• Question: have you ever made a laser and tryed it and it broke straight away? what was it made for and why? what was wrong with it?

    Asked by cjade to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 3 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      Not a laser, but when I was studying for my PhD, I had to polish the ends of optical fibres to shine a laser through. The polishing process took 3-4 days of changing the special polishing material on a machine every few hours and careful cleaning of the fibres.
      Then, quite often I’d touch the fibre the wrong way, or shine the laser into it with too much power, completely destroy the end and be back at the start again.

    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 3 Jul 2012:

      No, although I am sure it would if I tried to make one.

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