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Article: Plasma pipe for intense laser pulses. (new method enables laser beams to travel long distances)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- October 2, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When traveling through a gas, a light beam has a natural tendency to spread out. This flaring effect steadily weakens the beam as it progresses through the medium.
One way of maintaining a light beam's intensity for longer distances is to focus the beam into an optical fiber, which confines the light and keeps the beam from broadening as it travels along the glassy strand. This solution doesn't work for intense laser pulses, however, which interact so strongly with an optical fiber that they cause the fiber's destruction.
Now, researchers have demonstrated a new technique they can use to channel high-intensity laser pulses through a gas for surprisingly ...