To: calenel
"High-Speed Laser"? I thought all lasers traveled at the same speed.
To: PeoplesRepublicOfWashington
My thoughts exactly. Light speed is light speed.
To: PeoplesRepublicOfWashington
I thought all lasers traveled at the same speed. Actually, they don't. A pulse of light can have more than one speed because it is made up of light of different wavelengths. The individual waves travel at their own phase velocity, while the pulse itself travels with the group velocity. In a vacuum all the phase velocities and the group velocity are the same. In a dispersive medium, however, they are different because the refractive index is a function of wavelength, which means that the different wavelengths travel at different speeds.
To: PeoplesRepublicOfWashington
I think they meant "High-Speed" in terms of its ability to react to and destroy high velocity targets.
8 posted on
11/11/2002 11:46:35 AM PST by
calenel
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