Related topics: laser pulses , laser beam , atoms , electrons , semiconductor lasers



Laser

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A 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

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Accelerators and Light Sources of Tomorrow (Part 2: Accelerating with Light)

Accelerators and Light Sources of Tomorrow (Part 2: Accelerating with Light)

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 22, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 0

Accelerators are far from achieving the highest energies their builders aspire to, but size and cost may limit the kinds of facilities funding agencies can support. In the future, new kinds of machines will ...


Smarter cars are gaining traction

Smarter cars are gaining traction (w/ Video)

Technology / Engineering

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Lives can depend on a vehicle's moment-by-moment traction. New European technology promises to make cars as good as experienced, alert drivers at sensing and adjusting to wet, snowy or icy ...


Tiny whispering gallery

Tiny whispering gallery: Sensor can detect a single nanoparticle and take its measurement

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Dec 18, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (16) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Nanotechnology has already made it to the shelves of your local pharmacy and grocery: nanoparticles are found in anti-odor socks, makeup, makeup remover, sunscreen, anti-graffiti paint, home ...


Bioactive glass nanofibers produced

Bioactive glass nanofibers produced

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Dec 18, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 0

A team of researchers from the University of Vigo, Rutgers University in the United States and Imperial College London, in the United Kingdom, has developed "laser spinning", a novel method of producing glass ...


Researcher studies the universe through quantum electrodynamics

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (9) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fundamental constants, such as the standards for length and mass, are a given in our society. However, research has shown that these constants might be changing slightly with the expansion of the universe.


Researchers find cells move in mysterious ways

Researchers find cells move in mysterious ways (w/ Video)

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 16, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Our cells are more like us than we may think. They're sensitive to their environment, poking and prodding deliberately at their surroundings with hand-like feelers and chemical signals as they decide whether ...


Caltech scientists film photons with electrons

Caltech scientists film photons with electrons

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 16, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (21) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Techniques recently invented by researchers at the California Institute of Technology -- which allow the real-time, real-space visualization of fleeting changes in the structure of nanoscale ...


Looking for the heartbeat of cellular networks

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 16, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Our cells' molecules form an intricate network of interactions. Today's techniques, however, can only be used to measure individual molecular reactions outside the cells. Since molecular concentrations are much higher in ...


Miracle light: Can lasers solve the energy crisis?

Technology / Energy

created Dec 15, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 4

Next year will mark the 50th birthday of the laser, one of the most productive and widely used mega-inventions of the last century. Scientists hope that 2010 also will see the launch of laser technology's greatest challenge: ...


Physicists lay the groundwork for cooler, faster computing

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (25) | comments 5

University of Toronto quantum optics researchers Sajeev John and Xun Ma have discovered new behaviours of light within photonic crystals that could lead to faster optical information processing and compact computers that ...


New structure could produce efficient semiconductor laser sources

New structure could produce efficient semiconductor laser sources

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have achieved a nanoscale laser structure they anticipate will produce semiconductor lasers in the next two years that are more than twice as efficient ...


Whose Tattoo Is It Anyway?

Whose Tattoo Is It Anyway?

Other Sciences / Other

created Dec 14, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- An infra-red digital camera could be a crucial tool in the fight against crime when trying to identify suspects by their tattoos, according to new University of Derby research.


Turning metal black more than just a novelty

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (20) | comments 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Rochester optics professor Chunlei Guo made headlines in the past couple of years when he changed the color of everyday metals by scouring their surfaces with precise, high-intensity laser bursts.


Research is shattering traditioinal notions of laser limits

Research is shattering traditioinal notions of laser limits

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Air Force Office of Scientific Research and National Science Foundation-funded professor, Dr. Xiang Zhang has demonstrated at the University of California, Berkeley the world's smallest semiconductor laser, ...


Scientists Generate Black Hole Radiation in the Lab

Scientists Generate Black Hole Radiation in the Lab

Physics / Plasma Physics

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (32) | comments 9 feature

(PhysOrg.com) -- Due to their violent nature and long distance from Earth, black holes and their surroundings are very difficult to study. Currently, the main method to observe a black hole is to use an X-ray ...