willner%cfa@husc6.harvard.edu (Steve Willner) (08/09/89)
From: willner%cfa@husc6.harvard.edu (Steve Willner) >From article <8798@cbnews.ATT.COM>, by djm@castle.ed.ac.uk (D Murphy): > devices called masers (microwave.....) which were actually developed > a few years before lasers were. These produce narrow coherent microwave > emissions - are these devices used instead of conventional magnetrons > and such - as the coherent radiation would provide a more intense signal > which would make ranging and resolution better ? Radio (and radar) signals emitted from conventional transmitters are coherent, so there is no need for masers in this application. Masers can be used to provide gain with very low noise. They are therefore useful for making sensitive receivers. Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123 Bitnet: willner@cfa 60 Garden St. FTS: 830-7123 UUCP: willner@cfa Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Internet: willner@cfa.harvard.edu