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Ask HN: Why do I never read about “Masers?”
Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (Maser) is the precursor to the Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. It is used for atomic clocks and is basically the same device now that it was in the 1950s.
Is there anything new or interesting regarding this device or is it a sort of "vacuum tube circuit" in terms of limitation of iteration?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maser?wprov=sfla1
- sevensor 7y agoA long time ago when I was studying semiconductor lasers, I would periodically bump into maser literature in a lit review. It was all really old. We do use a whole lot of microwave cavity resonators today, although they're designed to cook food rather than radiate.
- ddingus 7y agoWith military conflicts moving into space, we may see masers mentioned again as a potential attack vector. There are days, driving along streets filled with all too many of those LED advertisements, when I think about building a small one for the purpose of "turning off the lights." Never will, because law, bad things. But I think about it. And that thought makes me happy.