Laser Beams Deflected Off of Nothing but Air for First Time Ever in Breakthrough Patent Pending Process - The Debrief

3 years ago by L4sBot to c/technology

Laser Beams Deflected Off of Nothing but Air for First Time Ever in Breakthrough Patent Pending Process - The Debrief::An international team of scientists report that they have successfully used acoustics to deflect laser beams in an engineering first.

Subverb 92 points 3 years ago

140 decibels. I'm sure some applications exist but it won't be a 3D TV soon.

path: 0 4730171, hotness: undefined, score: 92, children: 15

Slowy 47 points 3 years ago

In an ultrasonic frequency we can’t hear. But your pets and any nearby bats or rodents etc may be upset by it..

path: 0 4730171 4734055, hotness: undefined, score: 47, children: 13

feminalpanda 61 points 3 years ago

Can't hear but still cause damage?

path: 0 4730171 4734055 4734310, hotness: undefined, score: 61, children: 12

Slowy 70 points 3 years ago

I didn’t know the answer to this so I looked it up - yes. Over 120 Db can cause damage even if it’s ultrasonic and you can’t hear it. Apparently at 155Db the heat created by the sound wave can be dangerous as well.

path: 0 4730171 4734055 4734310 4734689, hotness: undefined, score: 70, children: 7

Kazumara 40 points 3 years ago

Just a small note, it's written dB, small "d", big "B".

"B" is the unit symbol for bel and "d" is the symbol for the SI prefix deci, a tenth.

path: 0 4730171 4734055 4734310 4734689 4750810, hotness: undefined, score: 40, children: 6

Hamartiogonic 18 points 3 years ago

Yes. Industrial grade ultrasonic sensors are harmful to your health. They can be used, for example, to measure the water level in a tank. If you need to enter a place like that, you should physically disconnect the sensor first. You might not hear much of the noise, but you may feel it in your teeth or some other places.

path: 0 4730171 4734055 4734310 4758339, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 3

sic_1 7 points 3 years ago

Weren't there some huge high power sonars that could melt people to goo?

path: 0 4730171 4734055 4734310 4758339 4759028, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 2

figaro 1 point 3 years ago

Loud lightsabers?

path: 0 4730171 4781381, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

dlpkl 67 points 3 years ago

Hard light dildos let's fucking goooo

path: 0 4728553, hotness: undefined, score: 67, children: 4

just_another_person 28 points 3 years ago

Man, they're going to have remake all the Star Wars porn parodies all over again.

path: 0 4728553 4728699, hotness: undefined, score: 28, children: 0

SzethFriendOfNimi 9 points 3 years ago

Code Bullet? That you?

path: 0 4728553 4728698, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 0

Sibbo 3 points 3 years ago

Light saber what?

path: 0 4728553 4728695, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0

dingleberry 1 point 3 years ago

"Blow me" about to have a whole new meaning.

path: 0 4728553 4751269, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

tacostrange 25 points 3 years ago

Light sabers?

path: 0 4728480, hotness: undefined, score: 25, children: 4

a4ng3l 12 points 3 years ago

Yelling lightsabers at that loudness. All the better imho.

path: 0 4728480 4734516, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 2

Scubus 7 points 3 years ago

Fun fact, if sound travelled through space, the sun would be as loud as a jackhammer everywhere on earth. Second fun fact, due to the fact that we evolved on earth you wouldve evolved to not be able to hear that frequency.

path: 0 4728480 4734516 4749223, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0

evranch 2 points 3 years ago

Luke!

WHAT?

LUKE! I AM YOUR...

WHAAAT? TURN YOUR LIGHTSABER OFF IF YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY

HELL NO YOU TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTSABER BOY

path: 0 4728480 4734516 4748820, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

SzethFriendOfNimi 10 points 3 years ago

Holograms or maybe molecular scale tractor beams?

path: 0 4728480 4728709, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 0

Seasm0ke 20 points 3 years ago

Holodecks soon?

path: 0 4728187, hotness: undefined, score: 20, children: 13

sir_reginald 52 points 3 years ago

considering the lab experiment with just one laser required a sound level of about 140 decibels that consume 20 gigawatts, I don't think holodecks are going to be a practical device.

path: 0 4728187 4728592, hotness: undefined, score: 52, children: 12

RobotToaster 62 points 3 years ago

WHAT DID YOU SAY? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER MY HOLO-WAIFU

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4728878, hotness: undefined, score: 62, children: 1

FartsWithAnAccent 3 points 3 years ago

"NOTICE ME SENPAI!!1"

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4728878 4738566, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0

Seasm0ke 18 points 3 years ago

Great points, but you know how things go. Proof of concept is a bloated laboratory implementation, then the tech gets smaller and more efficient over time. Next thing you know the sound is outside of human hearing range and the laser projector is fitted to a drone.

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4728837, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 4

echo64 27 points 3 years ago

More realisticly how things go, experimental research only works in lab conditions, clickbait article suggests it's coming next year, people make giant assumptions, people lose faith in science because the promised thing doesn't arrive

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4728837 4729140, hotness: undefined, score: 27, children: 1

Seasm0ke 5 points 3 years ago

Lol probably, we are definitely more on track for cyberpunk or idiocracy than star trek post scarcity socialist utopia

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4728837 4729140 4730419, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0

bstix 3 points 3 years ago

According to the article it's already using ultrasound.

