NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR MILITARY AEROSPACE VEHICLES

AND PLASMA WEAPONS: APPLICATIONS OF PHOTON-PHOTON

RECOMBINATION IN THERMONUCLEAR PLASMA

Daniela Georgiana GOLEA1

Lucian Ștefan COZMA2

The warfare environment tends to become multidimensional and the modern war becomes more and more
atypical, unfolding concurrently in material and non-material environments of a very different nature. Among
these environments where the modern conflict unfolds, there is the outer space. And not just the cosmic space,
but also the upper atmosphere of the Earth, at the boundary between the atmosphere and the space. In this
rarefied and hard-to-reach environment, the actors of the conflict theater can send automated or piloted devices
capable of the most diverse military missions, such as spying, strategic bombing, infiltration, remote
reconnaissance, and so on. But making such an aerospace vehicle can no longer be done by applying classical
technologies.

Keywords: thermonuclear fusion, aerospace vehicle, photon propulsion, plasma

weapons,bracking radiation.

1.Introduction

Since the first Gulf War the public opinion and the international scientific world
learned much more about the advanced weapon systems:
-the AWACS system involving the direct participation of satellite networks in the military
action even at the tactical level;
-the Stealth flying vehicles and their relative ability to avoid radars detection;
-the (semi)automatic missile-planes capable of autonomously tracking and identifying the
targets;
-the smart bombs having an impressive fire power and precision;
-how the aviation raids were conducted by satellite and the capability of making precise target
hits from a long distance to the target position, etc.
Among other things, the analysts and in particular the military observers found that in
the US arsenal is missing a very important element: the Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird tri-
sonic aircraft, used in the past decades for remote strategic reconnaissance, flying at high
speeds at heights above 30,000 meters. The natural question was: with what have replaced the
US their old SR-71?
No one has been able to give an acceptable answer to such a question. However, since
1992, in various regions of the planet there have been recorded on radar and even visually,
some mysterious condensation streams3 (contrails) appeared at very high altitude, over
40,000-45,000 meters. Such traces gave the impression of a pulsating propulsion system and
hence a lot of speculation began on the subject. The author of this paper has already carried
out a special research activity on unconventional aerospace technologies 4, some of the initial
results of this research being already published5. Analyzing materials6 from the early 1990s on
1
PhD Student, National Intelligence Academy ”Mihai Viteazu”, Bucharest.
2
PhD student, University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics, e-mail: [email protected].
3
”What appeared to be a pulser contrail” in Aviation Week & Space Technology, April 10, 2006, p. 19.
4
Lucian Ștefan Cozma, ”The Vacuum-propulsion Technology- concept and applications” in the Air Force
Academy Bulletin no. 3/2014, (Brașov, Air Force Academy, 2014), pp. 43-53.
5
Lucian Ștefan Cozma, ”New concepts on modern aerospace vehicles” in the Air Force Academy Bulletin no.
1(31)/2016, (Brașov, Air Force Academy), pp. 123-133.
6
William B. Scott, ”Recent sightings of Xb-70-like aircraft reinforce 1990 reports from Edwards Area” in
Aviation Week & Space Technology, Aug. 24, 1992, pp. 23-25.
the hypothetical aerospace vehicle X-33 Aurora and comparing these data with those obtained
from our own scientific work, the authors of this paper will try to provide a plausible answer
to the question: what kind of propulsion system the uses the successor of Lockheed Martin
SR-71 Blackbird?
At the same time, the same technology could be a solution for achieving the controlled
nuclear fusion if its technology is based on the collection and focusing of the bremsstrahlung
(braking radiation) energy from the thermonuclear plasma, as Russian researchers L. I.
Gudzenko and L. A. Shelepin have predicted7 since the early 60s.

