INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Lasers work, or “lase,” by stimulating electrons to emit light of a particular wavelength. (This process was first proposed in 1917 by Albert Einstein.) For electrons to emit light, they must first absorb energy to boost them to a higher orbit, then discharge that energy as light when returning to their original orbit. These energy sources are known as “pumps.”  Small lasers, such as those in CD and DVD players and laser pointers, use electronic circuits to provide electric current to diodes, which serves as the pump. Carbon dioxide lasers are pumped with electrical discharges to excite their electrons. Excimer lasers get their energy from chemical reactions.  Lasers built around crystals or glasses use strong light sources such as arc or flash lamps. A gain medium, or active laser medium, amplifies the power of the light given off by the stimulated electrons. Gain media can be any of the following items:  Semiconductors made of materials such as gallium arsenide, aluminum gallium arsenide, or indium gallium arsenide. Crystals such as the ruby cylinder used in the Hughes Laboratories laser. Sapphire and garnet have also been used, as have fibers of optical glass. These glasses and crystals are treated with ions of rare earth elements Ceramics, which have also been treated with rare earth ions. Liquids, usually dyes, although an infrared laser was produced by using a gin and tonic as the gain medium. Gelatin dessert (Jell-O) has also been used successfully as a gain medium.  Gases, such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, mercury vapor, or a helium-neon mixture.  Chemical reactions. Electron beams. Nuclear materials. A uranium laser was first produced in November, 1960, six months after the first ruby laser. These mirrors, or resonators, keep the light within the laser chamber until it builds up to the desired energy level for release, either through a tiny aperture in one of the mirrors or through a lens.  The simplest resonator setup, the linear resonator, uses two mirrors placed at opposite sides of the laser chamber. It produces a single output beam. A more complicated setup, the ring resonator, uses three or more mirrors. It may create a single beam, with the help of an optical isolator, or multiple beams. Along with the mirrors, the lens helps concentrate and direct the light so that the gain medium receives as much as possible.

SUMMARY: Provide a source of energy. Channel the energy through a gain medium. Set up mirrors to contain the light. Use a focusing lens to direct the light through the gain medium.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Stay occupied during your spare time so that you don’t give yourself a lot of time to think about them.  Take up new hobbies, pick up old ones, ask friends out for coffee or dinner, join a club, take a class, or volunteer.  Fill your days and nights so that you’re enjoying life and aren’t spending much time thinking of them. You will notice that thinking of them is regressive – you will think of them less and less over time. You might have a routine of texting them every morning, or talking on the phone every night, and come to expect that is what you’ll do every day.  Change your routine so that you don’t expect to talk, text, or video chat with them at certain times throughout the day.  If you normally talk in the morning, try exercising instead.  Or if you always text at lunch, plan to read a book instead.  Your routine won’t change effortlessly, and that is okay.  Stick with it and before you know it, what was work will be your new routine. If they try to continue with routines that involve you, such as phone calls or texts, you can explain that you no longer wish to speak with them on the phone, for example, or you may take a more thorough approach and block them on social media. If you choose to block them, block their phone number so that they may not call or text you also. It may help you to look at all of the reasons why a relationship with this person is not realistic. Try making a list of all of the reasons why it would not work out. You might include:  Distance, such as living in different states, countries, or even different continents. Differences in lifestyle, personality, or interests. For example, maybe the person you are in love with is an outgoing sports enthusiast who loves to attend parties and other social events. If you are more of an introvert who likes to watch movies and hang out at home with just a few people at a time, then your lifestyles, personalities, and interests might not mesh well. Different relationship goals, such as wanting marriage while the other person may not be interested in a monogamous relationship at all. You don’t have to actually say goodbye to them, but you do need to say goodbye to the relationship.  Reconcile with yourself that you need to stop being in love with them, and that it’s time to let go.  This can be a painful process, but it’s necessary because it signals that you’ve made a decision to stop being in love and move on.  You can say goodbye, you can write it in a letter, or a poem, or simply process it internally by thinking about it. If you share a friend or hobby group, you may decide that you want to maintain a friendship with them.  If that’s the case, explain to them that you’re ending the romantic part of your relationship but look forward to a mature and healthy friendship. If you think it would be better to cut all ties, it’s up to you whether you want to explain that you want no further contact with them. While you’ll never meet, you might have exchanged letters, trinkets, gifts, or other items.  You need to get rid of these reminders so that you can begin the process of healing and falling out of love.  Box the items up and throw them away or ask someone else to discard them for you.  This should happen at the same time that you say goodbye to allow yourself a clean slate.

SUMMARY: Keep busy. Change your routine. Focus on why it would not work out. Say goodbye. Get rid of reminders.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: A therapist can:  Be an understanding and supportive listener. Help you develop your ability to cope with life's difficulties. Help you develop some of your life-skills: more effective communication, better problem-solving, better impulse-control, etc. Help you look at your problems in different ways and with a different perspective. Help you gain more insight into your behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. Work with you to help you make changes in how you function and feel. Offer advice on how to find services which they aren't able to provide. A therapist cannot:  Undo hurt feelings and painful events. Change other people in your life, and cannot tell you how to change them, either. Create instantaneous change in you. Personal change requires hard and dedicated work. Write a brief (two or three sentences) summary of this using the above steps on what a therapist can and cannot do. Spend some time thinking about what exactly you want help with and what you envision the end result to be.

SUMMARY:
Know what a therapist can do. Know what a therapist cannot do. Determine what part of your problem can be helped by a therapist.