Neutron star radiation from pulsars is thought to be primarily emitted from regions near their magnetic poles. If the magnetic poles do not coincide with the rotational axis of the neutron star, the emission beam will sweep the sky, and when seen from a distance, if the observer is somewhere in the path of the beam, it will appear as pulses of radiation coming from a fixed point in space (the so-called "lighthouse effect"). The fastest-spinning neutron star known is PSR J1748-2446ad, rotating at a rate of 716 times a second or 43,000 revolutions per minute, giving a linear speed at the
Optical beam-induced current Optical beam-induced current Optical beam induced current (OBIC) is a semiconductor analysis technique performed using laser signal injection. The technique uses a scanning laser beam to create electron–hole pairs in a semiconductor sample. This induces a current which may be analyzed to determine the sample's properties, especially defects or anomalies. Conventional OBIC scans an ultrafast laser beam over the surface of the sample, exciting some electrons into the conduction band through what is known as 'single-photon absorption'. As its name implies, single-photon absorption involves just a single photon to excite the electron into conduction. This can only occur if that