Scientists close in on new technology that uses lasers to propel submarines

Engineers from a university are reportedly closing in on a technology breakthrough that would enable submarines to travel as quick as a jet.

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A new report from the South China Morning Post reveals engineers from Harbin Engineering University in Heilongjiang province are nearing the final designs of a new system that uses lasers to propel submarines to extreme speeds.

So, how does it work? Lasers generate plasma underwater that results in a "detonation wave" being produced. This wave has the potential to propel an object underwater, but for the 20 years it has been researched, engineers have struggled to come up with a design that can direct the generated force in a specific direction.

However, Harbin researchers believe they are close to unlocking the technology, as a new paper published in China's Acta Optica Sinica journal, submarines could be coated in optic fibers thinner than a single strand of hair. The team writes this design would generate 70,000 newtons of thrust using only 2 megawatts of laser power. 70,000 newtons is slightly less than a commercial jet engine.

The technology doesn't stop there, though, as reports indicate that directed laser energy used as a propulsion method for submarines would create "supercavitation," or the process of bubbles coating the surface of an object moving through water.

Supercavitation would enable the submarine to travel through the water at a higher velocity, potentially even faster than the speed of sound. Furthermore, without any mechanical power, it wouldn't produce any underwater noise vibrations, making the submarine even harder to detect.