Groundbreaking Achievements Concerning the Transmission of Light in Fibers for Optical Communication

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2009 with one half to

Charles K. Kao
Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, UK, and Chinese University of Hong Kong

"for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication"

and the other half jointly to

Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith
Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA

"for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor"

 

The masters of light

This year's Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded for two scientific achievements that have helped to shape the foundations of today’s networked societies. They have created many practical innovations for everyday life and provided new tools for scientific exploration. In 1966, Charles K. Kao made a discovery that led to a breakthrough in fiber optics. He carefully calculated how to transmit light over long distances via optical glass fibers. With a fiber of purest glass it would be possible to transmit light signals over 100 kilometers, compared to only 20 meters for the fibers available in the 1960s. Kao's enthusiasm inspired other researchers to share his vision of the future potential of fiber optics. The first ultrapure fiber was successfully fabricated just four years later, in 1970.

Today optical fibers make up the circulatory system that nourishes our communication society. These low-loss glass fibers facilitate global broadband communication such as the Internet. Light flows in thin threads of glass, and it carries almost all of the telephony and data traffic in each and every direction. Text, music, images and video can be transferred around the globe in a split second.

If we were to unravel all of the glass fibers that wind around the globe, we would get a single thread over one billion kilometers long – which is enough to encircle the globe more than 25 000 times – and is increasing by thousands of kilometers every hour.

A large share of the traffic is made up of digital images, which constitute the second part of the award. In 1969 Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith invented the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device). The CCD technology makes use of the photoelectric effect, as theorized by Albert Einstein and for which he was awarded the 1921 year's Nobel Prize. By this effect, light is transformed into electric signals. The challenge when designing an image sensor was to gather and read out the signals in a large number of image points, pixels, in a short time.

The CCD is the digital camera's electronic eye. It revolutionized photography, as light could now be captured electronically instead of on film. The digital form facilitates the processing and distribution of these images. CCD technology is also used in many medical applications, e.g. imaging the inside of the human body, both for diagnostics and for microsurgery.

Digital photography has become an irreplaceable tool in many fields of research. The CCD has provided new possibilities to visualize the previously unseen. It has given us crystal clear images of distant places in our universe as well as the depths of the oceans.

Read more about this year's prize

Information for the Public (pdf)

Scientific Background (pdf)

To read the text you need Acrobat Reader.

Links and Further Reading

---

Charles Kuen Kao, British and US citizen. Born 1933 in Shanghai, China. Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering 1965 from University of London, UK. Director of Engineering at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, UK. Vice-chancellor, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Retired 1996.
www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Oral-History:Charles_Kao

Willard Sterling Boyle, Canadian and US citizen. Born 1924 in Amherst, NS, Canada. Ph.D. in Physics 1950 from McGill University, QC, Canada. Executive Director of Communication Sciences Division, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA. Retired 1979.
www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=129

George Elwood Smith, US citizen. Born 1930 in White Plains, NY, USA. Ph.D. in Physics 1959 from University of Chicago, IL, USA. Head of VLSI Device Department, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA. Retired 1986.
www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Oral-History:George_E_Smith

Prize amount: SEK 10 million. Kao is awarded one half, Boyle and Smith share the other half.

Contact persons: Erik Huss, Press Officer, Phone +46 8 673 95 44, mobile +46 70 673 96 50, erik.huss@kva.se
Annika Moberg, Editor, Phone +46 8 673 95 22, Mobile +46 70 263 74 46, annika.moberg@kva.se

Indonesian Space Sciences & Technology School

Indonesian Space Sciences & Technology School

A rocket engine or simply "rocket" is a jet engine^[1] that uses only propellant mass for forming its high speed propulsive jet. Rocket engines are reaction engines and obtain thrust in accordance with Newton's third law. Since they need no external material to form their jet, rocket engines can be used for spacecraft propulsion as well as terrestrial uses, such as missiles. Most rocket engines are internal combustion engines, although non combusting forms also exist.