2. The thermonuclear phenomena and the photon propulsion

For over 60 years, with the realization of the first thermonuclear weapons, the
researchers from the states with old traditions in the field of scientific research have attempted
to realize the thermonuclear reactor, more precisely the controlled nuclear fusion. In
particular, the Russians, since the making of the TOKAMAK 8 installation, have imagined that
they are approaching the achievement of this goal. Unfortunately, although the results seemed
to be encouraging at some point, a major impediment was created each time: the extremely
high radiation losses in the form of braking radiation (the so-called bremsstrahlung). Over
the past decades, as long as the nuclear fusion was attempted, excepting the thermonuclear
bomb that the Americans and Russians have successfully experimented several times, no great
progress has been made in the field of thermonuclear technologies. Fatally, the thermonuclear
explosion is neither a controlled thermonuclear reaction, nor usable for peaceful purposes, in
this situation the researchers have straightened their efforts in order to conceive devices
capable to absorb and transform in various forms the huge energy of the braking radiation.
This is also the stage we are in this moment. However, this effort is perhaps directed to
a completely wrong direction, and the much desired soultion to be actually elsewhere... The
bremsstrahlung is now considered the biggest problem, the main impediment, but we might be
wrong and the braking radiation correctly used in the thermonuclear installations, could
become the main advantage of these types of reactors. This assumption (let's admit it as a
working hypothesis) has started from the results of research made by the physicists L.I.
Gudzenko and L.A. Shelepin in the first half of the 1960s: they considered a small
thermonuclear plasma reactor for which they calculated the value of the appropriate braking
energy and then assumed they could have a laser (at the time of that study, the first lasers have
barely been done for a few years) whose specific frequency exceeds the frequency of the
thermonuclear plasma, so that the plasma does not represent an impenetrable environment for
light. Once allowed this condition, which in practice was unrealistic at that time, the two
scientists could calculate how the hypothetical high-frequency laser beam would be able to
collect the high energy (high frequency) photons from braking radiation by applying the
phenomenon of reversed bremsstrahlung9. Much more recent, similar observations have been
made by other researchers, even on the phenomena of absorbing the braking radiation at a
very low level.
On the other hand, the aerospace engineers have been looking for technological
solutions to make the photonic rocket engine. From the beginning they noticed that a huge
7
L.I. Gudzenko and L.A. Shelepin, ”Amplification of Radiation in the Decay of a Maximally Ionized Plasma” in
Journal of Applied Mechanics and Technical Physics (1966), no. 7, p. 82.
8
Tokamak is a russian acronym which means тороидальная камера с магнитными катушками (toroidal
chamber with magnetic coils). Such a device is used in order to create a powerful magnetic field to confine the
hot plasma in the shape of a torus.
9
Typically, the bremsstrahlung phenomenon involves the emission of braking radiation formed by high
frequency photons. The reversed phenomenon involves the absorption of braking radiation, usually in the form
of the so-called recombination phenomena.
energy source is necessary and a whole new technology are needed to transform this energy
from one form into another and to obtain photons (the energy quanta) at the best possible
efficiency. A first solution was that of using the nuclear energy, but the calculations have
shown that only a very low yields can be obtained. Thus, some papers10 have provided some

Fig. 1 For a long time, the photonic missile11 was a purely theoretical solution, with no concrete possibilities to
achieve. In principle, to make a photonic missile, its engine must have a continuous flow of photons of
sufficiently energy to make a thrust force otherwise than negligible... For this, it was considered necessary to
convert a propellant into energy almost completely and to consider a very large mass ratio, which would mean
that the rocket is almost entirely composed of fuel . It must be remembered that for chemical rocket engines, the
ratio of the matter to energy conversion is in the order 10 8 , and in the case of nuclear reactions this ratio is
approx. 10 3 . However, there are known in the present physics some phenomena or processes involving mass-
energy transformations at much higher levels, such as the annihilation reaction (matter-antimatter) that can reach
the maximum percentage (100%). Starting from this observation, over the past 70 years such photonic rocket
engines have been imagined, such as the antimatter rocket engine shown in the picture: 1- the anti-Hydrogen
tank; 2- the Hydrogen tank; 3 – the magnetic field of protection for the anti-hydrogen tank; 4- the anti-Hydrogen
supply line provided with magnetic confinement field produced by a solenoid 3; the annihilation is made in the
focus of a large parabolic mirror 5; where the hydrogen is injected by the pump 6. After the annihilation process,
a part of the gamma particles are directed towards the mirror passing through the hydrogen layer at its surface,
and turning into light (photons) radiation. These photons are reflected by a mirror (a material capable of ensuring
the reflection at such a good yield remains to be invented ...); 7- is the liquid helium tank and 8 is the helium
pump, which is used for convective cooling of the device and providing a constant working temperature.

