My comment: There is no need to read any of the following (besides the quotation). But (2) gives one an update of laser weaponization.
(1) Catching a Few More Rays. Energy technology: A new type of solar panel can turn infrared light, not just the visible sort, into electricity. But not very yet
(Current solar panels "work only with light in the visible part of the spectrum. Yet 40% of the solar energy that reaches the Earth is in, or very close to, the infrared")
(2) Energy weapons | Zap, Crackle and Pop. Military technology: Energy weapons are finally moving from the laboratory to the real world. But they are hardly the super-weapons of science fiction http://www.economist.com/node/21560984
(three methods to generate laser for weapon use: fiber laser, slab or solid-state laser and free-electron laser)
Quote:
(a) "For the moment, the idea of shooting down big nuclear-tipped missiles with lasers has been put on hold, and proponents of laser weapons are aiming instead at more flammable targets. Much of the work in this field is now being done by the American navy, mainly because ships make excellent platforms for laser weapons: there is usually plenty of space and oodles of power available, along with lots of water for cooling the laser down. Many of the latest ships are also being built with electric propulsion systems: their engines turn huge electricity generators, the power from which can be used both to propel the ship and to power its weapons.
(b) "Although lasers have many have advantages, in short, they also suffer from quite severe limitations. The main one is their relatively low power output. So much energy is needed to burn through the armour of a tank, for instance, that it is easier simply to fire a rocket at it. Even people do not make particularly good targets for lasers: human bodies can absorb a lot of energy before heating up substantially. (Eyes make a better target, but international conventions ban lasers designed to blind.)
"A further limitation is that laser light can be absorbed or scattered by pollution, fog or smoke. Missiles or other targets can also be protected by coating them with mirrors or wrapping them with insulation. In addition, laser beams travel in a straight line, which means they are less useful than conventional artillery when shooting at something on the other side of a hill. It seems likely that laser weapons will have been deployed on ships by the end of the decade. They will have their uses, but they remain rather less fearsome than their science-fiction reputation might suggest.
(3) Lighting the Way. Energy technology: Cheaper and Bette solar-powered electric lights promise to do away with kerosene-fuelled lanterns. http://www.economist.com/node/21560983
Quote:
"WHICH plastic gadget, fitting neatly in one hand, can most quickly improve the lives of the world’s poorest people? For the past decade the answer has been clear: the mobile phone. But over the next decade it will be the solar-powered lamp, made up of a few light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a solar panel and a small rechargeable battery, encased in a durable plastic shell.
"The economic case for solar lighting is even clearer: buying a lamp that charges in the sun during the day, and then produces light at night, can eliminate spending on the kerosene that fuels conventional lamps
(4) Altered States. Computing: Phase-change memory chips , an emerging storage technology, could soon dethrone flash memory in smart phones, cameras and laptops
("like the flash memory that [presently] provides storage in mobile phones, cameras and some laptops, it can retain information even when the power is switched off. But it promises to be smaller and faster than flash, and will probably be storing your photos, music and messages within a few years. The technology relies, as its name suggests, on special substances called phase-change materials (PCMs). These are materials, such as salt hydrates, that are capable of storing and releasing large amounts of energy when they move from a solid t a liquids state and back again")