Virtual Journal of Laser

ScienceNOW reported this week that lasers can be used to control a heartbeat, killer volcanoes may not be responsible for all the mass extinctions they're believed to have caused, stars can steal their planet's moons, and scientists can now predict how moisture works its way through a given building and location, among other stories.

An ultrasmall laser is fabricated from conventional electronic components combined with an amplifying medium.

Authors: Christoph Walther, Giacomo Scalari, Maria Ines Amanti, Mattias Beck, Jérôme Faist

Laser-driven temperatures and implosion symmetry are close to the requirements for inertial-fusion ignition.

Authors: S. H. Glenzer, B. J. MacGowan, P. Michel, N. B. Meezan, L. J. Suter, S. N. Dixit, J. L. Kline, G. A. Kyrala, D. K. Bradley, D. A. Callahan, E. L. Dewald, L. Divol, E. Dzenitis, M. J. Edwards, A. V. Hamza, C. A. Haynam, D. E. Hinkel, D. H. Kalantar, J. D. Kilkenny, O. L. Landen, J. D. Lindl, S. LePape, J. D. Moody, A. Nikroo, T. Parham, M. B. Schneider, R. P. J. Town, P. Wegner, K. Widmann, P. Whitman, B. K. F. Young, B. Van Wonterghem, L. J. Atherton, E. I. Moses

Laser-driven temperatures and implosion symmetry are close to the requirements for inertial-fusion ignition.

Authors: C. K. Li, F. H. Séguin, J. A. Frenje, M. Rosenberg, R. D. Petrasso, P. A. Amendt, J. A. Koch, O. L. Landen, H. S. Park, H. F. Robey, R. P. J. Town, A. Casner, F. Philippe, R. Betti, J. P. Knauer, D. D. Meyerhofer, C. A. Back, J. D. Kilkenny, A. Nikroo

Fusion power is a step closer with the demonstration of control over the extreme thermal radiation pressure created by high-power laser beams within a cavity.

Author: Peter A. Norreys

A combination of high-resolution laser imaging with improved radiocarbon dating techniques is providing new ways to view earthquake behavior.

Author: Katherine Scharer

In a study published online this week by Science, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, a huge laser for nuclear fusion experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, describe their first experiments using all 192 of the facility's beams on test targets empty of fuel.

Author: Daniel Clery

This year's runners-up for Breakthrough of the Year include new gamma-ray observations, the long-sought receptor for a key plant hormone, mock monopoles, a drug that increases life span, ice on the moon, gene-therapy successes, insights into the properties of graphene and how to use it to make novel devices, Hubble's rebirth, and the first x-ray laser.

Author: The News Staff

A laser that emits lines every 10 gigahertz can be used for frequency calibration in spectroscopy.

Authors: Albrecht Bartels, Dirk Heinecke, Scott A. Diddams

A simple manipulation of the phase of a laser pulse optimizes photoemission efficiency in a complex molecule.

Authors: Daniel G. Kuroda, C. P. Singh, Zhonghua Peng, Valeria D. Kleiman