政府和商业方面的人士都证实了军方对研制粒子束武器感兴趣。然而,《航空周刊和空间技术》5月2日那期上有篇文章说苏联即将部署粒子束武器,这却被认为是“耸人听闻”。本刊接触到的科学家和工程师们只在一方面看法一致,就是都不清楚怎样才能搞成带电粒子束武器。在加利福尼亚州帕洛阿托从事民用的斯坦福线性加速器(SLAC)工作的伯顿·理奇特,诺贝尔奖金的获得者,认为这个问题涉及到一些“难处理的等离子物理学。如果你能够 Both government and business have confirmed the military’s interest in developing particle beam weapons. However, an article in Aviation Week and Space Technology’s May 2 issue states that the Soviet Union is about to deploy a particle beam weapon, which is considered “sensational.” The only scientists and engineers contacted by our magazine agree on the one hand that it is unclear how to make a charged particle beam weapon. Burton Rachel, a Nobel laureate who works on civilian SLANs in Palo Alto, Calif., Thinks the problem involves some “difficult plasma physics.” If you can