[HN Gopher] Lasers Deflected Using Air
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       Lasers Deflected Using Air
        
       Author : geox
       Score  : 29 points
       Date   : 2023-10-06 21:06 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.desy.de)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.desy.de)
        
       | Terr_ wrote:
       | I really like that this has a little interactive widget. Higher
       | frequencies lead to more splitting/deflection, and higher
       | pressure means more light traveling along the reflected path.
       | 
       | That said, I must also admit that first video's still-image made
       | me assume I was about to see the Master Control Program from
       | Tron.
       | 
       | > In their experiments, the researchers used an infrared laser
       | pulse with a peak power of 20 gigawatts, which corresponds to the
       | power of around two billion LED bulbs.
       | 
       | OK, so not about to revolutionize photonic computers soon. :P
        
         | lima wrote:
         | The widget is also done very cleverly. It appears to be a
         | regular HTML <video> element and a slider.
        
       | anfractuosity wrote:
       | Very interesting, would this be related to Acousto-optic
       | modulators - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acousto-
       | optic_modulator, which I believe can do this using a crystal and
       | sound waves.
       | 
       | Will have to read their paper.
        
       | Jeff_Brown wrote:
       | _Dang_ that 's cool.
       | 
       | I'd like to know the turning radius.
       | 
       | What do they mean by "efficiency" when they say, "In the first
       | laboratory tests, a strong infrared laser pulse could be
       | redirected in this way with an efficiency of 50 percent?"
        
         | lilyball wrote:
         | I'm assuming this means they deflected 50% of the laser light.
        
           | Jeff_Brown wrote:
           | Hmm, that seems problematic -- wouldn't that change it from a
           | laser to a smear?
        
             | JohnFen wrote:
             | Maybe? This is absolutely not my field, but I was watching
             | a documentary on the largest visible light telescope that
             | has ever been made and they were talking about the routine
             | they follow when cleaning the primary mirror. The guy
             | running the place said that when the mirror gets dirty, it
             | doesn't degrade the quality of the image, but reduces its
             | brightness (and so sensitivity).
             | 
             | Maybe this is a similar kind of thing?
        
       | bowsamic wrote:
       | Oh nice! I work at DESY (don't know anything about this though)
        
       | omneity wrote:
       | The interactive component in the article was a really nice touch
       | and made it much easier for me to understand the effect at play.
       | I wish we could see more of this in technical articles and
       | scientific publications.
        
         | skulk wrote:
         | (Off-topic tidbit that I noticed) The interactive widget is
         | actually just a video with a fancy seek bar! If you right-click
         | you can enable the controls and play it like a normal video.
        
           | stavros wrote:
           | Wow, that's a great idea.
        
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       (page generated 2023-10-06 23:00 UTC)