I suppose you can do time-sharing. And use mems-mirrors to quickly move the beam between different targets.
replyLaser TDMA! :-)
replyYou can probably do phased arrays. (It might already be a phased array.)
replyPretty sure phased array LASERs are not yet a thing.
replyI was not sure, but they are!
replyhttps://cga.anu.edu.au/research/activities/laser-beam-steeri...
https://www.darpa.mil/research/programs/excalibur
I guess in some ways even the fancy multi diode fiber lasers are phased arrays, just with the single goal of higher output power.
Looks like these are in early development and nowhere near ready like this test was.
replyLasers are coherent emitters; you can definitely make interference patterns with them, so I don't see why LASER MIMO wouldn't be possible, in theory.
replyYeah but this is research, if they're to come up somewhere, where else would it be?
replyIf starlink satellites get laser downlink, it might work :P
replylaser downlink to one point, isn't it? Not to 300 moving aircrafts at once.
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