Researchers at the Naval fact-finding Laboratory claim to have come up with a better tool for underwater acoustics. The new system uses laser light to create sound underwater from a distance. This raise efficiency could allow planes a much easier method of communicating with submarines without the need for a floating buoy. "Efficient conversion of light into sound can be achieved by concentrating the light sufficiently to ionize a small amount of water, which then absorbs laser energy and superheats. The result is a small explosion of steam, which can breed a 220 decibel pulse of sound. Optical sound sound sound of water can be manipulated with very intense laser light to act like a focusing lens, allowing nonlinear self-focusing (NSF) to take place. In addition, the slightly inventive colors of the laser, which travel at newfangled speeds in water due to group velocity dispersion (GVD), can be arranged so that the pulse also compresses in time as it travels through water, further concentrating the light. By using a conjugation of GVD and NSF, drug underwater compression of optical pulses can be attained."

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