Re: Is an omnidirectional laser possible?
- From: Igor Khavkine <igor.kh@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:37:08 +0000 (UTC)
On Mar 17, 1:08 am, Edward Ruden <rudenbz...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mar 5, 7:40 pm, "Green Xenon [Radium]" <gluceg...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Is it possible to design an omnidirectional laser that gives out
coherent and in-phase light in all directions?
Yes, a laser could be built to amplify and emit a pure spherical (s)
wave by exciting the laser medium between two precisely shaped and
positioned concentric spherical mirrors. The outer or inner one could
be partially transparent to emit diverging or converging light,
respectively. I don't think such a thing has ever been built, and it
would be difficult to obtain the required accuracy. The converging
variety would be ideal for imploding spherical targets for direct
drive Inertail Confinement Fusion.
Actually, no. Whatever the shape of the resonant cavity, the monopole
component of outgoing radiation must be static. A simple argument
using Gauss' law shows that this fact necessarily follows from the
conservation of total charge in some neighborhood of the cavity.
So, a spherical cavity is still not capable of producing s-wave
radiation; p-wave should be possible, though, as has already been
mentioned.
Hope this helps.
Igor
.
- References:
- Is an omnidirectional laser possible?
- From: Green Xenon [Radium]
- Re: Is an omnidirectional laser possible?
- From: Edward Ruden
- Is an omnidirectional laser possible?
- Prev by Date: consistent quantum theory
- Next by Date: Re: Hamiltonian vs. Energy
- Previous by thread: Re: Is an omnidirectional laser possible?
- Next by thread: Re: Is an omnidirectional laser possible?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
