Feynman got his dollar
Nov. 18th, 2003 12:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eubso ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hattifattener and I can each have fifty cents: a vampire casts no shadow. It must transmit 100% of incident light. Still, a vampire is visible; it does reflect light. Hence, a vampire has total optical gain exceeding unity.
Placing any optical element of this sort within a sufficiently well-mirrored chamber will create a runaway optical amplifier, which if it is to be applied to peacetime uses must be equipped with an exceedingly fast-reacting system modulating absorbent damping. If this hurdle can be overcome -- perhaps using a nonlinear element? -- vampires provide unlimited free and non-polluting energy.
hattifattener and I can each have fifty cents: a vampire casts no shadow. It must transmit 100% of incident light. Still, a vampire is visible; it does reflect light. Hence, a vampire has total optical gain exceeding unity.Placing any optical element of this sort within a sufficiently well-mirrored chamber will create a runaway optical amplifier, which if it is to be applied to peacetime uses must be equipped with an exceedingly fast-reacting system modulating absorbent damping. If this hurdle can be overcome -- perhaps using a nonlinear element? -- vampires provide unlimited free and non-polluting energy.
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Re: did someone say nonlinear optics?
Date: 2003-11-18 09:44 pm (UTC)Yes, vampires' soullessness could reasonably mean that images of them can't be formed. Would vampire-reflected light then be subject as normal to non-imaging optics? A simple diffuse-reflecting white-painted cell, instead of a mirrored one, might solve the problem.