Full Text: Site kinda slow already.
on
First Silicon Laser
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Brown Team Creates 'Impossible' Silicon Laser Page Tools # Email Article # Printer Friendly # Related Articles PROVIDENCE, R.I., Nov. 21 -- Silicon has made its way into everything from computers to cameras. But a silicon laser? Physically impossible -- until now. A Brown University research team led by Jimmy Xu has engineered the first directly pumped silicon laser by changing the structure of the silicon crystal through a novel nanoscale technique.
Since the creation of the first working laser -- a ruby model made in 1960 -- scientists have fashioned these light sources from substances from neon to sapphire. Silicon, however, was not considered a candidate. Its structure would not allow for the proper line-up of electrons needed to get this semiconductor to emit light.
Now a trio of Brown University researchers, led by engineering and physics professor Jimmy Xu, has made the impossible possible. The team has created the first directly pumped silicon laser. They did it by changing the atomic structure of silicon itself. This was accomplished by drilling billions of holes in a small bit of silicon using a nanoscale template. The result: weak but true laser light. Results are published in an advanced online edition of Nature Materials.
The feat is an apt one for Xu, whose Laboratory of Emerging Technologies is also known as the "laboratory of impossible technologies."
"There is fun in defying conventional wisdom," said Xu, "and this work definitely goes against conventional wisdom -- including my own."
For now, though, the possible isn't practical. In order to make his silicon laser commercially viable, Xu said, it must be engineered to be more powerful and to operate at room temperature. (Right now, it works at 200 C below zero.) But a material with the electronic properties of silicon and the optic properties of a laser could be useful in both the electronics and communications industries by helping to make faster, more powerful computers or fiber optic networks.
Xu said that when lasers were invented, they were considered a solution looking for a problem. Now lasers are used to power CD players and barcode scanners, and they can cut everything from slabs of steel to delicate eye tissue during corrective surgery.
"A very new discovery in science eventually finds an application," Xu said. "t will just take years of work to develop the technology."
Light emission from silicon was considered unattainable because of silicon's crystal structure, and electrons necessary for laser action are generated too far away from their "mates." Bridging the distance to make the atomic connection would require just the right "matchmaker" phonon arriving at precisely the right place and time.
In the past, scientists have chemically altered silicon or smashed it into dust-like particles to generate light emission. But more light was naturally lost than created. So Xu and his team tried a new way to tackle the problem. They changed silicon's structure by removing atoms.
This was accomplished by drilling holes in the material. To get the job done, the team created a template, or "mask," of anodized aluminum. About a millimeter square, the mask features billions of tiny holes, all uniformly sized and exactly ordered. Placed over a bit of silicon then bombarded with an ion beam, the mask served as a sort of stencil, punching out precise holes and removing atoms in the process. The silicon atoms then subtly rearranged themselves near the holes to allow for light emission.
The new silicon was tested repeatedly over the course of a year to ensure it met the classical criteria of a laser, such as threshold behavior, optical gain, spectral line-width narrowing and self-collimated and focused light emission.
You can get the complete records on this by using Pacer. See https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl? court_id=00idx
You need a credit card, but using pacer is suprisingly cheap. The case is properly cited as "3:05-cv-00933-AS Atlantic Recording Corporation et al v. Andersen". When you search, search Oregon Civil court, and use "Andersen, Tanya" has a search. You can see who the lawyers are, what papers have been filed, and the docket describing when the case will go to trial.
For those having a hard time getting to the PDF, here are the 7 Rules of Identity according to Kim. I've removed the text for brevity.
1. User Control and Consent: Technical identity systems must only reveal information identifying a user with the user's consent.
2. Minimal Disclosure for a Constrained Use: The solution which discloses the least amount of identifying information and best limits its use is the most stable long term solution.
3. Justifiable Parties: Digital identity systems must be designed so the disclosure of identifying information is limited to parties having a necessary and justifiable place in a given identity relationship.
