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Directed energy

High-power lasers and microwaves used as beams that act at a distance.

China leads directed energy research, with 57.5% of the 10% most cited papers published 2021–2025; Germany is second with 5.6%.

Added 14 October 2026. Its top papers were checked for relevance by AI, but its keywords and topic list have not yet been reviewed by hand.

CN
FirstChina57.5%
DE
SecondGermany5.6%
10.3×lead, by share of the 10% most cited papers, 2021–2025
Small sample: 92 papers. Small gaps are noise.

Standings

1CNChina57.5%2DEGermany5.6%3–4GBUnited Kingdom4.3%3–4USUnited States4.3%5–6INIndia3.3%5–6RURussia3.2%7–9KRSouth Korea2.2%7–9NLNetherlands2.2%7–9CHSwitzerland1.6%10–21PTPortugal1.1%

Share of the 10% most cited papers, 2021–2025; 92 papers. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method

Year by year

About 18 papers a year. Single-year moves are noise.

China

020406080% China 66.6%

Everyone else, on a larger scale

01020% 20212022202320242025 United States 4.5%India 4.5%United Kingdom 0.7%Germany 0.0%Russia 0.0%

Share of the 10% most cited papers published in each year. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method

Inside the field

Always the top 10%Pilot

Each paper sorted into one sub-area by an AI model reading its title and abstract, then credited as usual. On 200 hand-labelled papers it chose the same sub-area, or a defensible second, 92% of the time.

Sub-areaPapersFirstSecondThird
Solid-state, Raman and diode lasers (incl. gain crystals)19CNChina39.9%GBUnited Kingdom9.7%PTPortugal5.3%
High-power microwave sources14CNChina71.4%RURussia7.1%INIndia7.1%
Hollow-core and specialty fibres for power delivery13CNChina49.1%GBUnited Kingdom16.5%USUnited States6.4%
High-power fibre lasers and amplifiers12CNChina51.9%DEGermany16.7%USUnited States8.3%
Pulsed power, microwave effects and protection10CNChina69.2%KRSouth Korea10.0%INIndia10.0%
Optical coatings, laser damage and high-power optics10CNChina68.9%USUnited States11.1%INIndia10.0%

Share of each sub-area's papers in the top 10%. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method

Earlier and recent

Small sample: 42 papers in one period.

The same top 10%, split into 2021–2023 and 2024–2025.

FallingRising2021–20232024–2025Change
CNChina 52.8%63.1%+10.4 pts
DEGermany 10.2%0.0%−10.2 pts
GBUnited Kingdom 5.1%3.4%−1.7 pts
USUnited States 5.9%2.4%−3.5 pts
INIndia 4.0%2.4%−1.6 pts
RURussia 5.9%0.0%−5.9 pts
KRSouth Korea 2.0%2.4%+0.4 pts
NLNetherlands 0.0%4.8%+4.8 pts

Greyed rows rest on fewer than five papers of credit in one period.

Share of the 10% most cited papers: 50 papers in 2021–2023, 42 in 2024–2025. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method

2026 so far: a different count

Not the most cited papers: every 2026 paper matched so far (153), and a paper counts in full for each country on it. This year's papers are too new to rank by citations, so these shares cannot be compared with the ones above.

  1. CNChina64.1%of 2026 papers have an author here
  2. INIndia5.9%of 2026 papers have an author here
  3. RURussia3.9%of 2026 papers have an author here
  4. USUnited States3.9%of 2026 papers have an author here
  5. SGSingapore2.6%of 2026 papers have an author here

Who cites the top papers

How much more often a country's top papers are cited from home than its size predicts. Expected is the country's share of all papers in the field; the bar is the excess, in percentage points. Home citers include authors citing their own earlier work.

HomeExpectedExcess
CNChina 69.2%62.7%+6.5

Based on up to 100 of each country's most cited single-country papers in the top 10%. Source: OpenAlex, pulled 18 October 2026. Method

Behind the share

Institutions with the most credit

  1. 1CNNational University of Defense Technology12.3%
  2. 2CNChinese Academy of SciencesGovernment lab3.9%
  3. 3CNUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences3.3%
  4. 4CNBeijing University of Technology3.3%
  5. 5CNHebei University of Technology3.2%
  6. 6CNNorthwest Institute of Nuclear TechnologyResearch facility2.5%
  7. 7CNNaval University of Engineering2.2%
  8. 8CNXi'an Jiaotong University2.2%
  9. 9GBUniversity of Southampton2.2%
  10. 10NLUniversity of Twente2.2%

Share of the top 10%. Institutions across all 45 technologies

Who does the work

SectorAllCNDEGB
Universities71.2%
79.5%
32.3%
89.3%
Research facilities21.1%
11.9%
42.1%
10.7%
Government labs5.4%
8.0%
1.2%
0%
Non-profits1.5%
0%
24.3%
0%

Share of credit by type of institution, overall and for the three leading countries.

Across borders

20.7% of the top 10% have authors in more than one country.

  1. FRITFrance with Italy2
  2. CNUSChina with United States2
  3. AUCNAustralia with China2
  4. CNGBChina with United Kingdom2
  5. CNPKChina with Pakistan2

Most frequent pairings, by number of shared papers.

The papers behind the numbers

The five most cited papers this definition catches. If one looks out of place, the definition needs work.

  1. 168citations
  2. High‐Power Laser Systems
    Laser & Photonics Review, 2022CN
    167citations
  3. 91citations
  4. 88citations
  5. History and Future of High Power Microwaves
    IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 2024
    87citations

More in space, air and defence

The most technologically advanced countries, and is China ahead of the US?

How this technology is defined

A paper counts if its title or abstract matches the search below. Articles in core journals and proceedings only; retracted papers are excluded.

"high-power laser" OR "high energy laser" OR "high-power microwave" OR "directed energy" OR "laser weapon"

and its main topic in OpenAlex is one of: Gyrotron and Vacuum Electronics Research; Pulsed Power Technology Applications; Solid State Laser Technologies; Optical Systems and Laser Technology; Photonic Crystal and Fiber Optics; Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices; Microwave Engineering and Waveguides; Optical Coatings and Gratings. The topic check removes papers that only mention the technology.

Papers matched, 2021–2025
885
In the top 10%
92
In the top 1%
11
Countries with credit
21
Credit with no known country
10.4%
Every one of the 117 most cited papers was checked for relevance; 9 were left out as not about directed energy

The most cited of those left out:

  • Supercontinuum generation in chalcogenide photonic crystal fiber infiltrated with liquid36 citations
  • Wide-waveguide high-power low-RIN single-mode distributed feedback laser diodes for optical communication34 citations
  • Fuel quality assurance based on hybrid hexagonal circular hollow core PCF sensing through management of terahertz region operation32 citations
  • Interface and defects engineering for multilayer laser coatings30 citations
  • Biomimetic moth-eye nanostructures fabricated by nanosphere lithography in ZnSe enhancing transmission in the mid-infrared25 citations
  • Improvement of the environmental stability of sol-gel silica anti-reflection coatings24 citations
  • Sol-gel prepared amorphous Ta2O5 thin film for application in high LIDT antireflection coating and UV photodetection22 citations
  • Focus Fusion: Overview of Progress Towards p-B11 Fusion with the Dense Plasma Focus18 citations
  • Research on assembly performance prediction, optimal design, and adjustment methods for precision opto-mechanical system6 citations

Definition version 0.5, pilot. It is a plain text file: copy it, change it, rerun it.

Read the method