A Directed Energy (DE) system able to remotely disrupt packaged electronics in a realistic target in less than a few milliseconds are of interest, especially if the solution may be scaled to neutralize targets more than 1 km away. The long dwell times as well as high electrical and cooling requirements associated with high power microwave and continuous wave (CW) laser systems restrict their deployment in the field. In contrast, with ultra-short pulsed systems, the interaction between a laser pulse and a material can generate localized RF radiation to disrupt nearby electronics in a single-shot strategy thereby reducing the dwell time to less than a millisecond. Applied Energetics, Inc. (hereafter, AE) and the University of Central Florida (hereafter, UCF) have recently made significant progress in exploring a new paradigm of ultrafast laser filamentation propagation and interaction science. In particular, the properties of phase modified filament generation open a venue for ultrafast filament interaction at distances of a kilometer or more. In experiments in the lab at short-intermediate ranges, we have seen significant RF, microwave and acoustic generation effects produced in this filamentation regime for the disruption of electronic devices.
