MASER

Maser

A maser is a device that produces coherent electromagnetic waves through amplification by stimulated emission. The word "maser" is derived from the acronym MASER: "Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation". The lower-case usage arose from technological development having rendered the original definition imprecise, because contemporary masers emit electromagnetic waves not just at microwave frequencies, but rather across a broader band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Hence, the physicist Charles H. Townes suggested using "molecular" to replace "microwave" for contemporary linguistic accuracy.

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maser

Noun

  1. a device for the coherent amplification or generation of electromagnetic radiation (especially of microwave frequency) by the use of excitation energy in resonant atomic or molecular systems
  2. Any celestial object that generates microwaves using the same method

Noun (etymology 2)



The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: maser
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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