The remarkable potential of lasers (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) nurtures many a heady scientific dream. Pure, one-color laser light can be focused down to a microscopic point, hot enough to burn through any material. It can make superaccurate measurements, and properly modulated, it can carry vast amounts of information. It may some day take the place of wires in the innards of computers. But all these promising applications are blocked at present by the built-in problems of existing lasers. Some of them demand costly and cumbersome power supplies; some give light of the wrong wave lengths; others...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
