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Antimatter Molecule Should Boost Laser Power

Laser Lover writes "Molecules made by combining an electron with their anti-particle positron have been created by researchers at the University of California Riverside. The team's long term goal is to use the exotic material to create 'an annihilation gamma ray laser', potentially one million times more powerful than existing lasers. 'An electron can hook up with its antiparticle, the positron, to form a hydrogen-like atom called positronium (Ps). It survives for less than 150 nanoseconds before it is annihilated in a puff of gamma radiation. It was known that two positronium atoms should be able to bind together to form a molecule ... '"

10 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Oh dear by jsiren · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now I'm afraid to plug in my PS/2 mouse.

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  2. Obligitory by SPY_jmr1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    So would the sharks be a million times more powerful, or could we just use one million *tiny* fricking lasers?

  3. Old fashioned ... by SplatMan_DK · · Score: 4, Funny

    Lasers?

    That won't even penetrate our navigational shields!

    Where are your phasers?

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  4. Something mentioned earlier. by z0M6 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Next on /.! DIY positronium laser using household items.

  5. Re:To what end? by cloudwilliam · · Score: 5, Funny

    To crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentations of their women.

  6. I have a solution! We need an anti-dupe! by tgd · · Score: 2, Funny

    Laser Lover didn't writes "Molecules made by combining an electron with their anti-particle positron have not been created by researchers at the University of California Riverside. The team's long term goal is to never use the exotic material to create 'an creation gamma ray laser', potentially one million times less powerful than existing lasers. 'An electron can't hook up with its antiparticle, the positron, to form a hydrogen-like atom called positronium (Ps). It can't possibly survive for less than 150 nanoseconds before it isn't annihilated in a puff of gamma radiation. It wasn't known that two positronium atoms shouldn't be able to bind together to form a molecule ... '"

    There, now the dupe and anti-dupe can form a stable dupe atom, which can bind with other dupe atoms to form powerful dupe lase.... oh dear GOD NO!!!

  7. Re:Could we use it on sharks? by bigdavesmith · · Score: 2, Funny

    You can't blame people for being excited about new ways to kill each other.

  8. Re:super-atom condensate???? by SplatMan_DK · · Score: 2, Funny

    [fakequote]
    they mean a Bozo-Einstein compensate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozo%E2%80%93Einstein_compensate/
    [/fakequote] I totally object to your post!

    Einstein was certainly not a Bozo, and nobody should be compensated for saying that!
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  9. Re:iran by pnewhook · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here we go again .. i have noticed recently on /. that all these comments soon as you like go so far WAY WAY WAY off topic that they cease to becom relavent to the original article .

    What do you mean off topic? We can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere--like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. 'Give me five bees for a quarter,' you'd say.

    Now where were we? Oh yeah--the important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones. Anyway, 'long story short', is a phrase whose origins are complicated and rambling.

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  10. Re:Never mind sharks... by TriggerFin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Will we be developing Evangelions to fire these?

    The US is already full of evangelicals. Do you really think they haven't been training for the past decade?
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