It is good to hear things like that. As another plug for us little guys, I want to relay a story I recently read.
Two guys got a new laser to play with. One guy had always wondered what would happen if he fired a laser at a silicon wafer. They needed to "test" the laser, so they set it up and fired a few times. They noticed that the target area had turned black. They knew silicon didn't form any black compounds with the gasses they were using.
When they really examined it, they found out they had grown spikes of silicon on the wafer. More important, the spot now absorbed 95% of incident light at many wavelengths. They now suspect they can use it to create solar cells with 95% energy conversion.
Now a couple of disclaimers: 1) These were not amateurs. They were true academic eggheads. 2) They used a new femtosecond laser, which I don't think falls under the heading "shoestring budget".
The point, though, is that they were just playing around and may have changed the world.
Heading into Superbowl week, I feel I must point out that it is also an excellent photon emitter, and may find use in ultra-high resolution TV's and monitors.
Cool.
Created on Monday, January 22, 2001 9:48 PM EDT by Clay G Codner