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4728837 4729036, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1

rhombus 1 point 3 years ago

Ultrasound at 140 dB which can still seriously damage hearing, you just don’t hear it happen.

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4728837 4729036 4774341, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

LastYearsPumpkin 8 points 3 years ago

So they can only do holodeck simulations of EDM shows.

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4730121, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0

ThoGot 4 points 3 years ago

It may be interesting to see how humidity and temperature influence the laser (or even other gases as mentioned in the article)

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4728888, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

surewhynotlem 2 points 3 years ago

So like, ten years at most

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4729464, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0

Hamartiogonic 1 point 3 years ago

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4758441, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

kuberoot 1 point 3 years ago

It was the laser that's 20 gigawatts, according to the article, which is notable because such a laser is hard to redirect.

As for the viability of holodecks... Obviously the rest of your points are still valid, but one can only hope that someday we'll figure something out, the technology being impossible/unviable right now doesn't mean it'll stay that way. And this seems to show a theoretical possibility of manipulating light mid-air in the necessary way.

path: 0 4728187 4728592 4775459, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

Reygle 19 points 3 years ago

Horseshit. Don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining.

Edit: this is more horseshit like the "room temperature superconductor" that was instantly debunked as a horseshit scheme recently.

Sound pressure waves cannot distort spacetime

path: 0 4758309, hotness: undefined, score: 19, children: 0

NotMyOldRedditName 12 points 3 years ago

Space battles would be so much cooler if every now and then the phaser gets split around the ship instead of hitting the shields.

Would also work even when shields are down.

path: 0 4732106, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 6

LinuxSBC 18 points 3 years ago

But that needs air. There's no air in space.

path: 0 4732106 4734826, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 5

CosmicTurtle 18 points 3 years ago

There's an Air and Space Museum

path: 0 4732106 4734826 4741107, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 0

abhibeckert 5 points 3 years ago

Doesn't need to be air "in space", there just needs to be air somewhere between the laser weapon and whatever it is you don't want the weapon to destroy...

... although it'd probably be easier to use a mirror. Maybe one pointing directly at the person holding a laser weapon. ;-)

path: 0 4732106 4734826 4744080, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 1

brianorca 4 points 3 years ago

Corner reflector. Send it back where it came from, without knowing where they are ahead of time.

path: 0 4732106 4734826 4744080 4755385, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0

NotMyOldRedditName 3 points 3 years ago

Damn... you're right.

Maybe they'll find another way now that they've found one.

path: 0 4732106 4734826 4741356, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1

LinuxSBC -1 points 3 years ago

A mirror? Light won't reflect off of nothing. The closest you'll get is gravitational lensing, but that requires about a galaxy's worth of mass to make any noticeable difference.

path: 0 4732106 4734826 4741356 4748305, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 0

onlinepersona 6 points 3 years ago

I mean, that's a 20GW laser, what about those handheld lasers? Would you still need 140db?

path: 0 4732467, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 1

Brokkr 5 points 3 years ago

It would happen regardless of the power of the laser, but it would likely be undetectable at significantly lower power.

path: 0 4732467 4739782, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0

off_apparition 2 points 3 years ago

That's just an AOM

path: 0 4729608, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 10

Aopen 5 points 3 years ago

Art of Manliness?

path: 0 4729608 4732401, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0

onlinepersona 1 point 3 years ago

Why not a BOM?

path: 0 4729608 4732310, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 3

crashoverride 1 point 3 years ago

Why not a BM?

path: 0 4729608 4732310 4754567, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

ASeriesOfPoorChoices 1 point 3 years ago

Buero of Meteorology?

path: 0 4729608 4732310 4775115, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1

onlinepersona 1 point 3 years ago

Just an AOM, but counting upwards.

path: 0 4729608 4732310 4775115 4778806, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

karakoram 1 point 3 years ago

Doesn't an AOM typically have a lens?

path: 0 4729608 4758751, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 3

off_apparition 1 point 3 years ago

No, it's just a crystal and a piezo. You can focus into the AOM to get lower rise times but it works without any lenses.

path: 0 4729608 4758751 4760893, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 2

karakoram 1 point 3 years ago

I think I should have said "optic" in place of "lens". The crystal is the portion that is being oscillated to divert the beam. It could be that this is exactly the same principle being used by the referenced experiment but with much higher powered acoustic equipment.

path: 0 4729608 4758751 4760893 4761428, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1

off_apparition 1 point 3 years ago

Yeah, they're using air instead of a crystal :D

path: 0 4729608 4758751 4760893 4761428 4769749, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

Mr_Blott 1 point 3 years ago

Age Of Mempires?

path: 0 4729608 4755735, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0

BradleyUffner -11 points 3 years ago

Green laser beams have been deflecting off nothing but air since we invented green lasers. That's why they are visible without adding smoke.

path: 0 4732953, hotness: undefined, score: -11, children: 0

technology

@lemmy.world

login for more options

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related news or articles.
Be excellent to each other!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

go to feed...

technology

@lemmy.world

login for more options

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related news or articles.
Be excellent to each other!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

go to feed...