4. Directed Identity: A universal identity system must support both "omni-directional" identifiers for use by public entities and "unidirectional" identifiers for use by private entities, thus facilitating discovery while preventing unnecessary release of correlation handles.
5. Pluralism of Operators and Technologies: A universal identity system must channel and enable the inter-working of multiple identity technologies run by multiple identity providers.
6. Human Integration: The universal identity metasystem must define the human user to be a component of the distributed system integrated through unambiguous human-machine communication mechanisms offering protection against identity attacks.
7. Consistent Experience Across Contexts: The unifying identity metasystem must guarantee its users a simple, consistent experience while enabling separation of contexts through multiple operators and technologies. -------- I'm really shocked that someone who works at Microsoft came up with this. This is a constructive, interesting set of ideas. The PDF link is : http://www.identityblog.com/stories/2005/05/13/The LawsOfIdentity.pdf
For those having a hard time getting to the PDF, here are the 7 Rules of Identity according to Kim. I've removed the text for brevity.
1. User Control and Consent: Technical identity systems must only reveal information identifying a user with the user's consent.
2. Minimal Disclosure for a Constrained Use: The solution which discloses the least amount of identifying information and best limits its use is the most stable long term solution.
3. Justifiable Parties: Digital identity systems must be designed so the disclosure of identifying
information is limited to parties having a necessary and justifiable place in a given identity relationship.
4. Directed Identity: A universal identity system must support both "omni-directional" identifiers for use by public entities and "unidirectional" identifiers for use by private entities, thus facilitating discovery while preventing unnecessary release of correlation handles.
5. Pluralism of Operators and Technologies: A universal identity system must channel and enable the inter-working of multiple identity technologies run by multiple identity providers.
6. Human Integration: The universal identity metasystem must define the human user to be a component of the distributed system integrated through unambiguous human-machine communication
mechanisms offering protection against identity attacks.
7. Consistent Experience Across Contexts:
The unifying identity metasystem must guarantee its users a simple, consistent experience while enabling separation of contexts through multiple
operators and technologies.
--------
I'm really shocked that someone who works at Microsoft came up with this. This is a constructive, interesting set of ideas.
The PDF link is :
http://www.identityblog.com/stories/2005/05/13/The LawsOfIdentity.pdf
I am not a developer, but how difficult is it to create a space in Wine for a SEC patent legal module to "plug in" to Wine?
Winers could either use Wine without SEC or purchase a licenced module.
Of course, some good hearted soul would release the source code, and then those who wanted to run the module illegally could do so as well. (Did I say that out loud?)
This is hardly trolling. If Maureen gets lots of phone calls complaining about her inflammatory articles, great. Stay polite and articulate, and let Maureen know what you think.
I guess if you suppose everyone is a mindless idiot who will drive right out there and stir up some trouble you could call the referenced post a troll. I think it's a strech.
I just can't see paying for music so long as the RIAA is involved. Must I list their sins again?
- Illegal price fixing (screwing over their customers)
- attacking reasonable copyright
- Rotten contract terms with artists
Why would ANYONE support this? If you are going to pay money for music while the RIAA is around, you'd might has well just send in an affidavit denying any constitutional rights that interfere with Record Company Profits.
If Oracle and MS continue to use "per processor" licencing, I humbly speculate that it's just a matter of time until VMWare or some other Virtual Machine vendor/software supplier creates a "virtualized processor layer."
VPLWare would present "n" processors as one large fast processor. Run your Oracle or MS application there. Problem solved.
Wait, can't we do this already?
Further, it is becoming increasingly silly to expect an intellegent response from Microsoft.
Still, this isn't all together bad. Don't use hotmail. Duh.
Can we have a pretty little script that generates credible looking spam complaint for all addresses @hotmail.com? Is that just entirely too evil, even for a mail service owned by Microsoft?
IANAL, But I think the contract is only enforcable on the person who signed it. You should have told Verizon to FO&D, and to have fun taking your deceased loved one to collections.
You know, if we customers ever find a way to screw the phone companies out of as much money as they had screwed us out of, we'd go to jail.
Can you hear me now?