guidances on the performance of nuclear-powered photon engines. A first observation is

related to the very small ratio between the specific traction and the electric power: 3,3  10 6
N/kW, which means that for a 1 MW of photonic beam power it is possible to obtain a only
thrust of mili-Newton!
In the case of using a nuclear power plant of 100 MW at a 90% yield, with the  and
neutron radiation could be obtained photon fluxes with a total energy of about 2 MW which is
only 2% of the total power of the nuclear reactor, while the remaining 98% of the energy
turns into heat. Taking into account the thrust-to-power ratio mentioned above, is resulting
that the total thrust would be only 6,6  103 Newtons, and if we take into account the
dimensions and mass of a 100 MW nuclear reactor (without considering the rest of the
structure) we would have a ratio of traction-to-weight approx. 3,3  107 . If a portion of the
thermal energy of the nuclear reactor is used to form and maintain an electric arc of 6000
Kelvin, that can be a source of photons of 19.8 MW power (for a yield of about 20%) as in a
reflector, the photons thus obtained would generate a further traction of 65.34 mN. It was
considered that the other side of the thermal energy is a source of low-energy photons, and if
the photons were to be focused, however, we would get a thrust of 251 mN. Another
technological issue is the material of the reflective mirror... It was finally concluded that the

10
Gavril Maloș, Marius Ovidiu Mândrican, De la supersonic spre viteza luminii, Editura Tehnică, București,
1991, pp. 166-170.
11
After a drawing of Dumitru Andreescu, in Sport și Tehnică no. 7/1967.
realization of the photonic rocket engine can only be considered if we use the annihilation
reactions between matter and antimatter. But the antimatter is very difficult to obtain and to
store, and the plant capable of carrying out the annihilation reactions at a relatively high rate
of matter/antimatter is for the time being just a theoretical consideration.
The authors, however, retained the idea proposed by the Gudzenko-Shelepin team,
because, if applicable at the current technological level, it would allow the absorption by the
laser of the photons of high energy (frequency) which are in the braking radiation, thus
allowing an important reduction of the radiant energy that hits the walls of the thermonuclear
generators. Under the new conditions, that structure would not be thermally overloaded and
could therefore operate without risk for a long period of time. By accepting this hypothesis,
the authors will make a short break in the physics of thermonuclear phenomena and will
briefly examine the conditions that should be met for the reversed bremsstrahlung effect to
occur at a scale large enough to have applications in the thermonuclear technique.

3. Some characteristics of thermonuclear reactions

In order to produce a thermonuclear reaction, it is first of all necessary for two atomic
nuclei to come into contact, crashing due to thermal agitation 12, and the occurrence of such a
collision would be conditioned by several factors including: favorably, the kinetic energy
value of that nuclei, their degree of ionization, the tunneling effect of breaking the nuclear
potential barrier, the contribution of resonance effects; and unfavorably, by the small size of

Fig. 2 The electromagnetic accelerator invented by the romanian physicist Liciniu Ciplea and the amateur
researcher Valentin Manoliu13. It is made from an quartz coil filled with mercury: 1- mercury; 2- external quartz
wall; 3- the pipe wall made from quartz; 4- internal quartz wall; 5- ionized gas. Tha gas is ionized by the
ultraviolet (UV-C) emission in the center of quartz/mercury solenoid and also driven by the magnetic field. A
model of magnetic winding made with a pipe filled with mercury (with yellow), according the patent application
EP0 212716 of John Anthony Malko.

the nuclei, the potential barrier, the spreading effect, the low probability of the fusion reaction
triggering, etc. If, for simplicity, there are considered the nuclei to be some rigid spheres with
a radius of 10 13 cm for a "gas" having the concentration of N cei per cm 3 , characterized by
the (arithmetic) mean velocity v, then the number of collisions that one nucleus would suffer
is given by the relation:

z = 4 2 N  r 2  v (1)

and the electron mean free path is given by the relation

1
   (2)
4 2 N  r 2

12
Liciniu Ioan Ciplea, Procese termonucleare, Editura Tehnică, București 1975, p.33.
13
Valentin Manoliu, Obiecte zburătoare neidentificate, Editura Foton & InterContemPress, București, 1992.
 Fig. 3 A possible aspect of the US Air Force hypersonic vehicle: 1- hypersonic profile type caret, designed for
the waverider propulsion, possibly the Townend type; 2- surface equipped with a magnetohydrodynamic
installation comprising high voltage discharge armatures and superconducting windings; 3- on the upper side
wing may be a surface with Flower profile; 4- the air intake located near the leading edge; 5- gas exhaust from
the air jet engine through rectangular nozzles with reduced thermal image; 6- aerodynamic throttle (if they are
willing to the nozzle exhaust) or elevons; 7- the main engine nozzles; 8 – at the underside surface of wing, a
surface with variable geometry, able to become almost flat shape ability during take-off and landing; 9- the main
rocket engines (using Gudzenko-Shelepin technology) having controlled differential thrust, capable of making
the thrust vectoring; 10- the fin with triangular profile, which in some circumstances may have inside the
cockpit.

