Invisible wrote:
> True. But - at least according to Wikipedia - it's still due to making 
> electrons jump between different energy levels in atoms (rather than 
> building an electronic oscilator). It's just a lot more controlled than 
> a whitehot lump of iron...

It's light amplified by stimulated emission of radiation.  The photons 
are in phase because each photon is created when another photon knocks 
an electron between energy levels. And because when that happens, they 
come out in phase.  The math isn't even that hard for someone who knows 
what a dot product is.

The light from a hot lump of iron isn't emitting stimulated light. It's 
emitting light randomly and spontaneously.

It's the same difference between a lump of plutonium sitting there 
giving off radiation and a lump of plutonium exploding in a bomb.

Hi FBI!

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?

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