WHen it takes 3 days to activate service you were told would activate in 3 hours, THAT's MLIFE.
When the nifty new features that modivated you to purchase the phone in the first place don't work, or when "customer support" uses paying customers to beta test nifty new features, THATs MLIFE.
When you have to hold for AT&T's billing department FOR OVER AN HOUR to explain to them that you canceled their so called service a month ago, and that you just ain't gonna pay 'em any more, THAT'S MLIFE.
When AT&T bills you after you've canceled the contract because AT&T didn't deliver the promised service, THATS MLIFE.
When AT&T sends you to collections because you are so f$cking fed up with AT&T's complete and utter lack of service that you just can't stand another Minute on hold, THAT'S MLIFE.
When you carefully read the terms of service and contract before you sign up, then try to cancel the contract within 30 days without penelty as specified in the contract, you your life goes to hell, THATS MLIFE.
When you've been on hold for so long that you start writing sarcastic replacements for AT&T's marketing, THATS MLIFE.
When you start looking at cell phone sales droids as generally having less integrety than your typical car salesman, THAT'S MLIFE.
When you've had such a searingly horrible experience with a big nasty f'ed up corperation such as AT&T that you VOW that you will never use ANY service from them EVER EVER AGAIN, THATS MLIFE.
I humbly disagree.
He was "the nearest Proximate Cause" of any downtime he suffered. Additionally, he created a bogus claim, something that is clearly disallowed in the DCMA (my god, I'm defending the DCMA. Yuk!)
He can only sue him self. I don't think a court would allow that (yet.)
Haha. I miss causing trouble by modifying Oregon Trail to display things like "Girl Rush!!" instead of "Gold Rush!!" and setting your bank account to $999999 instead of $1000.
on the happy side, if the Record Companies are spending time and money on easily broken DRM, that's time and money NOT spent on breaking copyright laws.
"It is refreshing to see that P2P United is acknowledging that their members should be more active in educating their users about the consequences of illegal file sharing that is rampant on their networks as well as the other risks these networks pose to personal privacy and security," Amy Weiss, senior vice president of communications for RIAA, said in a statement. "But, let's face it, they need to do a whole lot more before they can claim to be legitimate businesses."
So for the P2P United businesses to become quote legitimate businesses end quote, they should act like the RIAA and the RIAA's constituents.
1. Sue their own customers.
2. "Offer" their artists (perhaps the programmers in this case?) unconscionable contracts along the line of "You agree to assign the authorship rights of your work to us. You will bear the entire financial risk of the marketing and reproduction of your work. In most cases we will receive the vast majority of the benefits of your work."
3. "Cook" their books so that any profits generated by their artists/programmers appear in the vaguest possible terms, again avoiding any requirement to actually pay the artists/programmers.
4. Control their customer's access to new and old works. Make it difficult/impossible for their customers to legally obtain works that aren't on the "top 40."
5. Accuse anyone who complains (or offers an alternative) of profound moral sins such as stealing from the artists.
6. Spend profits purchasing lobbying power to protect the above system.
7. Attack any organization or entity that appears to offer alternatives to the customers or artists.
8. Require the artists under threat of financial ruin to use the above system.
Wow. That's a great way to run a business. I'm sure that the P2P networks would be loved by everyone if they adopted to above "business plans."
I've got a few other words for Amy Weiss, but they are not fit for printing.
Very True. Still, a 17 percent drop in one day, in apparent response to IBM's additional counter suit is significant. It will be interesting to see if SCO continues to fall on Monday.
...AKA Eric Blair was from Britain.
On the bright and happy side, I suppose it gives us another hacking project. Lets see how many times the Prime Minister can be made to transverse the tubes:>
"Many Net swappers "think it is their God-given right to steal music," Whitmore says. "They don't know any better. We have to teach them."
The Recording Industry and their lackeys think it is their God-given right to shaft the artists who create the music and to illegally fix their prices. They apparently don't know any better. We have to teach them. If they don't figure it out before they go entirely out of business, Great.