and from the application of these formulas it can be found that at a certain value of nucleus
density corresponding to the normal molecular density at the atmospheric sea-level pressure
(SIP- standard international pressure), and at the thermal velocity corresponding to the normal
room temperature, the frequency of collision between the nuclei will be much lesser than the
normal molecular collisions and  will have a very high value - practically such collisions of
nuclei do not occur. If, however, we obtain the thermonuclear plasma chamber assumed by
Gudzenko and Shelepin (with dimensions of 0.3 m in diameter and 2.3 m in length), this
would be characterized by a high pressure (p = nkT) and thermal conductivity. If the plasma
confinement (in order to keep it in the room of the indicated dimensions) could be achieved
by applying an outer magnetic field or the self-generated magnetic field in the plasma during
discharge, we could obtain the equilibrium condition14:

 0 T0 I 2
T= (3)
16 2 p0 r 2

and the power emitted by the thermal conductivity of the plasma would be

Pc  2k
 Te  T0   n  k    v Te  T0 
(4)
l2 l2
where T e is the temperature in the center of the plasma chamber, T 0 is the temperature near
the wall, which is located at a distance (radius) l from the center, n is the particle
concentration, k is the Boltzman constant, v is the particle velocity and  is the electron
mean free path. And if we apply a confining magnetic field to protect the walls, anyway, they
will be affected by the heat radiated by the thermonuclear plasma:

n  k    v Te  T0 
Pm 
 
1   2 2 l 2
(5)

14
Ioan Ioviț Popescu, Dumitru Ciobotaru, Bazele fizicii plasmei, Editura Tehnică, București 1987, p.250.
from which we can see that in the case of thermonuclear plasma with n = 10 15 cm 3 at a
particle velocity of 10 8 cm/sec, with T e -T 0 = 10 8 Kelvin, we shall obtain finally P m =
9,2 109 erg
but a still much lower value compared to the braking radiation.
l2 cm 3  sec

3. The braking radiation

The braking radiation is characteristic to the thermonuclear plasma, at high

temperatures where atoms are already fully ionized in the thermonuclear environment, thus
having a large number of electrons resulting from the intense ionization. When an electron is
braked in the columbian field of an ion or under the action of an outer magnetic field, it loses
energy by emitting a high frequency photon. If we take the case of an electron, the interaction
force with the ion at distance b is given by the relation

Ze
F (6)
b2

F Ze 2
from which shall result the deceleration a =  (7)
m mb 2

and for an interaction time that can be approximated as 2b/v (interaction distance divided by
the electron velocity) the interaction energy is:
2
2 e 2 2b  ZE 2 
   W    (8)
3 c 3 v  mb 2 

and further, considering that phenomena occur in a "gas" in which the particle density is large
enough to have multiple collisions due to successive collisions of the electrons with the ions
of density n, we obtain the sum of these collisions knowing that the number of collisions per
second is b 2 nv , from which we further obtain the power radiated by the electron:


4e 6 Z 2 1 8e 6 Z 2 nv
Pel  3 2 nv  3 2b  db  3 2 (9)
3c m v bmin b 3c m bmin
and considering that the minimum interaction distance is given by the Broglie wavelength,
then the radiated power of the electron becomes:

8 e 6 Z 2 nv
Pel  (10)
3 mc 3 h

from which, after introducing several successive corrections, we obtain that the braking power
of the plasma unit of volume is:

PRFR  1,7 10 34 Z 2 ne2Te1/ 2 [W / cm 3 ] (11)

or, according to Lyman Spitzer15, the same braking power would be calculated with the
relation:
1/ 2
 2kT  25 e 6
PRFR    Z 2 ne ni  1,42 10  27 Z 2 n 2T 1/ 2 [erg / cm 3  sec] (12)
 3me  3me hc 3

