Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.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 16:39:56 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 68 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 18:39:56 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="3d21eaf88e144ade8e89e1e2602a0db1"; logging-data="460070"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/YfXtbjDgy5qlIOXVpY51SVgk7obxsZ1E=" User-Agent: Pan/0.149 (Bellevue; 4c157ba) Cancel-Lock: sha1:5onDhWulbOLHZkbNhrD3zPKnX8M= Bytes: 3763 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.