I'll be making sure that this album is shared widely...
Slashdot Mirror
IANAL, but I think this would be a good time for Foster to hit 'em with Contempt of Court... Is that possible?
Get Less. :)
...and a slow comment day? Odd.
Brown Team Creates 'Impossible' Silicon Laser
Page Tools
# Email Article
# Printer Friendly
# Related Articles
PROVIDENCE, R.I., Nov. 21 -- Silicon has made its way into everything from computers to cameras. But a silicon laser? Physically impossible -- until now. A Brown University research team led by Jimmy Xu has engineered the first directly pumped silicon laser by changing the structure of the silicon crystal through a novel nanoscale technique.
Since the creation of the first working laser -- a ruby model made in 1960 -- scientists have fashioned these light sources from substances from neon to sapphire. Silicon, however, was not considered a candidate. Its structure would not allow for the proper line-up of electrons needed to get this semiconductor to emit light.
Now a trio of Brown University researchers, led by engineering and physics professor Jimmy Xu, has made the impossible possible. The team has created the first directly pumped silicon laser. They did it by changing the atomic structure of silicon itself. This was accomplished by drilling billions of holes in a small bit of silicon using a nanoscale template. The result: weak but true laser light. Results are published in an advanced online edition of Nature Materials.
The feat is an apt one for Xu, whose Laboratory of Emerging Technologies is also known as the "laboratory of impossible technologies."
"There is fun in defying conventional wisdom," said Xu, "and this work definitely goes against conventional wisdom -- including my own."
For now, though, the possible isn't practical. In order to make his silicon laser commercially viable, Xu said, it must be engineered to be more powerful and to operate at room temperature. (Right now, it works at 200 C below zero.) But a material with the electronic properties of silicon and the optic properties of a laser could be useful in both the electronics and communications industries by helping to make faster, more powerful computers or fiber optic networks.
Xu said that when lasers were invented, they were considered a solution looking for a problem. Now lasers are used to power CD players and barcode scanners, and they can cut everything from slabs of steel to delicate eye tissue during corrective surgery.
"A very new discovery in science eventually finds an application," Xu said. "t will just take years of work to develop the technology."
Light emission from silicon was considered unattainable because of silicon's crystal structure, and electrons necessary for laser action are generated too far away from their "mates." Bridging the distance to make the atomic connection would require just the right "matchmaker" phonon arriving at precisely the right place and time.
In the past, scientists have chemically altered silicon or smashed it into dust-like particles to generate light emission. But more light was naturally lost than created. So Xu and his team tried a new way to tackle the problem. They changed silicon's structure by removing atoms.
This was accomplished by drilling holes in the material. To get the job done, the team created a template, or "mask," of anodized aluminum. About a millimeter square, the mask features billions of tiny holes, all uniformly sized and exactly ordered. Placed over a bit of silicon then bombarded with an ion beam, the mask served as a sort of stencil, punching out precise holes and removing atoms in the process. The silicon atoms then subtly rearranged themselves near the holes to allow for light emission.
The new silicon was tested repeatedly over the course of a year to ensure it met the classical criteria of a laser, such as threshold behavior, optical gain, spectral line-width narrowing and self-collimated and focused light emission.
...is a compliment of the highest form.
You can get the complete records on this by using Pacer. See https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl? court_id=00idx
You need a credit card, but using pacer is suprisingly cheap. The case is properly cited as "3:05-cv-00933-AS Atlantic Recording Corporation et al v. Andersen". When you search, search Oregon Civil court, and use "Andersen, Tanya" has a search. You can see who the lawyers are, what papers have been filed, and the docket describing when the case will go to trial.
Sorry for the above crappy formatting.
e LawsOfIdentity.pdf
For those having a hard time getting to the PDF, here are the 7 Rules of Identity according to Kim. I've removed the text for brevity.
1. User Control and Consent: Technical identity systems must only reveal information identifying a user with the user's consent.
2. Minimal Disclosure for a Constrained Use: The solution which discloses the least amount of identifying information and best limits its use is the most stable long term solution.