Fig. 4 A possible photon rocket engine: 1- the high frequency electron beam; 2- the free electrons laser of ultra
high frequency, bigger than the plasma frequency; 3- the magnetic longitudinal oscillator; 4- the high voltage Z-
Pinch discharge; 5- the bremsstrahlung is collected by the laser beam; 6- the inlet of gas or ionized gas (cold
plasma); 7- the Free Electrond Laser; 8- the magnetic compression device, type Z-Pinch; 9- the nozzle with
magnetic field protection; 10- the magnetic nozzle winding. This propulsion system operates in pulsating mode
in the form of sequences corresponding to the successive discharges of the Z-Pinch installation. This implies the
need to synchronize the working agent injection (ie hydrogen) and the high voltage discharges. The free electron
laser may have a specific low power but it must be characterized by a much higher frequency than the hot
plasma. The final stage (the magnetic nozzle) has only a protective role against the plasma shock wave at
exhaust; this jet having already a relativistic velocity and is composed largely of laser (coherent photon beam)
and gamma radiation, radiations that do not even respond to the action of the magnetic field.

In fact, col. Liciniu I. Ciplea16 also gave an example of the braking radiation loss
considering the case of a D-D thermonuclear reactor with a density of 10 15 part/cm 3 at a
kinetic temperature of 100 keV, such losses would be 4.8 Mw/m 3 of the reaction chamber
volume, which would mean an amount to 1147 kcal/sec, a heat release that could melt 36 tons
of Copper in just one hour of operation.

4. The reverse bremsstrahlung effect

Interestingly, this phenomenon which is considered a great inconvenience can act

under certain conditions in the opposite direction17, realizing the photons uptake. In fact, there
are several phenomena on the background of which the photon energy absorption can take
place in the plasma: the multi-photon ionisation, the inelastic diffusion, the reverse
synchrotrotron absorption, the anomalous absorption, etc. As we have seen before, fast
electrons emit photons when interacting with other particles in their proximity or under the
action of a magnetic field deflecting the electron, making it to change its trajectory and
braking it implicitly, but equally the free electrons can absorb photons.
Such phenomena have been studied since the 1970s and even applied to plasma
heating by methods other than increasing the discharge current or increasing the magnetic
induction applied externally. In the relatively recent period, the phenomena of photon

15
Lyman Spitzer, Physics of fully ionized gases, Interscience Publishers, New York, 1956.
16
Liciniu Ciplea, Procese termonucleare, Editura Tehnică, București 1975, p.142.
17
I.M. Popescu ș.a., Aplicații ale laserilor, Editura Tehnică, București 1979, pp.251-260.
absorption and the photoexcitation (cumulative) have been studied mainly in order to obtain
the thermonuclear plasma by laser bombardment over some deuterium-tritium targets.

Fig. 5 An installation of focalized18 plasma (left) consisting of: E- discharge system, A- the contact of the
external electrode, B- the contact with the inner electrode, v - plasma velocity; 1- insulator; 2-external electrode;
3- inner electrode; 4- focused plasma; 5- condenser banks. The variation of discharge current in time (right).

In the field of plasma19 interactions, the photons interact with atoms (ions) and
electrons, which selectively populate the excited states, produce the electron multiplication,
the negative ions destruction, the heat of the electrons that absorb light quanta. However, the
phenomenon of inverse brassstrahlung may also be manifested in a different way: by the
photon-photon interaction, in the sense of collecting and driving the photons emitted by the
braked electrons using an incident laser radiation.

Fig. 6 An improved model of MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) rocket engine: the gas is initially ionized by the
Radio High Frequency Chamber (RHFC), then, the cold plasma come to the Coaxial Z-Pinch Discharge
Chamber (CZPDC) where it is subjected to a high voltage discharge and the Z-Pinch (”the magnetic piston”)
phenomenon occurs; the thermonuclear plasma goes to the Divergent Magnetic Nozzle (DMN) where its speed
increases and the temperature drops; the final stage is the Magnetic Accelerator Bitter Coil (MABC) which
maintains the diameter of the plasma jet and continues to accelerate it. The problem occurs between CZPDC and
DMN, where the thermunuclear plasma emits the bremsstrahlung, this radiation (high frequency photons,
gamma and even neutrons) cannot be controled with the magnetic field and its interaction with the walls of the
device leads to the overheating.

