Path: ...!2.eu.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Phil Hobbs Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design Subject: Re: how the laser happened Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2024 18:08:52 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 89 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 20:08:53 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="d707fb8f348e1e87cd34ff9bbc027c93"; logging-data="492494"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19sTvQ+5XQqs51p7XLL8ygf" User-Agent: NewsTap/5.5 (iPhone/iPod Touch) Cancel-Lock: sha1:HY4MuIrGHzW8wHZ0b0hB2n3b3RA= sha1:5vftMa/nkls2LIKKuXKK3M4wBNo= Bytes: 4579 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 -- Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics