The Emerging Strategic Balance
light. Indubitably the strategic balance between the two super powers is the most important strategic equation obtaining today. What differentiates the nuclear forces of the super powers from other nuclear powers is not the overwhelmingly larger number of atomic weapons available with them, but their technological capability quickly to reach higher levels of sophistication which can be attained by other nuclear powers only with very great difhculty. Besides intercontinental missiles (ICBMs), multiple warhead systems (MIRVs) and anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems, they have at present reconnaissance satellites, communication satellites and satellite inter-
Can Nuclear Deterrence Last Out The Century
The autumn of last year marked half the road from the beginning of the nuclear era to the year 2000. Mankind has been spared nuclear devastation since the annihilation of two Japanese cities by the only two nuclear weapons then existing. But the destructiveness of nuclear arsenals, now increased many thousandfold, has sunk into human consciousness like man’s knowledge of his mortality.
An analytical approach to the design of electrodes in high-power, fast-transverse-flow CO2 lasers
Abstract Usually, the design of the electrodes of fast-transverse-flow CO 2 lasers relies more on experimental data than on theoretical analysis. Traditional systems sustain a stable, high-power discharge but the current distribution generates a peaked, non-uniform small-signal-gain pattern. We present a theoretical model suitable for the design of electrodes that achieves a quasi uniform gain distribution. The analysis, based on a two-temperature model and the gas-transport equations, computes the electron density that supports a flat gain pattern. Combining the desired electron density with the electron-balance equations, the model determines the required electric field. The results were used to design a new set of electrodes for a home-made fast transverse flow CO 2 laser. A stable, large volume discharge ( 4 × 8 × 90 cm 3 ) with very good uniformity was obtained. The resulting gain distribution was registered in a bi-dimensional map. The peak gain rose from 1.2 m - 1 , attained with the old electrode set, to 1.6 m - 1 with the new one and the gain showed a homogeneous profile.