Coherence to Chaos
- art in the quantum world of light
Laser Art Exhibition
In 1916 Einstein theoretically discovered the phenomenon of stimulated emission. He showed that a passing photon could stimulate atoms to emit more photons that wiggle in near perfect harmony with the first. This is the phenomenon of coherence.
In the 1950s physicists in the USA and Soviet Union worked out how to use Einstein’s principle to create the LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The first lasers used gas discharge tubes: they were huge and cumbersome. In 1970 the first practical semiconductor laser was invented which allowed the invention of the CD player.
In the world of coherent light, images can be created without lenses, by interference alone. Light can be easily persuaded to take alternative paths. In some places the probabilities of a photon appearing can be made to cancel out, thereby creating darkness. In other places the probabilities can be made to add, and light appears.
In recent years better and better low cost lasers with pure and perfect light allow the weird quantum properties of light to be harnessed. Coherence allows beauty to be found in mundane objects.
Coherent laser light can be very intense. Its brilliance and parallelism allows exploration of things normally unseen…the structure of steam, the imperfections of glass, the smallest living objects, and dust in the air. Coherence uncovers chaos.
In the 1950s physicists in the USA and Soviet Union worked out how to use Einstein’s principle to create the LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The first lasers used gas discharge tubes: they were huge and cumbersome. In 1970 the first practical semiconductor laser was invented which allowed the invention of the CD player.
In the world of coherent light, images can be created without lenses, by interference alone. Light can be easily persuaded to take alternative paths. In some places the probabilities of a photon appearing can be made to cancel out, thereby creating darkness. In other places the probabilities can be made to add, and light appears.
In recent years better and better low cost lasers with pure and perfect light allow the weird quantum properties of light to be harnessed. Coherence allows beauty to be found in mundane objects.
Coherent laser light can be very intense. Its brilliance and parallelism allows exploration of things normally unseen…the structure of steam, the imperfections of glass, the smallest living objects, and dust in the air. Coherence uncovers chaos.