Holy Carp! Solid-state maser

bwilson4web · Aug 22, 2012

Using spare chemicals, a laser bought on eBay and angst from a late-night argument, physicists have got the world's first room-temperature microwave laser working.
. . .
Before there were lasers, there were microwave lasers, or masers. First conceived in the Soviet Union and the United States during the 1950s, early maser machines were the size of a chest of drawers. They produced only a few nanowatts of power, severely limiting their usefulness.
. . .
Oxborrow enlisted two colleagues — materials scientists Jonathan Breeze and Neil Alford from Imperial College London — and got to work on testing this suggestion. He borrowed some spare pentacene from a lab at Imperial, and cooked it with another organic molecule known as p-terphenyl. The result was a pink crystal a few centimetres long.
Next, the team needed a powerful laser. Oxborrow located an old medical laser on eBay and drove to a warehouse in north London to pick it up. But the researchers were filled with doubts — the whole thing seemed too easy. Oxborrow admits that he was skittish about the experiment. "For about three days, I could have done it, but I didn't have the nerve to switch on that button," he says.
The final impetus came from an argument with his wife. Whereas less well-behaved people might have wallowed in the pub, "I went to the lab as a bit of therapy", says Oxborrow. "I said, 'Oh well, what the hell, let's just try it."
And it worked on the first go.
. . .
Click to expand...

Source: Microwave laser fulfills 60 years of promise : Nature News & Comment

As the wavelength increases, effective energy transfer to larger objects, especially those with lengths of microwave dimensions, increases. If you want a 'death ray,' a maser operates at better frequencies than most lasers, even the IR ones. For example, finding stealth aircraft, this maser has the power needed to find them not by reflected back but by the diverted signal. This is huge.

Bob Wilson

amm0bob · Aug 22, 2012

Yes this is huge Bra...

Holy Carp! Solid-state maser

bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

amm0bob Permanently Junior...

About PriusChat

Quick Navigation

Like us on Facebook

Buy us a beer!

Useful Searches

Holy Carp! Solid-state maser

bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

amm0bob Permanently Junior...