Laser snow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Laser snow is the precipitation of clustered atoms or molecules, induced by passing a laser beam through certain gasses.

[edit] External links

• Molecular Clusters, Laser Snow, and the Ozone Layer - According to this article on the subject "laser snow was first observed and named in 1975 by William Happer of Columbia University in New York City".
• The 110% Solution - Another article gives this history: "In the 1860s, John Tyndall studied the condensation of supersaturated vapors triggered by light. A dramatic form of light-induced precipitation was discovered in the 1970s by researchers at Princeton. When they passed a laser beam through sodium vapor, they observed laser "snow" as the sodium atoms clustered and precipitated."