I preface this by saying I know more about how visible light is produced than how radio waves work, so not much at all lol...
I know that with sound waves, one can approximate a "laser" beam by producing an extremely high pitch oscillation and then passing it through a slit.
Meanwhile with the lasers we know and love (UV, visible, x-ray, IR) one can create a laser beam by causing electrons to rapidly oscillate between atomic excitation states across a uniform population and gather up lots of coherent light as the atoms cause their neighbors to release photons simultaneously.
But how would one go about creating a laser out of radio waves? Or are radio waves already "coherent" since they are produced by the macroscopic movement of electrons through an antenna as opposed to a semi-random mix of exited atoms as with LEDs and light bulbs?
I know that Free Electron Lasers could theoretically lase at any wavelength, but I'm looking for answers other than that (since they are quite impractical).
Has been an ongoing question so appreciate any input
I know that with sound waves, one can approximate a "laser" beam by producing an extremely high pitch oscillation and then passing it through a slit.
Meanwhile with the lasers we know and love (UV, visible, x-ray, IR) one can create a laser beam by causing electrons to rapidly oscillate between atomic excitation states across a uniform population and gather up lots of coherent light as the atoms cause their neighbors to release photons simultaneously.
But how would one go about creating a laser out of radio waves? Or are radio waves already "coherent" since they are produced by the macroscopic movement of electrons through an antenna as opposed to a semi-random mix of exited atoms as with LEDs and light bulbs?
I know that Free Electron Lasers could theoretically lase at any wavelength, but I'm looking for answers other than that (since they are quite impractical).
Has been an ongoing question so appreciate any input
