This week we saw some of the properties of fiber optic cables and talked about CCDs.  Both of these objects are the subject of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.  More can be found on the physics and prizes at the Nobel website.

The fiber optic cable has been known for over 100 years in various forms — not always useful.  The first form talked about in the Nobel citation was as a “light fountain” (see below for an old illustration of one; also see wikipedia’s article).  Both fiber optics and this column of water rely on a property of surfaces that allows light to continuously reflect in the denser material called total internal reflection (which is easy to demonstrate in an aquarium).  You will learn about optics in the second semester of physics.

CCDs are an amazingly ubiquitous invention as well.  As we talked about in class, nearly everyone has one in their phone if there is a camera.  CCDs rely on concepts in modern physics such as the photoelectric effect in order to work — that is, light that hits a CCD surface causes electrons to discharge.  In the Nobel’s more elegant verbiage: A CCD records “a scene by accumulating light-induced charges over its semiconductor surface, and by transporting them to be read out at the edge of the light sensitive area.”  This allows you to take your digital photographs!