In tests conducted at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, scientists transmitted a high-energy laser beam through optical fiber.
Scientists from the Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and STI Optronics in Seattle sent a chemical oxygen-iodine laser, emitting at 7.36 kW, through a 900-µm-diameter fiber over a distance of 6 ft. The resulting beam was strong enough to cut a 1/2-in. stainless steel plate.