Rocket engines as a group, have the highest exhaust velocities, are by far the lightest, and are the most energy efficient (at least at very high speed) of all types of jet engines. However, for the thrust they give, due to the high exhaust velocity and relatively low specific energy of rocket propellant, they consume propellant very rapidly.

Types of rocket engines

Physically powered

Type	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages
water rocket	Partially filled pressurised carbonated drinks container with tail and nose weighting	Very simple to build	Altitude typically limited to a few hundred feet or so (world record is 623 meters/2044 feet)
cold gas thruster	A non combusting form, used for vernier thrusters	Non contaminating exhaust	Extremely low performance
hot water rocket	Hot water is stored in a tank at high temperature/pressure and turns to steam in nozzle	Simple, fairly safe, under 200 seconds Isp	Low overall performance due to heavy tank

Chemically powered

See also: Liquid rocket propellants

Type	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages
Solid rocket	Ignitable, self sustaining solid fuel/oxidiser mixture ("grain") with central hole and nozzle	Simple, often no moving parts, reasonably good mass fraction, reasonable Isp. A thrust schedule can be designed into the grain.	Once lit, extinguishing it is difficult although often possible, cannot be throttled in real time; handling issues from ignitable mixture, lower performance than liquid rockets, if grain cracks it can block nozzle with disastrous results, cracks burn and widen during burn. Refuelling grain harder than simply filling tanks, Lower specific Impulse than Liquid Rockets.
Hybrid rocket	Separate oxidiser/fuel, typically oxidiser is liquid and kept in a tank, the other solid with central hole	Quite simple, solid fuel is essentially inert without oxidiser, safer; cracks do not escalate, throttleable and easy to switch off.	Some oxidisers are monopropellants, can explode in own right; mechanical failure of solid propellant can block nozzle (very rare with rubberised propellant), central hole widens over burn and negatively affects mixture ratio.
Monopropellant rocket	Propellant such as Hydrazine, Hydrogen Peroxide or Nitrous Oxide, flows over catalyst and exothermically decomposes and hot gases are emitted through nozzle	Simple in concept, throttleable, low temperatures in combustion chamber	catalysts can be easily contaminated, monopropellants can detonate if contaminated or provoked, Isp is perhaps 1/3 of best liquids
Liquid Bipropellant rocket	Two fluid (typically liquid) propellants are introduced through injectors into combustion chamber and burnt	Up to ~99% efficient combustion with excellent mixture control, throttleable, can be used with turbopumps which permits incredibly lightweight tanks, can be safe with extreme care	Pumps needed for high performance are expensive to design, huge thermal fluxes across combustion chamber wall can impact reuse, failure modes include major explosions, a lot of plumbing is needed.
Dual mode propulsion rocket	Rocket takes off as a bipropellant rocket, then turns to using just one propellant as a monopropellant	Simplicity and ease of control	Lower performance than bipropellants
Tripropellant rocket	Three different propellants (usually hydrogen, hydrocarbon and liquid oxygen) are introduced into a combustion chamber in variable mixture ratios, or multiple engines are used with fixed propellant mixture ratios and throttled or shut down	Reduces take-off weight, since hydrogen is lighter; combines good thrust to weight with high average Isp, improves payload for launching from Earth by a sizeable percentage	Similar issues to bipropellant, but with more plumbing, more R&D
Air-augmented rocket	Essentially a ramjet where intake air is compressed and burnt with the exhaust from a rocket	Mach 0 to Mach 4.5+ (can also run exoatmospheric), good efficiency at Mach 2 to 4	Similar efficiency to rockets at low speed or exoatmospheric, inlet difficulties, a relatively undeveloped and unexplored type, cooling difficulties, very noisy, thrust/weight ratio is similar to ramjets.
Turborocket	A combined cycle turbojet/rocket where an additional oxidizer such as oxygen is added to the airstream to increase maximum altitude	Very close to existing designs, operates in very high altitude, wide range of altitude and airspeed	Atmospheric airspeed limited to same range as turbojet engine, carrying oxidizer like LOX can be dangerous. Much heavier than simple rockets.
Precooled jet engine / LACE (combined cycle with rocket)	Intake air is chilled to very low temperatures at inlet before passing through a ramjet or turbojet engine. Can be combined with a rocket engine for orbital insertion.	Easily tested on ground. High thrust/weight ratios are possible (~14) together with good fuel efficiency over a wide range of airspeeds, mach 0-5.5+; this combination of efficiencies may permit launching to orbit, single stage, or very rapid intercontinental travel.	Exists only at the lab prototyping stage. Examples include RB545, SABRE, ATREX

