Related topics: light · laser · electrons · molecules · atoms

New topological metamaterial amplifies sound waves exponentially

Researchers at AMOLF, in collaboration with partners from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, have realized a new type of metamaterial through which sound waves flow in an unprecedented fashion. It provides a novel form of ...

New method to measure entropy production on the nanoscale

Entropy, the amount of molecular disorder, is produced in several systems but cannot be measured directly. An equation developed by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, and Heinrich Heine University ...

Making light 'feel' a magnetic field like an electron would

Unlike electrons, particles of light are uncharged, so they do not respond to magnetic fields. Despite this, researchers have now experimentally made light effectively "feel" a magnetic field within a complicated structure ...

NASA's CloudSat ends mission peering into the heart of clouds

CloudSat, a NASA mission that peered into hurricanes, tallied global snowfall rates, and achieved other weather and climate firsts, has ended its operations. Originally proposed as a 22-month mission, the spacecraft was recently ...

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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