This situation deserves to be investigated both theoretically and experimentally,

namely, the interaction between the ultra-high frequency laser beam and the emission of
photons from the braking radiation when these photons are and still in the thermonuclear
plasma. For this, it would be necessary for the laser beam to penetrate the thermonuclear

18
Ioan Ioviț Popescu, Dumitru Ciobotaru, Bazele fizicii plasmei, Editura Tehnică, București 1987, p.253.
19
Ibidem, pp.100-101.
plasma, otherwise the plasma is a reflective environment because it normally has a specific
frequency greater than the frequency of usual lasers. The plasma recombination phenomena
are generally known and presented in the scientific literature, but the problem of photon-
photon recombination is not treated as well. Obviously, it can not be an ad-literam
"recombination", but an interaction in the form of the driving of photons by others under
certain conditions.
What the author suggests, starting from the model proposed long ago by Gudzenko
and Shelepin, is that the transfer of photon energy into the thermonuclear plasma could be
done under certain conditions and other than by phenomena of interaction of photons with
ions or electrons .

5. The installation proposed by Gudzenko and Shelepin in 1967

In the mid-1960s, when the laser technology was just at beginning, the physicists
Gudzenko and Shelepin proposed a new type of laser to use plasma for amplification, as

Fig. 7 The laser model with thermonuclear amplification, proposed by the physicists Gudzenko and Shelepin: 1-
low power laser; 2-mirror; 3- cooling installation; 4- ultra-high frequency winding; 5- semi-transparent mirror;
6- low power laser beam; 7- electromagnet windings; 8-thermonuclear plasma; 9 - intense photon beam (high
power laser); 10-magnetic field; 11 - the amplifier block (with plasma environment) of the initial laser.

active environment. In fact, this idea was later20 resumed in articles, scientific
communications or other forms of dissemination of scientific information. Among other
things, they even proposed applications for this new type of laser in the field of aerospace
propulsion; they believed that on this principle a laser-photonic rocket engine could be built,
starting from a low-power laser, by amplifying its beam into a thermonuclear plasma and
obtaining an extremely high photonic jet. It is known that light can theoretically produce a
thrust, but very low values, according to the report:

FRL  3,3 10 6 N / kW (13)

It can easily be ascertained that light beams of extremely high power would be needed
to obtain a thrust other than negligible. But similar ideas21 came much later by researchers
from the Occident who also saw the need for the laser beam to be emitted at a sufficiently
short pulse so that the plasma frequency does not become a reflective environment. In the
author's opinion,
with the current or future improvements to the Free Electron Laser (FEL), this type of laser
will be able one day to work at particularly high frequencies, this value being given by the
initial frequency of the electrons from which comes the photon emission. In fact, even FEL, is
20
Gudzenko L I, Shelepin L A, Yakovlenko S.I., „Amplification in recombining plasmas (plasma lasers)"
Sov. Phys. Usp. 18 848–863 (1975)
21
G. Shvets, N. J. Fisch, A. Pukhov și J. Meyer-ter-Vehn în articolul „Superradiant Amplification of an
Ultrashort Laser Pulse in a Plasma by a Counterpropagating Pump”, publicat de Physical review letters,1998.
an example of how the braking radiation can be captured and forced to move in the same
direction and sense. After all, principally, the FEL is based precisely on using the braking
radiation (more precisely, the synchrotron radiation) which is collected and driven in a single
direction by a laser beam outside of the "longitudinal oscillator".

Fig. 8 An improved model of Free Electrons Laser according the patent US 4189686 (1980, February 19th)
granted to Charles Brau, Stephen Rockwood and William Stein for Combination free electron and gaseous laser.
The combination laser provides high pulse repetition frequencies, high power capability, high efficiency,
tunability.

This outer beam can drive the photons of synchrotron radiation on the longitudinal
axis, virtually amplifying and resulting a very high power beam. We can say that the laser
model proposed almost 50 years ago by Gudzenko and Shelepin, was similar to the principle
of operation with FEL, but worked with an active environment that generates much higher
braking radiation (thermonuclear plasma) than the synchrotron radiation emitted inside the
longitudinal oscillator of FEL. Indeed, within the thermonuclear plasma environment, we
have energies with at least 100 orders of magnitude larger!

6. Possible applications

If the author's assessments and hypothesis prove to be correct, the extremely high-
energy radiation emitted by the nuclear plasma can be collected by an incident laser beam,
just as it happens in the case of the Free Electron Laser (for the synchrotron radiation with
which it works) then it will be possible to perform applications especially in the following
fields:
-in energetics (the final realization of the controlled thermonuclear fusion);
-in the field of the aerospace propulsion and military technique (obtaining continuous
operation lasers or pulsating lasers, capable of working at extremely high powers).
However, in order to achieve such devices, it is necessary first to solve some technical
problems related to obtaining the thermonuclear plasma and to work with very large magnetic
inductions. It is known that the plasma heating has always raised major technological
problems and its magnetic confinement has often claimed expensive solutions or involving
other prerogatives, such as increasing the volume and the total mass of the plant, increasing
the manufacturing costs and especially those of equipment operation and maintenance, etc.

