Earth rockets versus flying saucers…

251
00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:02,960
[narrator] Lasers hardly seem

252
00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,880
the space-age invention of the future
they once were,

253
00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:09,520
but a new use for lasers
is under development

254
00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:12,440
that will go on
to define the future of humanity.

255
00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:15,520
Back in the early 1960s,

256
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:19,000
scientists discovered
that data can be encoded in a laser

257
00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,040
by making subtle changes
in the pulses of the beam,

258
00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,640
but sending data-encoded laser beams
through the air proved problematic.

259
00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:30,680
Atmospheric interference
would disrupt the beam,

260
00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:32,880
like weak sunshine on a hazy day.

261
00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:36,640
But, by the 2000s,

262
00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:40,880
scientists have perfected a way
to send laser beams down a cable,

263
00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,360
so the data gets through without a hitch.

264
00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:46,920
It's the technology
that makes the modern Internet possible.

265
00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,800
High-speed Internet
along laser-powered fibers

266
00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:54,680
arrives in the 2000s.

267
00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:56,600
In 2010,

268
00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,400
Chattanooga, Tennessee,
becomes the first city in the US

269
00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:02,480
to offer one-gigabit speeds,

270
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:08,120
{\an8}allowing citizens to download
a movie in just 16 seconds.

271
00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:12,360
{\an8}It would have taken one hour
and 13 minutes before fiber.

272
00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:16,160
Laser-powered fiber
will carry financial transactions,

273
00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,080
better connect communities
across the world,

274
00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:23,360
as well as serve
the ever-growing 24-7 global demand

275
00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,440
for streaming video content.

276
00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,200
[cat meow repeats]

277
00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:34,280
By 2010, 1.25 billion miles
of laser-powered fiber-optic cables

278
00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:35,560
span the globe,

279
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:39,160
enabling humanity
to communicate at light speed.

280
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:41,080
Without it,

281
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:45,120
our planet would be a very different,
less connected place.

282
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:50,080
But despite all the wholesome things
that owe their existence to lasers,

283
00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,240
the search is still on
for a laser-powered death ray.

284
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,320
The Reagan-era
Star Wars missile-killer laser

285
00:15:58,400 --> 00:15:59,600
may have fizzled out,

286
00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:05,120
but the millions spent over the decades
on R & D for laser design and fiber optics

287
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,280
leads to a major breakthrough in 2014.

288
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,440
[reporter] This is
your DOD News web update.

289
00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:13,120
{\an8}A while ago, we brought you a story

290
00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:17,120
{\an8}about how the Navy was going to experiment
with a laser system mounted on a ship.

291
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:22,480
[narrator] Laser-weapons researchers
discover the crucial missing ingredient,

292
00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,280
a technique called beam combining.

293
00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:27,200
Let's break it down.

294
00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:31,280
In the past,

295
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:34,600
creating a single powerful-enough laser
was the hurdle,

296
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:40,360
but laser-weapon researchers discover
that taking several smaller fiber lasers,

297
00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:41,920
combining the beams,

298
00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:46,680
and putting that through a system
of mirrors that act like a prism

299
00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,760
creates a single devastating beam.

300
00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:54,200
A process that looks like the cover
of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon

301
00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:55,480
but in reverse.

302
00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:00,040
November 2014.

303
00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,920
The US Navy unveils
a 30-kilowatt prototype

304
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,160
of this new type of laser weapon.

305
00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:09,360
[reporter] The USS Ponce
was in the Persian Gulf

306
00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:11,280
from September to November

307
00:17:11,360 --> 00:17:13,640
testing out the Laser Weapon System
or LaWS.

308
00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,160
[narrator] Test targets are lined up
on the water and in the air.

309
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:19,560
First, radar locks on,

310
00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:23,880
then the shipborne laser
unleashes instant destruction.

311
00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:31,240
[reporter] The trials went extremely well,

312
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:33,840
and it was able
to destroy multiple moving targets

313
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:35,720
on the water and in the air.

314
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,680
[narrator] After decades
of shattered Star Wars dreams,

315
00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,800
it looks like
weaponized lasers are now a reality.

316
00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,520
[man] So I guess war waged in the future
is gonna look like a Star Wars film?

