Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
May 16, 2010 11:07 AM Subscribe
The laser turns 50!,
gallery,
how Lasers work,
more on how lasers work (in more detail than you can possibly want),
50 laser facts.
Fucking lasers, how do they ... oh, I see.
posted by adipocere at 11:22 AM on May 16, 2010 [11 favorites]
posted by adipocere at 11:22 AM on May 16, 2010 [11 favorites]
I like lasers. I just got a blue one and a wicked red one.
Pew pew!
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:26 AM on May 16, 2010
Pew pew!
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:26 AM on May 16, 2010
I saw one for sale at the nearby Petco as a dedicated cat toy for $3.99. I paid $400 for a Laserex red diode-based laser pointer in 1992.
posted by bz at 11:32 AM on May 16, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by bz at 11:32 AM on May 16, 2010 [1 favorite]
When I was a child I accepted uncritically the notion that an invention had a specific individual responsible, and a specific date attached to it. As I've gotten older, and studied the history of technology more carefully, that idea becomes fuzzier.
The laser is a perfect example of the fuzzy complexity of the notion of invention.
posted by Tube at 11:33 AM on May 16, 2010
The laser is a perfect example of the fuzzy complexity of the notion of invention.
posted by Tube at 11:33 AM on May 16, 2010
I think scientists should work on cyborg laser implants for our eyes so that we can point out to others what we are looking at. Yes, most people can usually infer what we are looking at through eye tracking, but what of the nth percent who can't make heads or tails of our gaze? Shouldn't we be getting surgery to accommodate them? And to pew pew pew matchheads alight?
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:35 AM on May 16, 2010
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:35 AM on May 16, 2010
I saw one for sale at the nearby Petco as a dedicated cat toy for $3.99.
That's a great price, considering the costs of dealing with that patent owner.
posted by inigo2 at 11:39 AM on May 16, 2010
That's a great price, considering the costs of dealing with that patent owner.
posted by inigo2 at 11:39 AM on May 16, 2010
I think scientists should work on cyborg laser implants for our eyes so that we can point out to others what we are looking at. Yes, most people can usually infer what we are looking at through eye tracking, but what of the nth percent who can't make heads or tails of our gaze? Shouldn't we be getting surgery to accommodate them? And to pew pew pew matchheads alight?
Funny we always thought the rise of the machine-men and their rule of terror would begin in the military or in some underground lab, not as a crafty side project on an unassuming website....
posted by The Whelk at 11:41 AM on May 16, 2010 [2 favorites]
Eponysterically, tube, my English teacher in middle school decided for our research paper projects that we all get assigned an invention and name the person and date that the invention was made, along with the brief story.
I was assigned the TV. Boy was that un-fun, especially in the pre-Wikipedia days and with my limited knowledge of what exactly goes on inside a TV. How was I supposed to know what a raster image on a spinning disk was? Or that that's laughably obsolete by our modern standards?
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:41 AM on May 16, 2010
I was assigned the TV. Boy was that un-fun, especially in the pre-Wikipedia days and with my limited knowledge of what exactly goes on inside a TV. How was I supposed to know what a raster image on a spinning disk was? Or that that's laughably obsolete by our modern standards?
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:41 AM on May 16, 2010
Over at PhD comics, an ode to the laser, and an informative little comic.
posted by dnesan at 11:52 AM on May 16, 2010
posted by dnesan at 11:52 AM on May 16, 2010
I think scientists should work on cyborg laser implants for our eyes so that we can point out to others what we are looking at.
Heh, see my right eye is blind and is somewhat dilated, I've had friends tell me that this is a perfect set up for a laser install, if we can just figure out some way to power it.
posted by edgeways at 11:55 AM on May 16, 2010
Heh, see my right eye is blind and is somewhat dilated, I've had friends tell me that this is a perfect set up for a laser install, if we can just figure out some way to power it.
posted by edgeways at 11:55 AM on May 16, 2010
Back in the 1980's I had a couple of HeNe lasers (very expensive at the time, and semiconductor visible light lasers didn't exist yet). HeNe lasers are wickedly IN-efficient and the glowing laser tube is almost more impressive than the beam of light.
