Re: Beamed propulsion doable now, and with it space solar power.

Crackpot Optoelectronics.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

-- Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

I take it you know about this because you are one of the experts in the field?

Rick C.

Doesn't that collimator violate some basic principle?

That article on beam power was a complete crock. His magic collimator violates the second law of thermodynamics, he assumes that a LED plus a lens makes an efficient light source (it doesn't), and you'd never be able to cool an array with that power density.

For openers.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

If you read the article it was flux density of 300W/cm^2 but on a die that was just 20um across with a whopping 1mW of output power.

Some of the latest high efficiency LEDs are approaching the surface luminosity of the sun's photosphere but that is still nothing like enough to levitate a feather even at point blank range.

It might be enough to power a Crooke radiometer on a good day.

Oh I don't know - an infinite heatsink ought to do it. They are not called infiniLED for nothing.

It is amazing how so many of these crank proposals violate the second law of thermodynamics - likewise with perpetual motion machines.

But he was talking about a vast array of them, closely spaced, with a fly's eye collimator.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs