DIRECTED
ENERGY
PROFESSIONAL
SOCIETYJOURNAL OF DIRECTED ENERGY
DIRECTED
ENERGY
PROFESSIONAL
SOCIETY
JOURNAL
OF DIRECTED
ENERGY
Welcome to a New Forum for Directed Energy Research and Technology
Many are aware that Archimedes is said to have invented burning mirrors, turning
them on ships to set them afire and helping defend his hometown of Syracuse when the
Romans invaded in 214 BC. The modern quest for effectively using electromagnetic energy
for
defense applications probably began in 1935, when the British Admiralty
petitioned Sir
Robert Watson-Watt to investigate the possibility of using a radar-like device
to boil a
pilot’s blood. Now, more than 60 years since the British Admiralty made that
initial request,the possibility of electromagnetically based weapons systems is becoming a
reality. These
directed energy weapons are entering the war fighter’s arsenal and are being
recognized
as an increasingly practical means of precisely and effectively disabling or
destroying an
opponent’s defenses. The further development and use of directed energy (DE)
systems
depends in large part on the ease and availability of basic technical
information pertinent
to the field. This is the mission of DEPS, the Directed Energy Professional
Society, and it
is with great pleasure on behalf of DEPS that we welcome the readers of this the
founding
issue of the Journal of Directed Energy (JDE). Though other forums for
publishing archivalquality
material related to DE exist, they are broadly scattered and generally do not
focus
on the issues that are a direct concern of the DE community. The JDE concerns
itself with
all aspects of directed energy ranging from generation to propagation, control,
effects, and
all system-level issues. The interest and support of the DEPS Board of Directors
made the
appearance of this new journal possible, underscoring their commitment to
encouraging
development of the growing field of directed energy systems.
The papers appearing here cover both high-power microwave (HPM) and high-energy
laser (HEL) applications and were chosen to cover a broad range of interests and
technical
levels of sophistication; the authors represent a cross section of government,
academia,
and industry. Included in this issue are papers dealing with system-level HEL
concerns
for Naval applications, the prototyping of RF weapons, tactical HEL design,
pulsed power
HPM systems, as well as papers dealing with the propagation and control of HEL
beams.
Along with DEPS, the editors expect that this journal will fill a niche for the
directed
energy professional, both researcher and end-user alike, and will be the first
of a continuing
series providing a forum for quality research in this field.
P.M. Sforza and H. Zmuda, Editors