Researchers Create The First Earth-Based Laser Built From A Cloud Of Gas

In space, loose clouds of gas generate spontaneous laser emissions all the time. Now, physicists are for the first time creating lasers from gas clouds here on Earth--lasers unlike any gas-based laser we've ever seen. Astronomers have long been baffled by lasers that occur naturally out there in the universe, sending bursts of intense optical and microwave light streaming across the cosmos at specific frequencies. Scientists quickly realized that the atmospheres of stars and planets were generat...