Related topics: light · laser beam · atoms · wavelength · nature photonics

Using small black holes to detect big black holes

An international team of astrophysicists with the participation of the University of Zurich proposes a novel method to detect pairs of the biggest black holes found at the centers of galaxies by analyzing gravitational waves ...

A 'measure' advance for ultrashort laser light

The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai has pioneered a method to measure ultrahigh power, ultrashort laser pulses in a comprehensive manner. The paper reporting this has been published in the journal Optica.

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.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA