Inginuity at it's finest

[Gorak]

http://www.ted.com/talks/nathan_myhrvold_could_this_laser_zap_malaria.html

[Twilight Shadow]

Ingenuity. That is awesome, just destroys their wings like that.Goodbye mosquitos >:D

[Shadow]

I work in a femtosecond laser lab!

[Twilight Shadow]

Sweet so have they started using them in civil areas or just in the lab still?

[Shadow]

Lol, I don't work in -that- femtosecond laser lab..

[Twilight Shadow]

Ok you did not specify. :P

[Gen. Volkov]

Well, I guess it could work, but shooting one mosquito at a time seems a rather labor-intensive process.

[Shadow]

remember that this is a femtosecond laser ^_^

As in, it can fire hundreds of thousands or millions of times per second - the only thing limiting it is the time it takes to aim.

[Gen. Volkov]

Actually it can fire quadrillions of times a second, but it's irrelevant because the computer has to be able to track each individual mosquito. They've proven they can track some mosquitos, but there are billions of mosquitos, and if one mosquito is in front of another, it could pass through the barrier while the first mosquito is being killed. It's called saturation of defenses. Statistically, some are going to get through. Some sort of area-denial system on the other hand, would be more effective, like a laser that is lethal to mosquitos but harmless to humans that sweeps through an area hundreds or thousands of times a second.

[Twilight Shadow]

Yes this is true and the chances are pretty low for a mosquito to cross behind another mosquito.  A barrier is difficult to create for a entire area but could be set up from the ground... up but not across the area.

[Shadow]

Actually it can fire quadrillions of times a second, but it's irrelevant because the computer has to be able to track each individual mosquito. They've proven they can track some mosquitos, but there are billions of mosquitos, and if one mosquito is in front of another, it could pass through the barrier while the first mosquito is being killed. It's called saturation of defenses. Statistically, some are going to get through. Some sort of area-denial system on the other hand, would be more effective, like a laser that is lethal to mosquitos but harmless to humans that sweeps through an area hundreds or thousands of times a second.

You are assuming that the barrier is a plane. While it showed as such in the schematics, there is no real reason for that to be true. So yes, it won't kill them all, but it can scan a 3D vollume and kill selectively quite easily.

I don't think a femtosecond laser can actually fire once per femtosecond, though ^_^ That is just a measure of the pulse duration, not the firing frequency.

I don't know of any way to have a laser harm only certain tissue over a large volume selectively without having a targeting system. Maybe it is possible though.

[Gen. Volkov]

I don't know of any way to have a laser harm only certain tissue over a large volume selectively without having a targeting system. Maybe it is possible though.

Pretty simple really, mosquitos are a lot more fragile than humans. Takes much less energy to harm one. It's just a matter of power settings. High enough to kill a mosquito, low enough to be harmless to humans.

You are assuming that the barrier is a plane. While it showed as such in the schematics, there is no real reason for that to be true. So yes, it won't kill them all, but it can scan a 3D vollume and kill selectively quite easily.

A 3D space just complicates the matter even further. A femtosecond laser would then have to swivel and fire at the mosquitos, and the computer would have to track mosquitos in a 3D space. This increases  tracking time and reduces aim time, which reduces, not increases the kill rate. A 3D space would just complicate the matter further, a 2D plane is difficult enough as is.

I don't think a femtosecond laser can actually fire once per femtosecond, though ^_^ That is just a measure of the pulse duration, not the firing frequency.

Technically speaking, a femtosecond laser can fire a femtosecond pulse in a series, which would be quite high rate of fire, on the order of a pulse every femtosecond or so. Realistically speaking, the laser could probably only fire a few tens of times or maybe a hundred times a second, due too recharge times.

[Shadow]

A 3D space would just complicate the matter further, a 2D plane is difficult enough as is

The targetting system they showcased covered a 3D volume.

Pretty simple really, mosquitos are a lot more fragile than humans. Takes much less energy to harm one. It's just a matter of power settings. High enough to kill a mosquito, low enough to be harmless to humans.

I think you run the risk of burning things like dead leaves and grass if you do something like this. As well as destroying things that are beneficial, such as honey bees.

Technically speaking, a femtosecond laser can fire a femtosecond pulse in a series, which would be quite high rate of fire, on the order of a pulse every femtosecond or so. Realistically speaking, the laser could probably only fire a few tens of times or maybe a hundred times a second, due too recharge times.

Most papers I have read speak of firing frequencies of a few hundred kilohertz.

[Gorak]

if you combine mulitle lasers with decent processing power, it could be highly effective.

if you put it out in the bush in northern BC in late spring, yeah, it's not going to kill them all. It will prolly burn out without making a dent in the population.
but, using multiple devices in a perimeter around my backyard...
a few may squeek through, but nothing compared to what I normally have to deal with.

so combined with campaignes to drain standing water where ever possible, spraying vegetable oil on standing water that cannot be drained, and a laser defence parimeter system, I might be able to leave my window open at night :wink:

[Gen. Volkov]

The targetting system they showcased covered a 3D volume.

Very small 3D volume, and it couldn't even get every mosquito in it.

I think you run the risk of burning things like dead leaves and grass if you do something like this. As well as destroying things that are beneficial, such as honey bees.

My idea was more there was a specific area that it fired into, that could be kept free of inflammable materials for the most part. As for honey bees... mosquitos are a lot smaller than honey bees, it takes more to kill a honey bee than it does a mosquito.

Most papers I have read speak of firing frequencies of a few hundred kilohertz.

That sounds a little optimistic to me, but meh.