Path: ...!feeds.phibee-telecom.net!news.mixmin.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Cursitor Doom Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design Subject: Re: how the laser happened Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2024 20:12:02 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 91 Message-ID: References: <1ghb7jt3882078r19n6jjgtirv25q27805@4ax.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2024 22:12:02 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="3d21eaf88e144ade8e89e1e2602a0db1"; logging-data="460070"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/F3eE7j083dJOzVCBQPCZLzYgOKP0Dhu8=" User-Agent: Pan/0.149 (Bellevue; 4c157ba) Cancel-Lock: sha1:0RMNXaiMiD1k5IxgTaJZHcvCm7c= Bytes: 4620 On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 18:08:52 -0000 (UTC), Phil Hobbs wrote: > john larkin wrote: >> 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. >> >> >> > Well, Schawlow famously said, “Anything will lase, if you hit it hard > enough.” > > I expect that includes lobsters. > > Cheers > > Phil Hobbs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a_UKKvUcoE