Pew Pew! Scientists Build Lasers Out of Sound, Call Them Phasers

physnews.com ^

[BenLurkin]

Set your phasers on "miniature medical sensor." We're so used to lasers that it's easy to forget that the word is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation." As its name explains, lasing is all about powerful light beams made of photons with tightly controlled energies. It's easy to forget too that the laser's invention changed the modern world, particularly in the case of tiny semiconductor laser diodes like those in your DVD drives. Now Japanese scientists have invented the equivalent semiconductor device but for sounds. These are devices for making very controlled vibrations, making vibrations with tightly controlled energies--which physicists call phonons. This of course means that a laser-like device for sound is called a phaser. And Mr. Spock has nothing to do with it.

[BenLurkin]

Pew Pew???

[Alex Murphy]

Pew Pew???

Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a sound effects engineer!

[GBA]

Won’t be the first to use sound as a weapon. You can weld with it, too.

[Vaduz]

Hillary wants report on controlled vibrations.

[massgopguy]

I thought Sonic Disruptors were banned?

[Colonel_Flagg]

I always wondered why the Enterprise crew ever had to shoot a phaser more than once to hit a target. It’s a beam weapon, for crying out loud. Wave it around.

[Sir Napsalot]

We already have it (using large sonic boom as crowd control means) or close to have a working prototype. Saw it on the military channel.

Not small hand-held 'phaser' though.

And not described as 'pew pew'. Who wrote this!

[BenLurkin]

http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/goldberg.wav

[GBA]

Could be, but I really don’t know. I don’t eat at Sonic.

[kevkrom]

Set phasers to stun.

[papertyger]

It’s a beam weapon, for crying out loud. Wave it around.

It's called the "Rodenberry Effect."

I learned about it in my "physics of SFX" class ;o)

[NativeSon]

Babylon 5 had it right with beam weapons

[Vaduz]

LOL

[reed13k]

could be a capacitance thing where the charge needs to build up...

[TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed]

LOL

[wally_bert]

B5 did a lot of things right.

[Colonel_Flagg]

I learned about it in my "physics of SFX" class ;o)

Did they explain how X-wings are able to dogfight with Tie fighters? :)

[papertyger]

Did they explain how X-wings are able to dogfight with Tie fighters? :)

If I told you that I'd gave to NARFTLE THE GARTHOK!

(extra points if you don't have to google)

[martin_fierro]

[TalonDJ]

Are you kidding? B5 hand weapons were amazingly stupid. A firearm with frangible rounds would have been more effective.