Electrically powered

Type	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages
Resistojet rocket (electric heating)	A monopropellant is electrically heated by a filament for extra performance	Higher Isp than monopropellant alone, about 40% higher.	Uses a lot of power and hence gives typically low thrust
Arcjet rocket (chemical burning aided by electrical discharge)	Similar to resistojet in concept but with inert propellant, except an arc is used which allows higher temperatures	1600 seconds Isp	Very low thrust and high power, performance is similar to Ion drive.
Pulsed plasma thruster (electric arc heating; emits plasma)	Plasma is used to erode a solid propellant	High Isp , can be pulsed on and off for attitude control	Low energetic efficiency
Variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket	Microwave heated plasma with magnetic throat/nozzle	Variable Isp from 1000 seconds to 10,000 seconds	similar thrust/weight ratio with ion drives (worse), thermal issues, as with ion drives very high power requirements for significant thrust, really needs advanced nuclear reactors, never flown, requires low temperatures for superconductors to work

See also: Ion thruster

Solar powered

The Solar thermal rocket would make use of solar power to directly heat reaction mass, and therefore does not require an electrical generator as most other forms of solar-powered propulsion do. A solar thermal rocket only has to carry the means of capturing solar energy, such as concentrators and mirrors. The heated propellant is fed through a conventional rocket nozzle to produce thrust. The engine thrust is directly related to the surface area of the solar collector and to the local intensity of the solar radiation and inversely proportional to the I_sp.

Type	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages
Solar thermal rocket	Propellant is heated by solar collector	Simple design. Using hydrogen propellant, 900 seconds of Isp is comparable to Nuclear Thermal rocket, without the problems and complexity of controlling a fission reaction. Using higher–molecular-weight propellants, for example water, lowers performance.	Only useful once in space, as thrust is fairly low, but hydrogen is not easily stored in space, otherwise moderate/low Isp if higher–molecular-mass propellants are used

See also: Ion thruster

Beam powered

Type	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages
light beam powered rocket	Propellant is heated by light beam (often laser) aimed at vehicle from a distance, either directly or indirectly via heat exchanger	simple in principle, in principle very high exhaust speeds can be achieved	~1 MW of power per kg of payload is needed to achieve orbit, relatively high accelerations, lasers are blocked by clouds, fog, reflected laser light may be dangerous, pretty much needs hydrogen monopropellant for good performance which needs heavy tankage, some designs are limited to ~600 seconds due to reemission of light since propellant/heat exchanger gets white hot
microwave beam powered rocket	Propellant is heated by microwave beam aimed at vehicle from a distance	microwaves avoid reemission of energy, so ~900 seconds exhaust speeds might be achieveable	~1 MW of power per kg of payload is needed to achieve orbit, relatively high accelerations, microwaves are absorbed to a degree by rain, reflected microwaves may be dangerous, pretty much needs hydrogen monopropellant for good performance which needs heavy tankage, transmitter diameter is measured in kilometres to achieve a fine enough beam to hit a vehicle at up to 100 km.