In order to reduce or eliminate such issues, the following are required:

1. to make a plasma source capable of easily obtaining the thermonuclear plasma without
exorbitant consumption and without raising complicated technological problems;
 Fig. 9 Another model of improved Free Electrons Laser according to the patent US 4,367,551 (1983, January
4th) granted to Avraham Gover (Israel) for an Electrostatic free electron laser. This device produces a
periodic longitudinal electrostatic field along the waveguide and an electron beam which passes through the
waveguide.

2. solving the problem of confining magnetic field, without resorting to very complicated
and expensive technologies involving the use of superconductors, cryogenic cooling
and thermostatic installations etc.;

Fig. 10 Another improved model of Free Electrons Laser according the patent US 4,442,522 (1984, April 10th)
granted to Charles Brau, Norman Kurnit and Richard Cooper, for an Circular Free Electron Laser which uses a
relativistic electron beam accelerator and a circular whispering mode optical waveguide for guiding the optical
energy.

3. using a primary laser (the laser source capable of being amplified later) capable of
working at the highest frequency, including the ability to work in pulses.
In order to meet these requirements, the author considered the following possibilities:
-instead of using one or the other types of plasmatrons equipped with plasma superheat
installations, it may be used an co-axial installation type Z-Pinch (see Figure 5 and 6) with
pulse operation; it offers plasma pulses close to the thermonuclear plasma regimen without
the need for heavy electromagnetic installations, because this simply applies the self-
generated magnetic field in plasma (which is the basis of the self-confining phenomenon of
plasma, that is the "Pinch"); the eventual realization of the plasma source type Z-Pinch (pulse
discharge chamber) would solve both the plasma problem and the confined magnetic field;
however, there is in this case the problem of the short lifetime of the hot plasma generated by
the pinch phenomenon;
 Fig. 11 A possible rocket engine based on Gudzenko-Shelepin theory.

-for the high-frequency primary laser, the authors do not see yet any solution other than
establishing directions for improving the FEL (Free Electron Laser) so that it can work at
much higher frequencies than today FEL models.
In order to solve the impediment of the short life of the Z-Pinch plasma and that of the
still inadequately low frequency of the primary laser (FEL), there would be a solution that
both devices work in synchronized pulses between them, simultaneously emitting short
pulses. But how short so that the desired physical phenomena can be produced?
Returning to the analysis of the observations made in 1992 regarding the unidentified
aerospace vehicles (the hypothetic X-33 Aurora) whose contrails were seen in the sky and
signaled by the radar, we can say that the propulsion system shown in the Figures 4 and 7
perfectly explains the following aspects:
-how the rocket engine emits pulses;
-why this propulsion system can operate in the upper atmosphere (50-90 km altitude) where
the atmospheric gases are so rarefied that they can not be used by an air jet engine;
-how the contrail exhausted from the engine can interact with the radar emission and can be
seen on the radar screen;
-how such a propulsion system can operate at very low mass flows (aprox. 1-1.5 grams/sec)
and therefore the aerospace vehicle can be compact, without the need for large volume tanks;
-how such a vehicle can easily be inserted oa the LEO (Low Earth Orbit) without the need for
launch facilities or rocket launchers, take-off accelerators (boosters), and other elements that
are used in the classic space techniques.
Therefore, if it exists, it is very likely that the X-33 Aurora aerospace vehicle will be
endowed with a propulsion system of the type we have presented in this paper. Even if this
hypothetical vehicle does not exist or it is propelled by another type of engine, our analysis
highlights a promising technology that we should consider in the future.

Conclusions

The authors will not dare to think that we have suggested the best and directly
applicable solutions, but at least we have tried to draw attention to the results of the past
scientific research, which may have been unjustly forgotten. We also admitted that Gudzenko
and Shelepin did not commit any fundamental error in their reasoning and we took this as a
working hypothesis. The brief, rudimentary analysis was to review general data on the
underlying phenomena of the formation of the braking radiation (bremsstrahlung) and the
ways in which the interaction processes occur in the hot plasma between the photons or with
them. And the possible applications of these phenomena.
Last but not least, we have recourse to a deductive reasoning (in relation to the mode
of photons are driven by the action of other photons) but also to an analogy related to similar
physical phenomena applied in the FEL scheme, at much lower energies. We believe that in
the end only the opening of this discussion would be a success in itself, as it would draw
attention to possible research directions that are still underutilized.

