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From: Cursitor Doom <cd999666@notformail.com>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: how the laser happened
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2024 17:07:09 -0000 (UTC)
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On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 09:45:07 -0700, john larkin wrote:

> On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 16:39:56 -0000 (UTC), Cursitor Doom
> <cd999666@notformail.com> 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 <cd999666@notformail.com> wrote in
>>> <v571as$3rs0j$2@dont-email.me>:
>>> 
>>>>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 <jl@650pot.com> wrote in
>>>>> <1ghb7jt3882078r19n6jjgtirv25q27805@4ax.com>:
>>>>> 
>>>>>>On Fri, 21 Jun 2024 17:56:36 +0100, Cursitor Doom
>>>>>><cd@notformail.com>
>>>>>>wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On Fri, 21 Jun 2024 06:05:21 -0700, john larkin <jl@650pot.com>
>>>>>>>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.

I know, John. My apologies. It's just that Jan keeps banging on about 
lobsters and I got side-tracked.