Scientists Invent World's First Anti-Laser

Velcroman1 writes "Two scientists at Yale University have built the laser's first doppelganger: the anti-laser. While a conventional laser emits a constant beam of light in one direction, the anti-laser simply does the opposite. It takes that same steady light stream and interacts with it in such a way that it absorbs and cancels out the light. And scientists hope the strange creation could help the fight against cancer. A. Douglas Stone, one of the two researchers behind the project, said he came up with the idea for a 'nega-laser' when working with equations for a random laser with his partner in crime, Hui Cao. 'I figured, if we just somehow illuminated the cavity, and replaced the gain medium with something that tends to absorb light, we could essentially reverse the process,' Stone said. Oh, that makes sense."

Comments

Challenge for biologists:

[Anonymous Coward]

Now it's up to the biologists to create anti-sharks

Beam of darkness?

[bluefoxlucid]

It shoots a coherent beam of darkness!

nega-laser

[Anonymous Coward]

"nega-laser"

I think the prefer vernacular is African-American-laser

Oh great.

[towelie-ban]

Now they'll create freaking anti-sharks to attach these to.

Its called a D.A.S.A.R.

[scharkalvin]

That's "Darkness Amplification by Stimulated Absorbance of Radiation"

Re:"Doppelganger"?

[ColdWetDog]

I do not think this word means what you think it means.

That's OK, the entire article doesn't mean what the reporter thought it meant.

Wait, what?

[ryzvonusef]

*DO* look at the anti-laser with the damaged eye???