Bibliography

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Editura Springer, 2010.
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București 1979.
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(Introductions in the Laser and Maser technics, theory and applications), Litografia
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theory of a highly ionized hydrogen plasma”, Journal of Applied Mechanics and
Technical Physics, Volume 9, Issue 6, 1968.
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Maximally Ionized Plasma”, Journal of Applied Mechanics and Technical Physics, 7,
82, 1966.
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recombining plasmas (plasma lasers)”, SOV PHYS USPEKHI, 17 (6), 1975.
11- Roy Whitney, David Douglas, George Neil, ”Airborne megawatt class free-electron
laser for defense and security”, in Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 5792, 2005.
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13- F. V. Bunkin, V. I. Derzhiev, S. A. Mayorov and S. I. Yakovlenko, ”Radiation
overcooling of bulk-ionised multiply charged ion plasma” in Journal of Physics B:
Atomic and Molecular Physics, Vol.20, Issue 12, June, 28, 1987.
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Patents (inventor, patent number, title, publication date)

16- Charles Brau, Stephen Rockwood, William Stein, US 4,189,686, Combination free
electron laser and gaseous laser, February, 19, 1980.
 17- Charles Brau, Donald Swenson, Thomas Boyd, US 4,287,488, RF feedback free
electrons laser, September, 1, 1981.
18- Avraham Gover, US 4,367,551, Electrostatic free electrons laser, January, 4, 1983.
19- Charles Brau, Norman Kurnit, Richard Cooper, US 4,442,522, Circular free electrons
laser, April, 1o, 1984.
20- Todd Smith, Luis Elias, John Madey, US 4,449,219, Free electrons laser, May, 15,
1984.
21- Charles Brau, Donald Swenson, Thomas Boyd, US 4,479,218, Free electrons laser
using RF coupled accelerating and decelarating structures, October, 23, 1984.
22- John Madey, US 4,479,219, Excitation cancelling free electron laser, October, 23,
1984.
23- Abraham Szoke, Donald Prosnitz, US 4,500,843, Multifrequency single pass free
electrons laser, February, 19, 1985.
24- Donald Prosnitz, Abraham Szoke, US 4,506,229, Free electrons laser designs for laser
amplification, March, 19, 1985.
25- Anup Bhowmik, Wayne McMullin, US 4,698,815, Efficency enhanced free electrons
laser, October, 6, 1987.
26- John Madey, David Deacon, Michel Velghe, Michel Billardon, Yves Petroff, Jean
Michel Ortega, Pascal Elleaume, Claude Bazin, Maurice Bergher, US 4,740,973, Free
electrons laser, April, 26, 1988.
27- Francesco Villa, US 4,972,420, Free electrons laser, November, 20, 1990.
28- John Madey, Eric Brent Szarmes, Orion Crissafulli, US 2002/0191650, Phase
displacement free electrons laser, December, 19, 2002.

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Submission ID: 8640

Title: NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR MILITARY AEROSPACE VEHICLES AND PLASMA WEAPONS:
APPLICATIONS OF PHOTON-PHOTON RECOMBINATION IN THERMONUCLEAR PLASMA
Student: T
Author 1 (CONTACT AUTHOR)
Name: Lucian Ștefan COZMA
Org: Bucharest University, Faculty of Physics
Country: Romania
Email:[email protected]
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Contact Phone: 0736558128
Keywords: thermonuclear fusion, aerospace vehicle, photon propulsion,
plasma weapons,bracking radiation
Abstract: The warfare environment tends to become multidimensional and the
modern war becomes more and more atypical, unfolding concurrently in
material and non-material environments of a very different nature. Among
these environments where the modern conflict unfolds, there is the outer
space. And not just the cosmic space, but also the upper atmosphere of the
Earth, at the boundary between the atmosphere and the space. In this
rarefied and hard-to-reach environment, the actors of the conflict theater
can send automated or piloted devices capable of the most diverse military
missions, such as spying, strategic bombing, infiltration, remote
reconnaissance, and so on. But making such an aerospace vehicle can no
longer be done by applying classical technologies.
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