From:	William Monroe Ashe <wma6617@****.TAMU.EDU>
Subject:	Re: MP laser & mirrors
Date:	Fri, 11 Jul 1997 08:39:55 -0500

On Fri, 11 Jul 1997, Raven wrote:

>
> The Problem with this is, Lasers-Beams are _really_ hot (they cook
> the victim away), so you'll need very good and heat resistable
> Mirrors for that one, Plastic will melt and the silver-coating of
> normal mirrors will burn away. All IMHO of course :)

Actually that is not quite true, I work with lasers all of the time, the
thing is the "energy density" i.e. how much energy you pack into some
area. For a laser weapon to work, it must have a very tight focus right
at te impact point. If not, all a person would get is a mild burn.
Now, as I understand it the Ares MP-2 laser is an ultraviolet laser. UV
lasers are particulary dispersive in air. So the beam would have to be
very carefully focussed.

Game wise that is not a problem, couple the laser focussing optics
to a range finder and *whammo* you're a crispy critter. But, anywhere
except at the focus point the beam would be "rather" broad, and could be
reflected quite easily.
Now certain metals relfect UV light very well others don't. The
best UV mirrors are front surfaced aluminum. Silver absorbs very
strongly at certain UV. In fact most commercial mirrors are now aluminum.

If you want more info, e-mail me privatly. We could post a summary to
the list when we're done.


Regards

William Ashe (Bill)
Stored Ion and Laser Physics Lab
Texas A&M University