Relativistic electron beams are streams of

electrons The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no ...

moving at relativistic speeds. They are the lasing medium in

free electron laser A free-electron laser (FEL) is a (fourth generation) light source producing extremely brilliant and short pulses of radiation. An FEL functions and behaves in many ways like a laser, but instead of using stimulated emission from atomic or molecula ...

s to be used in atmospheric research conducted at entities such as the Pan-oceanic Environmental and Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

. It has been suggested that relativistic electron beams could be used to heat and accelerate the

reaction mass Working mass, also referred to as reaction mass, is a mass against which a system operates in order to produce acceleration. In the case of a chemical rocket, for example, the reaction mass is the Product (chemistry), product of the burned fuel sh ...

in electrical rocket engines that Dr. Robert W. Bussard called quiet electric-discharge engines (QEDs).

References

External links

PEARL Lab @ UHawaiiApplying REBs for the development of high-powered microwaves (HPM)
Electron beam Quantum mechanics Special relativity {{quantum-stub