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www.southgatearc.org
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Underwater laser pops in navy opsUS military researchers are developing a method for communication that uses lasers to make sound underwater. BBC news carries a report that says: The approach focuses laser light to produce bubbles of steam that pop and create tiny, 220-decibel explosions. Controlling the rate of these explosions could provide a means of communication or even acoustic imaging. Researchers at the US Naval Research Laboratory say the approach could be used for air-to-submarine or fully underwater communication. One of the peculiar effects of high-intensity laser beams is that they can actually focus themselves when passing through some materials, like water. As the laser focuses, it rips electrons off water molecules, which then become superheated and create a powerful "pop". Because different colours of light travel at markedly different speeds underwater, the precise location where different colours focus together could be manipulated by the suitable design of a many-coloured input pulse. Read the full BBC report at
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