Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!fps!brodie From: brodie@fps.mcw.edu Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: Lasers for communication Message-ID: <3513.26f9e1ef@fps.mcw.edu> Date: 21 Sep 90 14:48:31 GMT References: <153DAVE@ORION> <1990Sep13.020325.10622@nmt.edu> <7504@milton.u.washington.edu> <30638@nigel.ee.udel.edu> Followup-To: sci.physics,sci.electronics Organization: Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI Lines: 31 In article , dlbres10@pc.usl.edu (Fraering Philip) writes: > In article <30638@nigel.ee.udel.edu> berryh@udel.edu (John Berryhill) writes: > > jb>Followup-To: sci.garbage > > (nice try) > > jb>In other words, let the HeNe stay on all the time and use something > jb>in beam path that can either deflect the beam (an acousto-optic > jb>modulator for instance) or vary its opacity (an LCD window with a > jb>polarizer crossed wrt the LCD). > > Isn't the laser beam polarized already? Only some lasers are polarized. How do they polarize a HeNe laser? simple. Put a small pirce of polarized glass (for lack of a better term..) in the beam path. (very thin, very high quality). Take a look at any Edmund catalog... only about half of the lasers they sell are polarized. Most modulated lasers use something that sticks right inbetween the power supply and the tube, thus modulating the intensity of the beam. (I think..) ------ Kent C. Brodie - Sr. Systems Manager internet: brodie@fps.mcw.edu Faculty Physicians & Surgeons uucpnet: uwm.edu!fps!brodie Medical College of Wisconsin voicenet: +1 414 778 4500 faxnet: +1 414 778 6694 "Researchers have shown that people who drink four or more cups of coffee a day are 40% more prone to heart attacks.... I guess we all now know what happened to *MISTER* Olson...." -Jay Leno