3. Justifiable Parties: Digital identity systems must be designed so the disclosure of identifying information is limited to parties having a necessary and justifiable place in a given identity relationship.
4. Directed Identity: A universal identity system must support both "omni-directional" identifiers for use by public entities and "unidirectional" identifiers for use by private entities, thus facilitating discovery while preventing unnecessary release of correlation handles.
5. Pluralism of Operators and Technologies: A universal identity system must channel and enable the inter-working of multiple identity technologies run by multiple identity providers.
6. Human Integration: The universal identity metasystem must define the human user to be a component of the distributed system integrated through unambiguous human-machine communication mechanisms offering protection against identity attacks.
7. Consistent Experience Across Contexts: The unifying identity metasystem must guarantee its users a simple, consistent experience while enabling separation of contexts through multiple operators and technologies.
--------
I'm really shocked that someone who works at Microsoft came up with this. This is a constructive, interesting set of ideas. The PDF link is : http://www.identityblog.com/stories/2005/05/13/Th
For those having a hard time getting to the PDF, here are the 7 Rules of Identity according to Kim. I've removed the text for brevity. 1. User Control and Consent: Technical identity systems must only reveal information identifying a user with the user's consent. 2. Minimal Disclosure for a Constrained Use: The solution which discloses the least amount of identifying information and best limits its use is the most stable long term solution. 3. Justifiable Parties: Digital identity systems must be designed so the disclosure of identifying information is limited to parties having a necessary and justifiable place in a given identity relationship. 4. Directed Identity: A universal identity system must support both "omni-directional" identifiers for use by public entities and "unidirectional" identifiers for use by private entities, thus facilitating discovery while preventing unnecessary release of correlation handles. 5. Pluralism of Operators and Technologies: A universal identity system must channel and enable the inter-working of multiple identity technologies run by multiple identity providers. 6. Human Integration: The universal identity metasystem must define the human user to be a component of the distributed system integrated through unambiguous human-machine communication mechanisms offering protection against identity attacks. 7. Consistent Experience Across Contexts: The unifying identity metasystem must guarantee its users a simple, consistent experience while enabling separation of contexts through multiple operators and technologies. -------- I'm really shocked that someone who works at Microsoft came up with this. This is a constructive, interesting set of ideas. The PDF link is : http://www.identityblog.com/stories/2005/05/13/The LawsOfIdentity.pdf
I am not a developer, but how difficult is it to create a space in Wine for a SEC patent legal module to "plug in" to Wine? Winers could either use Wine without SEC or purchase a licenced module. Of course, some good hearted soul would release the source code, and then those who wanted to run the module illegally could do so as well. (Did I say that out loud?)
This is hardly trolling. If Maureen gets lots of phone calls complaining about her inflammatory articles, great. Stay polite and articulate, and let Maureen know what you think.
I guess if you suppose everyone is a mindless idiot who will drive right out there and stir up some trouble you could call the referenced post a troll. I think it's a strech.
I just can't see paying for music so long as the RIAA is involved. Must I list their sins again? - Illegal price fixing (screwing over their customers) - attacking reasonable copyright - Rotten contract terms with artists Why would ANYONE support this? If you are going to pay money for music while the RIAA is around, you'd might has well just send in an affidavit denying any constitutional rights that interfere with Record Company Profits.
If Oracle and MS continue to use "per processor" licencing, I humbly speculate that it's just a matter of time until VMWare or some other Virtual Machine vendor/software supplier creates a "virtualized processor layer." VPLWare would present "n" processors as one large fast processor. Run your Oracle or MS application there. Problem solved. Wait, can't we do this already?
Further, it is becoming increasingly silly to expect an intellegent response from Microsoft. Still, this isn't all together bad. Don't use hotmail. Duh. Can we have a pretty little script that generates credible looking spam complaint for all addresses @hotmail.com? Is that just entirely too evil, even for a mail service owned by Microsoft?
