Parisot – “Laser Lab” soundslides

In the NT Physics building, David McNeil works with a multi-million dollar machine called a femtosecond laser. The laser uses pulses of light – lasting a fraction of a second, hence the name – to conduct various scientific tests.

McNeil hopes, through his research, to discover new ways of manipulating light and energy, and using that to create new, faster computer technology.

Click here to view the slideshow. 

The beam itself is normally invisible to the naked eye, but was made visible in the photos by pouring liquid nitrogen around the laser apparatus. Liquid nitrogen has an extremely low boiling point, and evaporates almost instantly on contact with anything. The fog created allows the beam to be seen.

I greatly enjoyed making this slideshow. I love covering science topics, ever since I was in 2320 back in 2006. Very rarely do you get to see science in the news, at least in multimedia; you normally see more arts and life focused pieces.

I’m not exactly sure what is wrong with the audio; maybe I edited it incorrectly. Whatever shortcomings this presentation had will be addressed in the next one.

~ by supernovajesus on February 26, 2008.