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neon light vs laser



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From:  Barton B. Anderson [SMTP:mopar-at-mn.uswest-dot-net]
Sent:  Tuesday, April 14, 1998 10:12 PM
To:  Tesla List
Subject:  Re: neon light vs laser

Jeff,
I am not "all knowing" about neon's. But a neon light does
not work on the principle of LASER (light amplification by
stimulated emission of radiation).

As taken from Science Matters; "Lasers have a collection of
atoms with an electron in a high energy orbit. Photons with
exactly the same energy as the excited electrons are focused
on these atoms. When one of these photons comes near an atom
it "stimulates" the electron in the atom to jump down,
emitting another photon in the process--one that is not only
of the same wavelength as the original, but is precisely
aligned, crest-to-crest, trough-to-trough. The two photons
then pass through the material, stimulating other atoms until
a flood of precisely aligned photons results. In this way one
photon "amplifies" itself. The energy needed to get the atoms
into an excited state in the first place, and to get them to
go back to it after they have emitted a photon, can be added
to the system in many ways. Some of these ways are subjecting
the material to heat, to a beam of energetic electrons, to a
bright light such as a flashbulb, or even another laser. Two
precisely aligned mirrors at each end of the laser material
cause the photons to move back and forth millions of times.
Mirrors are designed to allow a small fraction (~5%) of the
photons to escape on each bounce, and these left-over photons
form the laser beam".

A laser light is mostly coherent. A neon light is not. I
assume a "neon laser" is using neon gas as one of the
components to create laser light.

Hope it helps,
|_Bart_|

Tesla List wrote:

> ----------
> From:  Jeff Corr [SMTP:corr-at-enid-dot-com]
> Sent:  Monday, April 13, 1998 5:38 PM
> To:  tesla-2 list; tesla list
> Subject:  neon light vs laser
>
> I know this is way off the topic but you guys are the
> only people smart enough to answer this, heh... :-)
>
> What is the difference between a neon laser and the
> light from a neon tube when lit?  wouldn't the light from
> a neon tube be coherent just like that of a laser?
>
> Reply to corr-at-enid-dot-com thanks!
>
> Jeff Corr
> 2114 Monitor
> Enid, OK 73703
> http://www.harvestcomm-dot-net/personal/corr/