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The Birth of the Maser—Oil and the Milky Way: Applications of the Maser

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Nico Bloembergen

Part of the book series: Springer Biographies ((SPRINGERBIOGS))

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Abstract

During the time that Bloembergen was working on NMR, many others were doing research on microwaves for radar. The radar technology was continuously improved, but there were still problems with the signal-to-noise ratio. The technical question of how to obtain lower noise led to a fundamental physical principle: stimulated emission.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In normal dispersion (color shift, for example by dispersion in a prism), the refractive index decreases with increasing wavelength. In anomalous dispersion, the refractive index increases with increasing wavelength.

  2. 2.

    In normal matter, negative kelvin temperatures are not possible, whence 0 K (−273 °C) is the lowest possible temperature. There are systems (not ordinary matter) in which negative kelvin temperatures are possible. Those systems can reach a temperature of, for example, −400 °C. The Purcell and Pound system loses internal energy and was therefore described by the authors as having a negative temperature.

  3. 3.

    A transient event is a short-lived burst of energy in a system caused by a sudden change of state. Wikipedia.

  4. 4.

    Doping makes a non-conductor into a semiconductor like silicon by adding small quantities (impurities) of substances such as phosphorus and boron. Wikipedia.

  5. 5.

    Ruby is a red gem with the mineralogical name corundum and the chemical formula Al2O3 (aluminum oxide). Natural ruby is expensive, but much cheaper synthetic ruby is used in physics. The red color is caused by “doping” of the mineral with chrome.

  6. 6.

    Thermal noise can be expressed in terms of the so-called noise temperature. The noise must be as low as possible. A good radio receiver would have a noise below 100 K.

  7. 7.

    Isotropically means exhibiting the same properties or behavior in all directions. Wikipedia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Rob Herber

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  1. Rob Herber
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Correspondence to Rob Herber .

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Herber, R. (2019). The Birth of the Maser—Oil and the Milky Way: Applications of the Maser. In: Nico Bloembergen. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25737-8_11

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