Frequency Range Analysis for Power Transmission by an Electromagnetic Beam VALENTIN V. RYBAKOV & ANDREY P. SMAKHTIN+ Recently, interest has been triggered in the possibility of using electromagnetic radiation not only to transmit information but also to transmit power. This was provoked by recent successes in generating and transmitting energy as well as the development of a radically new method solving a number of technical problems in obtaining / gathering power and transmitting it. Possible areas, in which the use of electromagnetic radiation seems to be very promising, include its use in different industrial processes connected with heating and treating different materials. Examples of where electromagnetic radiation could be used are the food industry, the chemical industry in intensifing the course of chemical reactions, in medicine, in different physical investigations including experiments in thermonuclear synthesis, in projects creating radically new methods of transport, etc. From this variety of problems we single out onlv those for which it is not possible to obtain solutions with any other methods without using electromagnetic radiation power. One can expand from these to the more general project of getting energy produced in space down to Earth and the inverse problem of transmitting energy from Earth to aboard a spacecraft. This also includes the project of transmitting energy from one spacecraft to another, transporting power two distant regions of Earth using an orbital reflector, and a number of analogous problems. It is obvious that any solution is very complex both scientifically and technically, and depends on a great number of factors. One of these is the correct choice of frequency for the electromagnetic beam. After looking at the above projects, analysing possible frequency ranges and choosing a working frequency, it is expedient to single out two different sets of transmission problems, the first of which requires transmission of power through space, the second set in which power is transmitted through the Earth’s atmosphere. In this report, we limit ouselves to considering the latter set of problems. It is obvious that the choice of working electromagnetic radiation frequency depends on a number of factors, the first of which is the the nature of the interaction between the beam and the Earth’s atmosphere, as well as how this affects propagation of the beam. From analyzing the above processes and comparing the corresponding characteristics at both microwave and optical ranges, it is discovered that radiation at optical frequencies is very intensively absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere and f Engines and Power Plants for Aerospace Flying Vehicles Dept. Moscow Aviation Institute 4, Volokolamskow shosse, 125871, Moscow Russia Republic.
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