As of 1:45 Monday, 217 people have cast votes in the Laser Smackdown poll. That’s not bad, but it’s currently being handily beaten by the 271 people who have voted for a favorite system of units. The nice thing about using actual poll services for this sort of thing, though, is that I can re-post… Continue reading Reminder: Vote for the Most Amazing Laser Application of All Time
Category: Physics
Laser Smackdown: Vote for the Most Amazing Laser Application
In 1960, the first working laser was demonstrated, and promptly dubbed “a solution looking for a problem.” In the ensuing fifty years, lasers have found lots of problems to solve, but there has been no consensus about which of the many amazing applications of lasers is the most amazing. Now, in 2010, as we celebrate… Continue reading Laser Smackdown: Vote for the Most Amazing Laser Application
Dorky Poll: Would You Like Constants With That?
I wanted to test whether I can put links into PollDaddy poll items for the Laser Smackdown wrap-up tomorrow, so I needed a test poll. But, of course, if I’m going to go to the trouble, I might as well post it, so here’s a dorky poll inspired by the fact that the book I’m… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Would You Like Constants With That?
Amazing Laser Application 12: Laser Guide Stars!
What’s the application? Producing artificial “stars” to serve as a reference for telescopes using adaptive optics to correct for atmospheric turbulence. This allows ground-based telescopes to produce images that are as good as those from the Hubble Space Telescope. What problem(s) is it the solution to? “How can I make this giant telescope produce even… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 12: Laser Guide Stars!
Amazing Laser Application 11: Frequency Combs!
What’s the application? An optical frequency comb is a short-duration pulsed laser whose output can be viewed as a regularly spaced series of different frequencies. If the pulses are short enough, this can span the entire visible spectrum, giving a “comb” of colored lines on a traditional spectrometer. This can be used for a wide… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 11: Frequency Combs!
Amazing Laser Application 10: Surgery!
What’s the application? Using lasers to cut and/or cauterize tissue during surgical procedures, instead of the traditional very small very sharp knives. What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) “How can we do surgery without touching the tissues being operated on?” 2) “How can I get rid of these annoying glasses/contact lenses?” How does… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 10: Surgery!
Amazing Laser Application 9: Fusion!
What’s the application? The goal of laser ignition fusion experiments is to heat and compress a target to the point where the nuclei of the atoms making up the sample fuse together to form a new, heavier nucleus, releasing energy in the process. Nuclear fusion is, of course, what powers stars, and creating fusion in… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 9: Fusion!
Amazing Laser Application 8: Holography!
What’s the application? Holograms are images of objects that appear three-dimensional– if you move your head as you look at a hologram, you will see the usual parallax effects, unlike a normal photograph, which is fixed. So, if your hologram includes one object that is partly behind another object, you can see around the obstruction… Continue reading Amazing Laser Application 8: Holography!
Optics Quiz Answer
Around 470 people voted in yesterday’s optics quiz. I continue to be amazed at the power of radio button polls to bring people into the blog. As of early Friday morning, the correct answer is solidly in he lead– 63% of respondants have correctly replied that the image remains intact, but is half as bright.… Continue reading Optics Quiz Answer
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update
The pace has slowed, but there are still occasional sightings of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog in my Google vanity searches: It turns up on library blogs with some regularity. This particular one, from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is nice because it’s not just a rewrite of the publicity copy I was really… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update