coherent

created by Cutthroat

(idea) by wangmu (14.6 hr) (print) ? (I like it!) Fri May 12 2000 at 12:27:15

In optics, a beam of light is said to be coherent if its phase (the phase of the oscillating electric and magnetic fields) varies smoothly along the beam rather than going through discontinuous changes. More precisely, the beam has a "coherence length" which is the average length over which the phase oscillates smoothly. For light from an ordinary lightbulb, this is only about one wavelength, because the light is made up of photons which are not in phase with each other. For a laser beam, the photons are in phase with each other, and the coherence length is about 50cm. Coherent light will produce interference patterns when passed through a diffraction grating.

(thing) by feoh (1.3 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Sun Jul 08 2001 at 15:56:43

Mark Williams' Coherent Operating System was a UNIX-like OS that ran on early PC's (Original 8086-80286 I think) and then later was ported to the 80386 with its protected mode architecture. Unfortunately it wasn't all THAT UNIX-like, and so if you were used to working in "real" UNIX you would likely have been somewhat dissappointed. That having been said they did a great job with the minimal resources they had at their disposal, and their support engineers were always very helpful when we called.

(definition) by Webster 1913 (print) Tue Dec 21 1999 at 22:35:03

Co*her"ent (?), a. [L. cohaerens, p. pr. See Cohere.]

Sticking together; cleaving; as the parts of bodies; solid or fluid.

Arbuthnot.

Composed of mutually dependent parts; making a logical whole; consistent; as, a coherent plan, argument, or discourse.

Logically consistent; -- applied to persons; as, a coherent thinker.

Watts.

Suitable or suited; adapted; accordant.

[Obs.]

Instruct my daughter how she shall persever, That time and place, with this deceit so lawful, May prove coherent. Shak.

printable version
chaos

perils of piping	Coherence	Bi-Phase encoding	interference
You've come a long way, baby	High Wire	cohere	Incoherently
Manchester Encoding	Yoke	The unfortunate streamlining of the English language	Coherent Waves
Xinu	epidural	good	incoherent
Cohesion and coupling	hologram	KB	March 23, 2006
Notelet Nodelet Squawkbox Client	waveguide	inherent	Adherent

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