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Science 19 January 1996:
Vol. 271. no. 5247, p. 293
DOI: 10.1126/science.271.5247.293
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Research News

Gary Taubes

A powerful laser beamed into a gas turns it, in essence, into a lens that either focuses the beam more intensely, until it splinters into filaments and hot spots, or defocuses and weakens it. This phenomenon--a vexing one for researchers and engineers--takes place because the light alters the electronic states of atoms in the medium, changing its refractive index. Now researchers have found a way to forestall this atomic response, allowing the laser to pass through unmolested.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)