Nuclear powered

Nuclear propulsion includes a wide variety of propulsion methods that use some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source. Various types of nuclear propulsion have been proposed, and some of them tested, for spacecraft applications:

Type	Description	Advantages	Disadvantages
Radioisotope rocket/"Poodle thruster" (radioactive decay energy)	Heat from radioactive decay is used to heat hydrogen	about 700–800 seconds, almost no moving parts	low thrust/weight ratio.
Nuclear thermal rocket (nuclear fission energy)	propellant (typ. hydrogen) is passed through a nuclear reactor to heat to high temperature	Isp can be high, perhaps 900 seconds or more, above unity thrust/weight ratio with some designs	Maximum temperature is limited by materials technology, some radioactive particles can be present in exhaust in some designs, nuclear reactor shielding is heavy, unlikely to be permitted from surface of the Earth, thrust/weight ratio is not high.
Gas core reactor rocket (nuclear fission energy)	Nuclear reaction using a gaseous state fission reactor in intimate contact with propellant	Very hot propellant, not limited by keeping reactor solid, Isp between 1500 and 3000 seconds but with very high thrust	Difficulties in heating propellant without losing fissionables in exhaust, massive thermal issues particularly for nozzle/throat region, exhaust almost inherently highly radioactive. Nuclear lightbulb variants can contain fissionables, but cut Isp in half.
Fission-fragment rocket (nuclear fission energy)	Fission products are directly exhausted to give thrust		Theoretical only at this point.
Fission sail (nuclear fission energy)	A sail material is coated with fissionable material on one side	No moving parts, works in deep space	Theoretical only at this point.
Nuclear salt-water rocket (nuclear fission energy)	Nuclear salts are held in solution, caused to react at nozzle	Very high Isp, very high thrust	Thermal issues in nozzle, propellant could be unstable, highly radioactive exhaust. Theoretical only at this point.
Nuclear pulse propulsion (exploding fission/fusion bombs)	Shaped nuclear bombs are detonated behind vehicle and blast is caught by a 'pusher plate'	Very high Isp, very high thrust/weight ratio, no show stoppers are known for this technology	Never been tested, pusher plate may throw off fragments due to shock, minimum size for nuclear bombs is still pretty big, expensive at small scales, nuclear treaty issues, fallout when used below Earth's magnetosphere.
Antimatter catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion (fission and/or fusion energy)	Nuclear pulse propulsion with antimatter assist for smaller bombs	Smaller sized vehicle might be possible	Containment of antimatter, production of antimatter in macroscopic quantities isn't currently feasible. Theoretical only at this point.
Fusion rocket (nuclear fusion energy)	Fusion is used to heat propellant	Very high exhaust velocity	Largely beyond current state of the art.
Antimatter rocket (annihilation energy)	Antimatter annihilation heats propellant	Extremely energetic, very high theoretical exhaust velocity	Problems with antimatter production and handling; energy losses in neutrinos, gamma rays, muons; thermal issues. Theoretical only at this point

External links

• Designing for rocket engine life expectancy
• Rocket Engine performance analysis with Plume Spectrometry
• Rocket Engine Thrust Chamber technical article
• Design Tool for Liquid Rocket Engine Thermodynamic Analysis
• Rocket & Space Technology - Rocket Propulsion
• The official website of test pilot Erich Warsitz (world’s first jet pilot) inclusive videos of the Heinkel He 112 fitted with von Braun’s and Hellmuth Walter’s rocket engines (as well as the He 111 with ATO Units)

How Indonesian People Get Nobel Prize in The Future

Central for Research and Development for Winning

Nobel Prize in Physics at Indonesia

Nobel Fisika Indonesia

• Presentation Speech

Ernest Lawrence

• Biographical
• Nobel Lecture

• Banquet Speech
• Other Resources

Ernest Orlando Lawrence

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1939 was awarded to Ernest Lawrence "for the invention and development of the cyclotron and for results obtained with it, especially with regard to artificial radioactive elements".

