Related topics: laser

Seeing quantum mechanics with the naked eye

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Cambridge team have built a semiconductor chip that converts electrons into a quantum state that emits light but is large enough to see by eye. Because their quantum superfluid is simply set up by shining ...

3D-printer with nano-precision

Printing three dimensional objects with incredibly fine details is now possible using "two-photon lithography". With this technology, tiny structures on a nanometer scale can be fabricated. Researchers at the Vienna University ...

Nuclear scientists hail US fusion breakthrough

Nuclear scientists using lasers the size of three football fields said Tuesday they had generated a huge amount of energy from fusion, possibly offering hope for the development of a new clean energy source.

Tractor beams come to life

Tractor beams, energy rays that can move objects, are a science fiction mainstay. But now they are becoming a reality -- at least for moving very tiny objects.

LIGO surpasses the quantum limit

In 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), made history when it made the first direct detection of gravitational waves—ripples in space and time—produced by a pair of colliding black holes.

MIT researchers discover new way of producing electricity

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to ...

First movies of droplets getting blown up by x-ray laser

Researchers have made the first microscopic movies of liquids getting vaporized by the world's brightest X-ray laser at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The new data could lead to better and ...

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Laser

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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