Recent content by Shealen Fairchild

i see! so it was more of a 'close-by' credential, given the use of the electromagnetic spectrum as well as early high voltage power supplies. (as opposed to there being a specific set of shared technologies between HAM radios and the internals of early lasers.)

"those of you who ever used early lasers know you had to get a HAM radio license to run them. because you had to peak(?) the plate, dip the grid, and everything else to get these things to light. there was really no on-switch with these things, it was more like a class-A amplifier." this is the...

this is the footer bar i am referencing (scroll to the bottom of the page on any part of the website).

I have tried on different machines and browsers (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari); the latest upgrade of Windows 10, as well as up-to-date MacOS 14. When clicking the 'CONTACT' button in the footer bar, I do not seem to be logged in on that page. Trying to click 'LOG IN' in the header bar on that...

In a lecture (at 10:24) on the birth of the laser printer, Gary Starkweather mentions that a HAM radio license was required to use early lasers (he finished undergrad in '60). Why was this? (All the following questions are just filling out the primary question.) What were the...

So says the original patent! But you are gesturing correctly - as it is implemented in contemporary standards, the reflective mechanism is key in the larger process I am interested in.

I am not asking for an analysis of the physical servo mechanism, nor the encoding circuitry. Although I would be interested to hear about them, I am concerned with the isolated phenomena of laser transmission through the disk: the laser spot and its diffraction pattern, the precise optical path...

The Wikipedia is lacking on properly-developed resources, although it does have one great reference; as edited into original post, Sorin's The CD-ROM Drive has the in-depth discussion I was looking for. Additionally, Vanadium alerted me to the Red Book, which I was not aware of - it is mentioned...

There are many rudimentary diagrams and 'pop'-explanations of the physics underlying the apparatus used to read optical disks. I am looking for more concrete resources - experimental design data or in-depth theoretical analysis of the pickup head. Thanks! Edit: Sorin's The CD-ROM Drive is...

Do you mean specifically without a wire? Like if it were a cathode carrying current to an anode it would be through an ion of its chemical composition, rather than the case with a wire in which electrons are sent through?

Scratch that! Looking through some engineering websites, batteries can't have reversed current, at least not realistically. All the problems I'm attempting are using theoretical voltage sources, in which electrons can go either way without running into issues like the fact that its impossible...

Wait what? Did I say something offensive? I referenced Halliday, Griffiths, and Purcell's textbooks looking for an explanation before coming to the forum... I'm not passively looking for some easy solution. Look, maybe I can generalize my question. How can there be a current through a...

Well yes, I understand the intuition behind why the laws themselves exist, but as far as their application to a problem like this, I don't really see why they are applicable, because I don't see how it is a circuit in the first place.

Could you explain it on a macroscopic level then?

Yes, I am definitely aware of my disgusting simplification of what is actually occurring, that's why I'm having so much difficulty :/ But there should be a really obvious explanation to how current is actually able to flow despite my misunderstanding about how there is no way for them to flow...