317
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,560
[reporter] Yeah, especially since
they wanna take this technology

318
00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:55,160
and attach it to both ground-
and air-based platforms,

319
00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:59,600
{\an8}not to mention the cost-effectiveness
of the LaWS at less than a dollar a shot.

320
00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:01,040
And may the Force be with you.

321
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:04,120
[narrator] As of 2022,

322
00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:08,360
nine laser-equipped US Navy vessels
are nearing deployment,

323
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,640
and the plan is to use lasers
in aerial combat as well.

324
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,560
Lasers like these
could change how war works.

325
00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:18,840
{\an8}As if that isn't enough,

326
00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:22,520
{\an8}lasers are revealing
an even more jaw-dropping ability.

327
00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:26,160
Meet one of the most powerful X-ray lasers
on Earth,

328
00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,080
the Linac Coherent Light Source.

329
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:32,280
[man] Our facility is an X-ray laser,

330
00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:35,400
which in some ways is very similar
to the lasers we're all familiar with.

331
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,560
{\an8}You know, the red laser pointers
that we use around the home.

332
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,720
{\an8}But the wavelength is not
in the visible part of the spectrum

333
00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,200
{\an8}but all the way down
into the X-ray part of the spectrum.

334
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:48,800
[narrator] The X-ray laser beam
is generated by accelerating electrons

335
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:51,400
along nearly one mile of tubing,

336
00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:53,920
energizing them with high-powered magnets

337
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,120
until they begin emitting X-rays,

338
00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:58,680
which are then focused into a beam

339
00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:02,960
that can be 100 times as powerful
as the sunlight that hits the Earth,

340
00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,760
focused onto a spot
the size of a thumbnail,

341
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:12,040
enabling scientists to create images
and movies of chemical reactions

342
00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:14,480
for the first time in human history.

343
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,320
[Mike Dunne] So we can image
individual atoms and molecules,

344
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,800
studying chemistry and biology,
and watch how they evolve in time.

345
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,680
You can build up
the most amazing precision movie

346
00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:26,320
of how the natural world works.

347
00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,880
[narrator] The X-ray laser
is awesomely powerful.

348
00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:32,000
In 2017,

349
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,040
during an experimental test,

350
00:19:34,120 --> 00:19:35,520
researchers are shocked

351
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,960
when the laser instantly strips
an atom of its electrons,

352
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:42,920
leaving a void that sucks in electrons
from the surrounding molecules,

353
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,120
like a microscopic black hole.

354
00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:52,440
{\an8}Laser-powered black holes might sound
like a disaster movie waiting to happen,

355
00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,320
{\an8}but the Linac Coherent Light Source
is being upgraded

356
00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,040
to be 10,000 times brighter

357
00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:00,640
and a whole lot faster,

358
00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,600
from 120 X-ray pulses per second

359
00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:04,960
to one million.

360
00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:07,040
[Mike Dunne] A whole new world
will open up for us.

361
00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:10,280
Now this will become the go-to tool
for the 21st century.

362
00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:14,200
Looking at how the world works
at the level of atoms and molecules,

363
00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:17,640
we can look at how the cells
in our body fight disease.

364
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:20,640
It means we can bring the stars
and the planets here on Earth

365
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:22,800
and look at how they work in detail.

366
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,440
[narrator] Laser technology is
on the cusp of a new era,

367
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,320
where it can reveal the foundations
of the physical world,

368
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,560
but it can also unleash
colossal destruction on Earth

369
00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:36,640
and in space.

370
00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,280
{\an8}[man] From anti-satellite weapons
and airborne lasers

371
00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:42,320
{\an8}to highly threatening on-orbit activities,

372
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,600
{\an8}space is a war-fighting domain

373
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,080
{\an8}just like the land, air, and sea.

374
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,160
[narrator] After decades, as an invention
that appeared to be an underperformer

375
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,760
and, let's face it, a bit humdrum,

376
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,480
lasers are now revealing
their remarkable powers

377
00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,120
and potential for the future of mankind.

378
00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:06,880
But as any superhero knows,

379
00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,680
with great power
comes great responsibility.

380
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,400
[downtempo electronic music plays]