Second law of thermodynamics and thermally excited quantum oscillators
V.K. Konyukhov,
A.M. Prokhorov a
a Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Vavilova 38, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation
A review is given of the first investigations formulating the idea of direct conversion of thermal energy into coherent electromagnetic radiation in quantum oscillators. It is shown that the operation of a gasdynamic CO$_2$ laser can be described, from the energy point of view, by the second law of thermodynamics.
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