IANAL, But I think the contract is only enforcable on the person who signed it. You should have told Verizon to FO&D, and to have fun taking your deceased loved one to collections. You know, if we customers ever find a way to screw the phone companies out of as much money as they had screwed us out of, we'd go to jail. Can you hear me now?
When the nifty new features that modivated you to purchase the phone in the first place don't work, or when "customer support" uses paying customers to beta test nifty new features, THATs MLIFE.
When you have to hold for AT&T's billing department FOR OVER AN HOUR to explain to them that you canceled their so called service a month ago, and that you just ain't gonna pay 'em any more, THAT'S MLIFE.
When AT&T bills you after you've canceled the contract because AT&T didn't deliver the promised service, THATS MLIFE.
When AT&T sends you to collections because you are so f$cking fed up with AT&T's complete and utter lack of service that you just can't stand another Minute on hold, THAT'S MLIFE.
When you carefully read the terms of service and contract before you sign up, then try to cancel the contract within 30 days without penelty as specified in the contract, you your life goes to hell, THATS MLIFE.
When you've been on hold for so long that you start writing sarcastic replacements for AT&T's marketing, THATS MLIFE.
When you start looking at cell phone sales droids as generally having less integrety than your typical car salesman, THAT'S MLIFE.
When you've had such a searingly horrible experience with a big nasty f'ed up corperation such as AT&T that you VOW that you will never use ANY service from them EVER EVER AGAIN, THATS MLIFE.
I humbly disagree. He was "the nearest Proximate Cause" of any downtime he suffered. Additionally, he created a bogus claim, something that is clearly disallowed in the DCMA (my god, I'm defending the DCMA. Yuk!) He can only sue him self. I don't think a court would allow that (yet.)
Haha. I miss causing trouble by modifying Oregon Trail to display things like "Girl Rush!!" instead of "Gold Rush!!" and setting your bank account to $999999 instead of $1000.
on the happy side, if the Record Companies are spending time and money on easily broken DRM, that's time and money NOT spent on breaking copyright laws.
Googlie Good HTML
So for the P2P United businesses to become quote legitimate businesses end quote, they should act like the RIAA and the RIAA's constituents.
1. Sue their own customers.
2. "Offer" their artists (perhaps the programmers in this case?) unconscionable contracts along the line of "You agree to assign the authorship rights of your work to us. You will bear the entire financial risk of the marketing and reproduction of your work. In most cases we will receive the vast majority of the benefits of your work."
3. "Cook" their books so that any profits generated by their artists/programmers appear in the vaguest possible terms, again avoiding any requirement to actually pay the artists/programmers.
4. Control their customer's access to new and old works. Make it difficult/impossible for their customers to legally obtain works that aren't on the "top 40."
5. Accuse anyone who complains (or offers an alternative) of profound moral sins such as stealing from the artists.
6. Spend profits purchasing lobbying power to protect the above system.
7. Attack any organization or entity that appears to offer alternatives to the customers or artists.
8. Require the artists under threat of financial ruin to use the above system.
Wow. That's a great way to run a business. I'm sure that the P2P networks would be loved by everyone if they adopted to above "business plans."
I've got a few other words for Amy Weiss, but they are not fit for printing.
Very True. Still, a 17 percent drop in one day, in apparent response to IBM's additional counter suit is significant. It will be interesting to see if SCO continues to fall on Monday.
SCO is taking on water. Looks like Wall Street finally figured out that investing in SCO == big loss. Check http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=t&s=SCOX"
Indeed, you are correct. I'd better go have some more coffee...
...AKA Eric Blair was from Britain. On the bright and happy side, I suppose it gives us another hacking project. Lets see how many times the Prime Minister can be made to transverse the tubes :>
"Many Net swappers "think it is their God-given right to steal music," Whitmore says. "They don't know any better. We have to teach them."
The Recording Industry and their lackeys think it is their God-given right to shaft the artists who create the music and to illegally fix their prices. They apparently don't know any better. We have to teach them. If they don't figure it out before they go entirely out of business, Great.
I'll be making sure that this album is shared widely...