If you aim a laser at a milky-transparent object such as, say, a lot of not quite clear quartz crystals, the light will diffuse throughout the object and it won't be clear at all (especially if the 'entry dot' is hidden from direct view) where the light is coming from. I used to set up my gem and mineral show booth with the laser at one end of a long table, glowing very beautifully in its Lexan enclosure, and a crystal at the other end illuminated by the beam.
One day a couple of pretty very New Age type girls became fascinated with the glowing crystal, which was obviously not connected to any powered light source. Eventually one of the girls reached out to pick the crystal up, blocking the laser beam, wherupon it "went out."
"Darn it," I sighed. "I had to meditate over that thing for more than a week to get it to glow like that."
OK, now you can get back to popping balloons with the laser you ABSOLUTELY SHOULDN'T EVER AIM AT AN AIRPLANE. Kids these days...
posted by localroger at 12:02 PM on May 16, 2010 [9 favorites]
If you aim a laser at a milky-transparent object such as, say, a lot of not quite clear quartz crystals, the light will diffuse throughout the object and it won't be clear at all (especially if the 'entry dot' is hidden from direct view) where the light is coming from. I used to set up my gem and mineral show booth with the laser at one end of a long table, glowing very beautifully in its Lexan enclosure, and a crystal at the other end illuminated by the beam.
One day a couple of pretty very New Age type girls became fascinated with the glowing crystal, which was obviously not connected to any powered light source. Eventually one of the girls reached out to pick the crystal up, blocking the laser beam, wherupon it "went out."
"Darn it," I sighed. "I had to meditate over that thing for more than a week to get it to glow like that."
OK, now you can get back to popping balloons with the laser you ABSOLUTELY SHOULDN'T EVER AIM AT AN AIRPLANE. Kids these days...
posted by localroger at 12:02 PM on May 16, 2010 [9 favorites]
So, while we're talking lasers, why is there speckling in the dot of a laser pointer? Is it because the light is so pure it interacts with itself, or a quirk of the eyes, or what?
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:16 PM on May 16, 2010
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:16 PM on May 16, 2010
heh, I love how that list is a series of facts about lasers, then you get to #42:
42. Jean-Michel Jarre's laser harp was the ONLY cool thing about his massive concert in London's Royal Docks in 1988.
posted by mannequito at 12:35 PM on May 16, 2010
42. Jean-Michel Jarre's laser harp was the ONLY cool thing about his massive concert in London's Royal Docks in 1988.
posted by mannequito at 12:35 PM on May 16, 2010
why is there speckling in the dot of a laser pointer?
One of the fun things about laser speckles is that even though I'm quite myopic (-6.75 / -4.5), the speckles are always in perfect focus, because the speckles don't really form until the interference pattern hits your retina.
Another fun thing is that if you have perfect/normal vision, the speckles shouldn't move when you move your head up and down. If you're myopic, when you move your head up the speckles move down. If you're hyperopic, when you move your head up the speckles move up too.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:27 PM on May 16, 2010 [2 favorites]
One of the fun things about laser speckles is that even though I'm quite myopic (-6.75 / -4.5), the speckles are always in perfect focus, because the speckles don't really form until the interference pattern hits your retina.
Another fun thing is that if you have perfect/normal vision, the speckles shouldn't move when you move your head up and down. If you're myopic, when you move your head up the speckles move down. If you're hyperopic, when you move your head up the speckles move up too.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:27 PM on May 16, 2010 [2 favorites]
The day someone makes a laser that actually goes "pew pew" I'm getting one. Hopefully it will look like these.
posted by jardinier at 2:26 PM on May 16, 2010
posted by jardinier at 2:26 PM on May 16, 2010
Coincidentally, I just came back from a rocking day of Laser Tag, which of course remains the absolute pinnacle of civilization.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:01 PM on May 16, 2010
posted by Navelgazer at 4:01 PM on May 16, 2010
Laser pointers and police question. Specifically those in helicopters.
Do they really affect a pilot so much they might crash? I've also heard hysterics that they'll mess with navigation systems.
I'm calling BS on the former. I've had both laser pointers and LED torches shined in my eyes, and the torch is much worse in terms of distraction / being temporarily dazzled.
