Laser
hideA laser is a device that emits light (electromagnetic radiation) through a process called stimulated emission. The term laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Laser light is usually spatially coherent, which means that the light either is emitted in a narrow, low-divergence beam, or can be converted into one with the help of optical components such as lenses. Typically, lasers are thought of as emitting light with a narrow wavelength spectrum ("monochromatic" light). This is not true of all lasers, however: some emit light with a broad spectrum, while others emit light at multiple distinct wavelengths simultaneously. The coherence of typical laser emission is distinctive. Most other light sources emit incoherent light, which has a phase that varies randomly with time and position.
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News tagged with laser beam
Building a more versatile laser
Nov 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the drawbacks associated with using semiconductor lasers is that many of them can only produce a beam of a single wavelength, and can only send that beam in one direction at a time. ...
Japan eyes solar station in space as new energy source
Nov 08, 2009 |
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It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan's space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.
Success in 'space elevator' competition (Update 3)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A robot powered by a ground-based laser beam climbed a long cable dangling from a helicopter on Wednesday to qualify for prize money in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the ...
Lasers put a shine on metals
Nov 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Polishing metal surfaces is a demanding but monotonous task, and it is difficult to find qualified young specialists. Polishing machines do not represent an adequate alternative because they ...
Powerful laser sheds light on fast ignition and high energy density physics
Nov 02, 2009 |
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A new generation of high-energy (>kJ) petawatt (HEPW) lasers is being constructed worldwide to study high intensity laser matter interactions, including fast ignition. Fast ignition is a laser-based technique ...
A Mars Rover Named 'Curiosity'
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- If you found your grandmother's diary, tattered and dust covered, up in the attic, would you read it? Of course you would. Granny was a pistol! Brush off the dust, open up the little book, ...
European astroparticle physicists to celebrate 100 years of cosmic ray experiments
Oct 02, 2009 |
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From 10 to 17 October 2009, in France, Italy, Spain and many other countries, astroparticle physicists will meet the public to reveal some of the most exciting mysteries of the Universe. Within the first European Week of ...
Nanotechnology gets a new light touch
Oct 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Building the super-fast computers of the future has just become much easier thanks to an advance by Australian researchers that lets them grab hold of tiny electronics components and probe ...
Smoke on the water -- and in the microphone?
Sep 23, 2009 |
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(AP) -- What do you get if you combine a smoke machine, some tubing, a laser pointer, a fan and a piece of toilet paper? Answer: a microphone unlike any other.
Magnetism observed in gas for the first time
Sep 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, MIT scientists have observed ferromagnetism in an atomic gas, addressing the decades-old question of whether gases could show properties similar to a magnet made of iron or nickel. Specifically, ...
Atoms don't dance the 'Bose Nova'
Sep 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Hanns-Christoph Naegerl's research group at the Institute for Experimental Physics, Austria, has investigated how ultracold quantum gases behave in lower spatial dimensions. They successfully ...
Toward limitless energy: National Ignition Facility focus of ACS symposium (w/ Video)
Aug 19, 2009 |
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Chemists are preparing to play an important but often unheralded role in determining the success of one of the largest and most important scientific experiments in history — next year's initial attempts at ...
Multi-laboratory study sizes up nanoparticle sizing
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Aug 11, 2009 |
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As a result of a major inter-laboratory study, the standards body ASTM International has been able to update its guidelines for a commonly used technique for measuring the size of nanoparticles in solutions. The study, which ...
Panasonic Develops High Efficiency CRT Recycling Technology Using Laser
Jul 02, 2009 |
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Panasonic has developed a recycling technology using laser beams to separate the front panel and back part (funnel) of a cathode ray tube (CRT) used in TV sets.
Laser-created temporal lens could lead to movies of molecular processes
Jun 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Finding a way to observe and record the behavior of matter at the molecular level has long been a holy grail among physicists. That ability could open the door to a wide range of applications ...
