[Laser] The Golly factor

[W2MXW]

-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Upton <stjohn@ocsnet.net>
To: laser@mailman.qth.net <laser@mailman.qth.net>
Date: Monday, January 13, 2003 1:21 AM
Subject: [Laser] The Golly factor


>The cone idea (light traveling down a tubular conical reflector from
>wide end to smaller end) is my own, but in this great world some one
>much more significant than I must have already researched it -- and
>perhaps discovered its inapplicability!
>

Yes, "they" beat you to it... sorry! :-( And I'd say it is indeed quite
applicable to our purposes. The idea, in one permutation or another, is used
in a variety of applications and at frequencies from mm-wave to x-ray. Some
examples are collectors for bolometers (total power detectors) in the
mm-wave thru IR used in astronomical research; solar collectors for interior
lighting of buildings (using mirrored tubes (overmoded wguide!!) or
dielectric rod or fiber bundles to deliver the light to "fixtures"; a
project at the AMASCI website (forgot URL, you'll have to search) for
collecting IR from the night sky to send to a detector for monitoring cloud
cover and IR scattering, collector is made from Al foil glued into a funnel,
some flashlights (used in "reverse" for beam-forming, a` la conical horn
uwave antennas), and in x-ray telescopes where it is called a "grazing
incidence" mirror.
Easy enough to do, so why not try one out??

73 es happy lasering,
Jon W2MXW