I get the feeling that a] cops demand respect when they're in uniform and laser pointer pointing is NQR, so b] they make up some BS story to stop people doing it.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:24 PM on May 16, 2010
Do they really affect a pilot so much they might crash? I've also heard hysterics that they'll mess with navigation systems.
I'm calling BS on the former. I've had both laser pointers and LED torches shined in my eyes, and the torch is much worse in terms of distraction / being temporarily dazzled.
I get the feeling that a] cops demand respect when they're in uniform and laser pointer pointing is NQR, so b] they make up some BS story to stop people doing it.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:24 PM on May 16, 2010
Not quite right.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 6:17 PM on May 16, 2010
posted by uncanny hengeman at 6:17 PM on May 16, 2010
Not that a torch would have the range of a laser pointer. Bad analogy.
What I was trying to say is that someone shinging a laser pointer in my eyes doesn't really bother me in terms of OH NOES I CAN'T SEE!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 6:20 PM on May 16, 2010
What I was trying to say is that someone shinging a laser pointer in my eyes doesn't really bother me in terms of OH NOES I CAN'T SEE!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 6:20 PM on May 16, 2010
I get the feeling that a] cops demand respect when they're in uniform and laser pointer pointing is NQR, so b] they make up some BS story to stop people doing it.
Well I don't know the true extent of the danger it can cause, but all the stories I've heard about people pointing lasers at planes involve the pilots demanding blood, not the cops.
Anyway, I struggle to see how people's aim can be so good as to hit the retina of a pilot in a plane a few thousand feet above.
posted by Jimbob at 6:25 PM on May 16, 2010
Well I don't know the true extent of the danger it can cause, but all the stories I've heard about people pointing lasers at planes involve the pilots demanding blood, not the cops.
Anyway, I struggle to see how people's aim can be so good as to hit the retina of a pilot in a plane a few thousand feet above.
posted by Jimbob at 6:25 PM on May 16, 2010
Laser pointers cause flashes when they strike cockpit windows, and this can disorient a pilot or worse. The loss of adapted night vision, for example, is a pretty serious problem in a takeoff/landing situation when a pilot needs to be able to see dials and react quickly.
posted by norm at 8:24 PM on May 16, 2010
posted by norm at 8:24 PM on May 16, 2010
Appreciate the input, guys. Hope I'm not coming across that I don't like the Police Force, but the laser-pointer-cop-helicopter hysteria seems strange to me.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 9:03 PM on May 16, 2010
posted by uncanny hengeman at 9:03 PM on May 16, 2010
I suspect that at least some of the "laser pointers" that have been the subject of these aviation incidents aren't the little 5mW ones you can buy at the dollar store, but more like the 500mW ones you can buy from various places online. It is much easier to aim these because the beam itself is visible, and even just the reflection of such a powerful beam from something shiny is very dangerous.
posted by FishBike at 6:32 AM on May 17, 2010
posted by FishBike at 6:32 AM on May 17, 2010
Laser Fact#6. The laser printer familiar to anyone who works in an office was invented in 1969 by Xerox, but wasn't commercially available until 1979 1977, unless you count the IBM 3800, which was available in 1976. Oh, and it took up a whole room , if your room was 11'x6'x4'.
I assume the other 49 have similar truthiness quotients.
posted by MtDewd at 7:25 AM on May 17, 2010
I assume the other 49 have similar truthiness quotients.
posted by MtDewd at 7:25 AM on May 17, 2010
I'm just sad that in 50 years nobody has invented a laser that actually goes "pew-pew-pew" when you shoot them.
posted by Pollomacho at 7:27 AM on May 17, 2010
posted by Pollomacho at 7:27 AM on May 17, 2010
I assume the other 49 have similar truthiness quotients.
I found the "50 laser facts" link to contain a high percentage of snark matter, yes.
posted by FishBike at 7:29 AM on May 17, 2010
I found the "50 laser facts" link to contain a high percentage of snark matter, yes.
posted by FishBike at 7:29 AM on May 17, 2010
Needs more Mode Locker.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:34 AM on May 17, 2010
posted by humboldt32 at 9:34 AM on May 17, 2010
« Older I don't know much about math, but I know what I... | Don't Try This At Work Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by The Whelk at 11:18 AM on May 16, 2010