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Quantum-Cascade Polychromatic Lasers
eznihm writes: "This article describes a new laser, developed by Lucent and others, that emits a band of light and operates at room temperature. "The result: a beam of high intensity at every wavelength from 6 to 8 micrometers, in the so-called midinfrared range.""
I always thought that the whole point of a laser was that it was generating a perfect coherent waveform, so is this new laser generating light at a large number of wavelengths in the infrared, or is it an infinite number of wavelengths in the range specified?
Also, it seems like it would take a lot more development to extend this wideband laser work for something more consumer-oriented, like room lighting, as the light would need to be relatively omni-directional, which it doesn't seem like lasers are very good at producing now.
For the curious: My notes from introductory course on lasers
(got an email response)
-Yarn - Rio Karma: Excellent
lightsabers of either side do not make use of lasers. Every try to tune coherent light to de-cohere at a point a couple feet away, giving the appearance of a sword? not easy, and somewhere i believe it is mentioned that the sabers are comprised of plasma or something equally non-laser.