Ernest Lawrence a scrap of a paper napkin. While sitting in the library one evening in 1929, Lawrence glanced over a journal article by Rolf Widerøe, and was intrigued by one of the diagrams. This depicted a device that produced high-energy particles by means of a succession of small "pushes". The device depicted was laid out in a straight line using increasingly longer electrodes. At the time, physicists were beginning to explore the atomic nucleus. In 1919, the New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford had fired alpha particles into nitrogen and had succeeded in knocking protons out of some of the nuclei. But
Nitrogen laser pulse energy ranges from 1 µJ to about 1 mJ; peak powers between 1 kW and 3 MW can be achieved. Pulse durations vary from a few hundred picoseconds (at 1 atmosphere partial pressure of nitrogen) to about 30 nanoseconds at reduced pressure (typically some dozens of Torr), though FWHM pulsewidths of 6 to 8 ns are typical. The transverse discharge nitrogen laser has long been a popular choice for amateur home construction, owing to its simple construction and simple gas handling. It was described by "Scientific American" in 1974, as one of the first laser home-construction articles. Nitrogen laser