Lasers (VIDEO)
Caption
The top frame shows what happens when you, for instance, use a magnifying glass to direct all the colors of the sun's light -- arranged from blue (shorter wavelengths) to red (longer wavelength) -- to a single focal point (the vertical green line). All of the colors focus there and come to a stop. The bottom frame shows what happens when researchers use a flying focus lens to direct all the colors from a laser beam, from blue to red, allowing each color to come to a different focal point. Blue would focus first and then this focus would move backwards to the red. The focus does not come to a stop, but instead moves.
Credit
Dustin Froula, University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics
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License
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