Directed Energy

Resources to Download

Directed Energy Applications Overview 

Whitepaper, "Specifying a Capacitor for Direct Energy Applications"

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Supported Platforms

Compact size allows our capacitors to be placed close to the emitter, minimizing losses due to long wires or traces

Ultra-low ESR; minimizes voltage droop

No current limit; can be discharged into a dead  short repeatedly without damage

Reliable across a wide temperature range 

Ruggedized to withstand high altitude, extreme shock, and vibration

Hermetically sealed—RAD hard

High reliability; very low mean time between  failure (MTBF)

Long service life

Unlimited shelf life

Military and aerospace engineers of directed- energy applications—including high-power pulse microwave, electromagnetic pulse, laser targeting systems and weapons, LIDAR, and more—must  design systems capable of storing a large amount of power that can be dispersed quickly in SWaP-optimized and ruggedized packages.

Our Solution 

Quantic™ Evans capacitors are perfectly suited to power today’s cutting edge directed energy applications. SWaP-optimized and the most power dense in the industry, their compact size allows them to be placed close to the active elements, thereby minimizing losses due to long wires or traces. Their ultra-low ESR minimizes droop during the transmit pulse cycle. They have no current limit and can be discharged into a dead short repeatedly without damage.

Directed Energy (DE) covers a wide range  of technologies, including High Power Microwave (HPM), Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), and LASER, to name a few. There are also several subsets of each of these DE technologies. Each technology is different, but they all serve the same basic purpose: performing tasks on a target with highly focused energy.

The premise of DE is using a large amount of energy in a short period of time to execute a task. Power is defined as energy over time. The more energy that can be delivered within a given time frame, the higher the power. In other words, DE systems require a significant amount of power.

While batteries store a considerable amount of energy, they are unable to deliver it quickly. Similarly, generators are inefficient in delivering high levels of power. But capacitors are the ultimate high-power devices because they deliver large amounts of stored energy rapidly and repeatedly.  As a result, capacitors play a vital role in DE systems, and Quantic Evans hybrid wet tantalum capacitors are particularly well suited for these applications.

Traditional weapons technologies relied  on kinetic weapons and explosives to disable targets. But the modern battlefield has changed. Now, with advanced DE weapons and surveillance-and-threat-protection technologies, we have significantly advanced our ability to keep war fighters safe, and improve  their ability to execute missions accurately while minimizing collateral damage.

DE applications are not limited to the battlefield. Several research projects use high-power lasers to study nuclear fusion, and new medical treatments, among others. Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems use lasers to create 3D mappings of the environment. This technology is increasingly being  used in autonomous vehicles.