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Jefferson Lab
Researchers at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility relax after creating a new color of laser:
A new laser light color that shines 100 times brighter than any other laser could lead to a new method for determining the age of materials between 100,000 and 1 million years.
The color is called "vacuum ultraviolet" because it is absorbed by molecules in the air, requiring its use in a vacuum, according to the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, where the color was created.
Scientists hope to use the new laser light in radio-krypton dating, a technique that uses laser light to measure isotopes of krypton. This method was first used in 2004 to determine that water in an aquifer beneath the Sahara Desert is a million years old.
The ultraviolet laser would be used to create so-called metastable atoms for use in this dating method. Targets for dating include the polar ice cap. Carbon dating, the most familiar method, peters out at about 62,000 years. Potassium-argon dating is a widely used technique to date more ancient materials — including fossils representing extinct branches of humanity's family tree. Radio-krypton dating could serve as another method for documenting dates in this key geologic era.
Greg Adams / Jefferson Lab
Jefferson Lab's free-electron laser produces laser light by accelerating electrons through these cryomodules and then into a wiggler, where electrons give off photons of light.
Researchers used the lab's free-electron laser facility to create the "vacuum ultraviolet" laser light. According to the lab, this is how it works:
In the FEL, electrons are stripped from their atoms and whipped up to high energies by a linear accelerator. The electrons are then sent into the ultraviolet beamline, where they encounter the UV wiggler. A wiggler is a device that uses magnetic fields to shake the electrons, forcing them to release some of their energy in the form of photons. As in a conventional laser, the photons bounce between two mirrors in the optical system and are then emitted as a coherent beam of light.
Scientists will spend the next few months getting the laser ready for experiments, which they hope to begin conducting in March.
Tip o' the Log to Discovery News' Amy Dusto.
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
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There's your future weapon frequency.
space.
Agreed, fine tuning space based lasers. You can already date things and even tell their temp. with lasers theres only one reason this project would be funded to the extent it has and thats the weopons potential that the military sees in this type of research.
another human invention with the ability to prove the actual age of things. unlike the tools some fantasy gods have created.
good job guys! thank you for not sitting around praying for this and actually using knowledge not learned from scriptures to invent this....
Sounds like a religious ferver you have there for seeking out and intentionally antagonising someone not of your particular brand of atheistic faith.
Pot, meet kettle. You're both extremists.
Oh, and I don't go to church. So, no, I don't particularly care which side is right, wrong, or has the biggest e-peen.
It never ceases to amaze me how much energy some people put into arguing against something they dont believe exists at all.
Adrenaline, you think it's OK for religious nutjobs to teach kids that the earth is only 6000 years old? You think it's OK that religous nutjobs have persecuted, tortured, and killed scientists for the last 2000 years?
Seaching for the truth through scientific logic, testing, and observation IS not extremist. It's important to realize that religious nutjobs want to subvert scientific education...here's an example, schools in my state would rather fund lawsuits in an attempt to get kids to follow them in the Lord's Prayer in the classroom, than fund science labs.
It's no worse than teaching kids it's OK for two men or two women to get married.
Yes it is worse...much worse! That book was written by MAN! Albeit, smart men. They knew how to scare masses of ignorant and superstitious people, so they could maintain wealth and control. It's about some invisible man somewhere that watches everything you do. And you can do anything except 10 things....and if you do one of those things he will send you to a place of eternal suffering, pain and grief! BUT HE LOVES YOU! All religion is, and always has been, about controlling the masses and maintaining wealth and power! They have done more evil, and caused more pain in the name of someone's "GOD" than anything else. Remember the Crusades? Or how about the inquisition? Or the Salem Witch Trials? Shall I go on? Believe what ever fairy tale makes you feel safe in the dark! Would a night light help? OOOHHHHH, that's right...night lights were invented by scientists, and according to the preacher "THEM THAR SCIENCE FELLERS IS WORKS OF THE DEVIL! Now put your money in the plate and be good little sheeple". I'll stick with science....the fairy tales don't even make sense. Just replace the word "GOD" with "Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster", then read the book again.....sounds stupid now doesn't it. Believe what you want, believe the moon is made of green cheese, and the whole man landing on the moon thing was fake, but don't try to force feed me your crap!
And don't try to force feed me your crap either, groucheeoleman. The sword cuts both ways. Why do I have to believe your way? Why must I worship at the altar of so-called science? Why must I do obeisance to the priests of philosophical rationalism? This all comes down to Truth --- as in, who gets to tell us what the truth is about things are brass tacks. You? Me? A scientist? A religious leader? The Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster? Academic zealots would have us believe that the scientific method is the only reasonable means for discovering the truth about things that matter, and that scientists are the most rational & reasonable people on earth... hence the only ones who have the right to tell us what the correct thing is to believe about our origins and whether or not a Creator is a 'rational' thing to believe in or not. I, on the other hand, dare to say poppycock. And I think a little rebellion in this case is in order. Believers in the fairy tale of modern scienc pretend to be 'neutral' and on the side of 'truth'. That's a load of crock. No one is neutral in these matters, including scientists. To insist on atheism or agnosticism --- even if only methodological --- is just as much a religious stance as anything else. There is no religious neutrality in human existence... we all, each and every one of us, take a dogmatic stance on religion no matter what we decide to believe. The dominant dogma of the last 150 years is simply that God doesn't exist, or that it isn't possible to know that He exists, or that He may exist but doesn't interest Himself intimately in the affairs of human beings. Hence, have your little spiritual fantasy if you wish, but don't dare to act as if traditional religions are true. Only scientists have a monopoly on the truth... Oh, and by the way. Study your history, please, groucheeoleman. The great majority of scientists prior to the late 1800s paid serious lip service to traditional religious belief. Yes, I know, hard to believe! Great scientists --- the shoulders of giants upon which later scientists stood --- made their lauded discoveries while apparently believing in... *gasp!* ... traditional religion. For them, there was no serious dispute between their quest for 'scientific' knowledge and the revelations of what they considered to be a holy & divine religion.
s-2730132 and guito7399
It takes a LOT of paranoia to think a laser beam that can be stopped by AIR could be much of a weapon! (A tin foil hat would probably make you invulnerable, even out in space.)