C.R. Kitchin-Astrophysical Tecnhniques-Istitute of Physics Pub (2003)
Lasers in Physics - University of Alberta · BP Abbott et al., Rep. Progress in Physics 72, 076901...
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a “five-minute Louvre” version Edmonton LaserFest 17 May 2010 Mark Freeman Dept of Physics/Univ. of Alberta, and Nat’l Institute for Nanotechnology Lasers in Physics CH Townes with a microwave amplifier, precursor to the laser (image: focus.aps.org/story/v15/st4) we’ll concentrate on the laser as an exceptional tool for the study of constructive and destructive interference of light waves
Transcript of Lasers in Physics - University of Alberta · BP Abbott et al., Rep. Progress in Physics 72, 076901...
a “five-minute Louvre” version
Edmonton LaserFest 17 May 2010 Mark Freeman Dept of Physics/Univ. of Alberta, and Nat’l Institute for Nanotechnology
Lasers in Physics
CH Townes with a microwave amplifier, precursor to the laser (image: focus.aps.org/story/v15/st4)
we’ll concentrate on the laser as an exceptional tool for the study of constructive and destructive interference of light waves
illustration of plane wave interference
the
of wave interference
lasers in physics
λ
Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
spectrum of light from “white LED”
the
of wave interference
lasers in physics
light reflected from wall and collected directly on CCD (no camera lens)
Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
spectrum of green laser pointer laser speckle
the
of wave interference
lasers in physics
light reflected from wall and collected directly on CCD (no camera lens)
Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
the department of
at the university of alberta
lasers in physics
geophysics
Schmitt et al., Geophy. J. Int. 167, 1425 (2006) Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
astrophysics
the department of
at the university of alberta
lasers in physics
condensed
matter physics
elementary
particle physics
ultrafast electron dynamics
nanophotonics
optical tweezers
magnetic resonance
neutrino detector calibration
biophysics
particle acceleration
nonlinear optics
optical lattices image: optical interferometry in a nanomechanics study (N. Liu et al., Nature Nanotech 2008) Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
the worldwide pursuit of new
knowledge
lasers in physics
“death spiral” of black hole into supermassive black hole
artist’s conception of gravitational waves
images from lisa.nasa.gov Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
the worldwide pursuit of new
knowledge
lasers in physics
BP Abbott et al., Reports on Progress in Physics 72, 076901 (2009); Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) www.ligo.org
cartoon of GW passage; distortion greatly GREATLY exaggerated
Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
the worldwide pursuit of new
knowledge
lasers in physics
BP Abbott et al., Rep. Progress in Physics 72, 076901 (2009) Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
the worldwide pursuit of new
knowledge
lasers in physics
BP Abbott et al., Rep. Progress in Physics 72, 076901 (2009)
strain is delta l over l
fly-in a line at 1 attometer out of 4 km
Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
the worldwide pursuit of new
knowledge
lasers in physics
BP Abbott et al., Rep. Progress in Physics 72, 076901 (2009)
to detect astrophysical events, theory says it’s necessary to measure changes in length on the scale of one attometer (10^-18 meter) out of 4 kilometer
that’s where this green line is
the other curves show the sensitivity of the detectors already operating
Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
the worldwide pursuit of new
knowledge
lasers in physics
BP Abbott et al., Rep. Progress in Physics 72, 076901 (2009)
how small are these fractions?
instead of comparing a distance to 4 km, let’s ratio a time to something really big: the age of the universe ~ 14 billion yrs
the red line corresponds to
one microsecond ! age of universe
Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
in Canada
lasers in physics a key prefix: atto, 10-18
as in attosecond, as well as attometer
Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
the worldwide pursuit of new
knowledge
lasers in physics
lisa.nasa.org Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
lasers can measure very tiny changes in distance
at its most sensitive, LIGO can measure relative length < 4 parts in 1023
(that is the fractional amt. the universe ages in 10-6 s)
the universe has aged by ~ 1 part in 1015 since I started talking.
the worldwide pursuit of new
knowledge
lasers in physics
14 billion year x 31 million seconds/year ~ 4 x 10^17 seconds
7 minutes ~ 400 seconds Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
astrophysics
the department of
at the university of alberta
lasers in physics
geophysics
condensed
matter physics
elementary
particle physics
Mark Freeman / University of Alberta
