# The Anti-Laser **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475 "2011-02-24T18:23:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/1 "2011-02-24T18:23:11Z")
Scientists at Yale have invented a [coherent perfect absorber](http://www.technewsworld.com/story/The-Anti-Lasers-Light-Swallowing-Act-71926.html). Daaammnn! > [@](#): > > Our device is a laser that works backwards, absorbing light at specific frequencies rather than emitting it," said Yale University physics professor Hui Cao, who invented the device with fellow Yale physics professor A. Douglas Stone and published the results in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Science. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/2 "2011-02-24T18:29:05Z")
Interesting. Puts me in mind of the legendary Fenton Silencer. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/3 "2011-02-24T18:47:14Z")
It’d be funny if all they did was reverse the polarity on a laser. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/4 "2011-02-24T19:16:09Z")
I’ll have to have a look at this. There are already plenty of things with sharp absorptions, and people have been using Fabry-Perot cavities and etalons to reject (if not necessarily to absorb) specific narrow wavelengths for decades. The article doesn’t say exactly what they did, or how. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/5 "2011-02-24T22:59:20Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > It’d be funny if all they did was reverse the polarity on a laser. 😃 As someone joked on another forum, “Now we can have sci-fi/Western laser gunfights where they shoot each other’s lasers out of the air!” Yes, he knew it doesn’t work that way. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/6 "2011-02-25T00:09:05Z")
So will this shoot out a perfect parallel coherent beam of darkness? That would be just awesome. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/7 "2011-02-25T01:02:35Z")
Damn. And all I wanted was some sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/8 "2011-02-25T03:03:40Z")
I think coherency is over rated. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/9 "2011-02-25T03:41:20Z")
Sounds like it’s just a concentrated [dark sucker](https://www.msu.edu/user/dynicrai/physics/dark.htm). Seriously…it’s pretty cool… -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-anti-laser/572475/10 "2011-02-25T05:08:20Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I think coherency is over rated. Shower curtain!