Photos: Copyright © The Nobel Foundation

Ernest Lawrence
Ernest O. Lawrence
Born	August 8, 1901(1901-08-08) Canton, South Dakota
Died	August 27, 1958(1958-08-27) (aged 57) Palo Alto, California
Residence	United States
Nationality	American
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of California, Berkeley Yale University
Alma mater	University of South Dakota University of Minnesota Yale University
Doctoral advisor	W.F.G. Swann
Doctoral students	Edwin McMillan Chien-Shiung Wu
Known for	The invention of the cyclotron atom-smasher elementary particle physics The Manhattan Project
Notable awards	Hughes Medal (1937) Elliott Cresson Medal (1937) Comstock Prize in Physics (1938) Nobel Prize in Physics (1939) Faraday Medal (1952) Enrico Fermi Award (1957)

Ernest Orlando Lawrence (August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958) was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate, known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron atom-smasher beginning in 1929, based on his studies of the works of Rolf Widerøe, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project. Lawrence had a long career at the University of California, Berkeley, where he became a Professor of Physics. In 1939, Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in inventing the cyclotron and developing its applications. Chemical element number 103 is named "lawrencium" in Lawrence's honor. He was also the first recipient of the Sylvanus Thayer Award.^[1] His brother John H. Lawrence was known for pioneering in the field of nuclear medicine.

The Developments of the Cyclotron

The invention that brought Lawrence to international fame started out as a sketch on a scrap of paper. While sitting in the library one evening, Lawrence glanced over a journal article and was intrigued by one of the diagrams. The idea was to produce very high-energy particles required for atomic disintegration by means of a succession of very small "pushes." The device as depicted however, was laid out in a straight line using increasingly longer electrodes. Lawrence saw that such an accelerator would soon become too long and unwieldy for his university laboratory. In pondering a way to make the accelerator more compact, Lawrence decided to set a circular accelerating chamber between the poles of an electromagnet. The magnetic field would hold the charged protons in a spiral path as they were accelerated between just two semicircular electrodes connected to an alternating potential. After a hundred turns or so, the protons would impact the target as a beam of high-energy particles. Lawrence excitedly told his colleagues that he had discovered a method for obtaining particles of very high energy without the use of any high voltage.

Other scientists, including Leo Szilard, had investigated similar concepts, but Lawrence is credited with developing it further and turning it into practice.^[3]

Diagram of cyclotron operation from Lawrence's 1934 patent.

 

The first model of Lawrence's cyclotron was made out of brass, wire, and sealing wax and was only four inches in diameter—it could literally be held in one hand. It probably cost $25 in all. And it worked: When Lawrence applied 2,000 volts of electricity to his makeshift cyclotron on January 2, 1931, he got 80,000-electron volt protons spinning around (at about 1% the speed of light). Through his increasingly larger machines, Lawrence was able to provide the crucial equipment needed for experiments in high energy physics. Around this device, Lawrence built up his Radiation Laboratory, which would become the world's foremost laboratory for the new field of nuclear physics research in the 1930s. He received a patent for the cyclotron in 1934, which he assigned to the Research Corporation. In 1936 the Radiation Laboratory became an official department of the University of California with Lawrence formally appointed its Director. He served in that capacity until his death. In 1937, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[4]


In November 1939, Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the cyclotron, the first particle accelerator to achieve high energies. Not only was he the first at Berkeley to become a Nobel Laureate, he was also the first ever to be so honored while at a state-supported university. The award ceremony was held on February 29, 1940 in Berkeley, California due to the war, in the auditorium of Wheeler Hall on the campus of the university with Lawrence receiving his medal from Carl E. Wallerstedt, Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.

Sumber:

1. Wikipedia

2. Nobel Prize Org.

Ucapan Terima Kasih:

1. DEPDIKNAS Republik Indonesia

2. Kementrian Riset dan Teknologi Indonesia

3. Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI)

4. Akademi Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia

5. Tim Olimpiade Fisika Indonesia

Disusun Ulang Oleh: 

Arip Nurahman

Pendidikan Fisika, FPMIPA, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
&
Follower Open Course Ware at MIT-Harvard University, USA.

Semoga Bermanfaat dan Terima kasih