Star Wars is among those popular science fiction movies that used vehicles, devices and weapons that could be interesting to see work in real life.
The laser "bullet" used in the movie, for instance, could maim an opponent fast and without producing the distracting noise that characterizes the bullets of typical guns.
Now, a team of scientists have embarked on bringing these laser blasts from the realm of science fiction into real life offering us with an idea of what this technology could look like.
The researchers from the Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Physical Chemistry Laser Center and the University of Warsaw came up with a video of a real life laser blast. The film shows the movement of ultrashort laser blasts through the air.
Unlike how they are projected in fictional movies, real life laser pulses, which travel at the speed of light, turned out to be difficult to capture on film because they travel faster than the human eye can see. Filming laser blasts in slow motion, however, appeared to do the trick.
Unfortunately, most of the cameras that are used today are not equipped to capture shots at a speed of billions of frames per second, which is needed to capture a single light impulse move slowly on film so the researchers synchronized a modified camera with the laser which shot about 10 pulses per second.
The researchers also used a cloud of water vapor so the laser will look more visible making it possible for the camera to film the passage of a laser pulse, with a different pulse seen in each frame of the film.
"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 study co-researcher Paweł Wnuk.
The use for these laser light pulses is not for weaponization. Instead, the researchers believe these can be used to remotely test the pollution of the atmosphere. It is worth noting, however, that the U.S. military is already developing laser weapons. In June this year, defense department officials revealed that a laser weapon that can shoot down enemy drones is being developed for the military.
