Physicists build world's first antilaser

[evo_9]

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/02/physicists-build-worlds-first-antilaser.ars

[dedward]

Why can't the beams cancel each other out in the air?

[alok-g → dedward]

That's what I am trying to figure too. Two coherent beams with the same frequency, and after adjustment for phase and amplitude, could be made to cancel simply with destructive interference. Maybe this achieves something more, or maybe this does not require amplitude or phase adjustment. I do not know (and possibly do not know enough Physics to follow).

[alok-g]

Want to absorb some light? Why not make it fall on some black object! Want to absorb some specific frequency band? Add a dichroic filter to the setup.

[mjnhbgvbn → alok-g]

Want to control whether a beam of light is transmitted or absorbed by the presence of another beam?

Sounds like a transistor doesn't it? Did switching electrical signals with transistors ever lead to anything?

[alok-g → mjnhbgvbn]

As far as I understood reading the article a few times, this does not sound to have transistor action (for light) to me.

[iwwr → alok-g]

The black object will re-emit the light with a blackbody spectrum (dependent on the temperature).

[alok-g → iwwr]

They claim their method results in 99.4% absorption (even though theoretical number is higher). This does not look too hard for visible range. (But maybe for other frequencies, I don't know.)

A typical HDTV with a contrast ratio better than 167:1 is already doing this using liquid crystal (uses polarization rather than a black object).

[pan69]

Shields up Mr. Sulu!