Tag: lasers

• Accelerating neutral particles on a lab bench

  Most accelerators, including the big ones at CERN and RHIC, use charged particles: protons, electrons, or ions (atoms with electrons removed to make them positively charged). That’s because it’s easy to accelerate that kind of particle using electric and magnetic fields. However, neutral particles like neutrons or normal atoms can’t be accelerated by those fields,…

  Matthew R. Francis

  January 29, 2013

  Ars Technica, Writing for Other Sites

  lasers, particle accelerators, plasma physics

• Rapid cooling of semiconductors using lasers (but no sharks)

  Laser cooling (also known as optical cooling) is a well-established technique…but mostly for gases. The basic idea is to disperse the thermal energy of the atoms through shining light on them: the frequency of the laser is set to be slightly lower than the energy of transition between two configurations in the atoms, so that…

  Matthew R. Francis

  January 24, 2013

  Ars Technica, Writing for Other Sites

  laser cooling, lasers, materials, semiconductors

• The bald(ing) truth about laser hair-restoration treatments

  I admit, I love flipping through SkyMall when I’m on airplanes. However, the catalog is chock-full of pseudoscience, as with today’s entry in “As Seen on TV!”, my occasional feature over at Double X Science. (Warning: contains my balding scalp.) Ah, lasers. They may not have the mystique of magnets or the nous of “natural”,…

  Matthew R. Francis

  September 28, 2012

  Double X Science, Writing for Other Sites

  just for fun, lasers, pseudoscience