Path: ...!local-4.nntp.ord.giganews.com!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-1.nntp.ord.giganews.com!nntp.supernews.com!news.supernews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2024 16:45:06 +0000 From: john larkin Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design Subject: Re: how the laser happened Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2024 09:45:07 -0700 Message-ID: References: <1ghb7jt3882078r19n6jjgtirv25q27805@4ax.com> User-Agent: ForteAgent/8.00.32.1272 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 74 X-Trace: sv3-eo0ImyGnt2lzB9ZQGea6JM+zfqCrJS5ZAY4XSqB1B2HFOiH+2zSj81iKg/7jJB22vIzjtYhOLYHHZVU!HYyKjUWQr/MWimW8J7awvpYyvu6bIffs+ENQe3/JTWuCli1CXa3b3TL/x3Nb0FMOQeP5HYuJhCV+!OZ04TQ== X-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/abuse.html X-DMCA-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Bytes: 4049 On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 16:39:56 -0000 (UTC), Cursitor Doom wrote: >On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 05:03:34 GMT, Jan Panteltje wrote: > >> On a sunny day (Sat, 22 Jun 2024 17:23:40 -0000 (UTC)) it happened >> Cursitor Doom wrote in >> : >> >>>On Sat, 22 Jun 2024 06:19:49 GMT, Jan Panteltje wrote: >>> >>>> On a sunny day (Fri, 21 Jun 2024 11:32:56 -0700) it happened john >>>> larkin wrote in >>>> <1ghb7jt3882078r19n6jjgtirv25q27805@4ax.com>: >>>> >>>>>On Fri, 21 Jun 2024 17:56:36 +0100, Cursitor Doom >>>>>wrote: >>>>> >>>>>>On Fri, 21 Jun 2024 06:05:21 -0700, john larkin >>>>>>wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>>There was a thread somewhere above about photon wave/particle >>>>>>>duality. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>This is worth reading: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>https://www.amazon.com/How-Laser-Happened-Adventures-Scientist/dp/ >>>0195153766 >>>>>>> >>>>>>>Einstein, in one of his fits of genius, predicted in around 1916 >>>>>>>that under the right conditions, a photon could pass by an excited >>>>>>>atom and the atom would kick in another photon, or add to the wave >>>>>>>amplitude, depending on how you feel about these things. He called >>>>>>>it stimulated emission. He also declared that the laws of >>>>>>>thermodynamics made this effect impossible to use in practical >>>>>>>situations. >>>>>>> >>>>>>>In 1951, Charles Townes invented a work-around trick and built the >>>>>>>maser, a gaseous microwave oscillator. His superiors thought he was >>>>>>>crazy to dispute Einstein and almost threw him out of grad school, >>>>>>>but it worked. >>>>>>> >>>>>>>In 1960, Theodore Maiman at HRL made the first ruby laser, and Bell >>>>>>>Labs soonafter made a HeNe. >>>>>>> >>>>>>>What's interesting is that any decent neon sign shop could have >>>>>>>built a HeNe laser in 1920. >>>>>>> >>>>>>>HRL sounds like a very cool place, up in the hills above Malibu. >>>>>> >>>>>>Wasn't that where Jane Mansfield used to go out bathing? >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>Keep your mind on electronics, young man. >>>>> >>>>>The Getty Museum is in Malibu. Go there if you can. Hearst Castle, >>>>>too, >>>>>up the road a bit. >>>> >>>> I've been to Malibu, even did some work there... >>>> Did not go to any museum, but did go to the beach. >>> >>>Did you see Jane? What about lobsters? Any lobsters around? >> >> Na, but some other beatiful women I met. >> Last time we went looking for edible seaweed ... > >Argh! Never mind. I believe Jane had terrible problems with lobsters when >she went out bathing in Malibu. But you don't know anything about that, >clearly. It obviously wasn't publicised in Holland. This thread is about lasers, not lobsters.