Question

Ursula Keller invented a type of these objects that adds a layer of saturable absorber on top of alternating layers of materials with different indices of refraction. For 10 points each:
[10e] Interferometers often use the “half-silvered” type of what objects as beam splitters? In Cassegrain and Newtonian telescopes, these objects have a parabola shape.
ANSWER: mirrors [accept reflectors or distributed Bragg reflectors or (semiconductor) saturable absorber mirrors; prompt on SESAMs or SAMs by asking “what does that stand for?”]
[10m] Passive mode locking replaces one of the mirrors in these devices with a saturable absorber mirror. These devices can use a ring-like arrangement of mirrors to avoid creating standing waves.
ANSWER: optical resonators [or optical cavities or resonating cavity or cavity resonator; prompt on lasers]
[10h] On the other hand, active mode locking uses one of these devices to periodically vary the intracavity loss. These devices usually operate by either an electro-optic or an acousto-optic physical mechanism.
ANSWER: modulators

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Data

TeamOpponentPart 1Part 2Part 3Total
Brown AClaremont A100010
Chicago ARutgers A1001020
Columbia BYale B100010
Cornell AUC Berkeley A1010020
Cornell BMinnesota B1010020
Duke AGeorgia Tech A1001020
Florida APurdue A10101030
Georgia Tech BStanford A100010
Houston AMaryland A100010
Illinois APenn State A0000
Iowa State AImperial A100010
Johns Hopkins ANorth Carolina A100010
MIT AFlorida B1010020
McGill AColumbia A1001020
Penn AMinnesota A0000
Rutgers BOhio State A100010
Toronto ASouth Carolina A100010
Vanderbilt AHarvard A100010
WUSTL AIndiana A100010
Yale AWUSTL B100010