December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Release: Constitution Museum
by announce＠lp.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ======================================= NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 Washington DC 20037 ======================================= For release: September 9, 1998 ======================================= For additional information: George Getz, Press Secretary Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222 E-Mail: 76214.3676(a)Compuserve.com ======================================= Forget ignorant teenagers: Let's send politicians to the Constitution Museum WASHINGTON, DC -- Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell's plan to build a museum dedicated to the Constitution should be approved, the Libertarian Party says -- provided that every Congressman and Senator is required to take classes there. "Educating ordinary Americans about freedom and individual rights is important, but educating politicians is absolutely essential -- because only they have the power to write laws that threaten your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness," said Ron Crickenberger, national director of the Libertarian Party. Crickenberger's comments came in response to Rendell's request to the Senate Appropriations Committee last week for $65 million to pay half the cost of a museum designed to educate Americans about the Constitution. To buttress his argument that Americans are "ignorant about government," Rendell cited a survey of 600 teenagers showing that more of them could name the Three Stooges (59%) than could name the three branches of government (41%), and that while 74% could name the city where cartoon character Bart Simpson lives (Springfield), just 12% know where Abraham Lincoln lived (Springfield). Building the museum in Philadelphia, Rendell said, would help reverse "the tide of ignorance" that is "absolutely critical to the health of our democracy." Crickenberger countered: "First we need to reverse the tide of ignorance in Congress. After all, in just the last two years, these politicians have violated the First Amendment by trying to censor the Internet, flouted the Second Amendment by passing the Lautenberg gun-control law, and made a mockery of the Fifth Amendment by quietly creating a massive federal database of every employee in America, mandating fingerprints for drivers licenses, and imposing a national ID card. "Politicians who habitually violate the Constitution themselves have no business lecturing ordinary Americans on this subject. Instead, they should practice what they preach -- and be the first ones in line when the National Center on the Constitution opens in Philadelphia. "And instead of hitting up taxpayers for $65 million, members of Congress should pay for it out of their own pockets, or by abolishing some of the unconstitutional agencies they have created," Crickenberger said. For example, he noted, the Pennsylvania delegation could urge Congress to come up with the money by: * Knocking out every unconstitutional pork-barrel project that Rep. Bud Shuster quietly inserted into the $217 billion highway bill that Congress passed in March, such as $800,000 to renovate a historic train station at Gettysburg and $500,000 for a study on sidewalks at the Kennedy Center. * Trimming the $65 billion corporate welfare budget by one-tenth of one percent. * Earmarking just 25% of the paycheck of every Senator and Congressional representative -- and every Capitol Hill staffer making over $100,000 -- for a single session of Congress. * Eliminating just one of the hundreds of unconstitutional federal agencies Congress has created, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, which has a budget of $100 million a year. Then, after attending classes at this museum, members of Congress should have one other requirement, said Crickenberger. "Before graduating from their class on the Constitution, these politicians should be required to prove their knowledge by repealing every unconstitutional law they ever passed," he said. "That's the best way to set an example for American teenagers -- and it doesn't require building another museum in Philadelphia." -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBNfbSuNCSe1KnQG7RAQE8gAQAvrV8hv96Yfkrz7gOvLXEHtu0aY9zxZ1E wILr9VVw1u2lLig6C/9V8gt1Feio7iCuRvTdG3FI9I9JTvT/Y/QdzLajkNrbHb+V Oa8YTGgTfVAhpF3MX5M6SHiBua5dsYZtUZ5wLnpTE4oiWSI04hrD612Jf+0CZTCH JbaOzaW7wnw= =xN7R -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- The Libertarian Party http://www.lp.org/ 2600 Virginia Ave. NW, Suite 100 voice: 202-333-0008 Washington DC 20037 fax: 202-333-0072 For subscription changes, please mail to <announce-request(a)lp.org> with the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line -- or use the WWW form.

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If there's a trial will some of us be witnesses?
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If Carl Johnson comes to trial, presumably both sides will call expert witnesses. So, who will these witnesses be? Ironically, we are almost certainly the most qualified witnesses on the planet in these issues. However, I expect we are too disreputable, to either side, to be called. Instead, they'll likely call on peripheral players like Dorothy Denning to explain to the jury what AP is. Or perhaps the "Science Applications Inc." lightweight who attempted to analyze anonymity and remailers for a conference paper a year or two ago. Food for thought. I'm not sure how I'd react if either side called on me to act as witness. And if they subpoenaed me, I suppose I'd have to spend a few kilobucks to hire some lawyer to explain to me how and when I could take the Fifth. (That's what it's come to, with lawyers needed at every stage.) --Tim May "The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of tyrants...." ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments.

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Re: Cypherpunks as a Continuing Criminal Enterprise?
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Tue, 8 Sep 1998, Tim May wrote: > Could our group be charged as a "continuing criminal enterprise" under the > RICO statute? Probably. Under RICO and associated laws they can get anyone for anything. Well, except Komrade Klinton. > > It occurs to me that if Carl Johnson, who is linked several times to our > group/list in the court documents, is successfully prosecuted,then the Feds > may be able to cite both Bell and Johnson as evidence of a conspiracy. > > Which probably wouldn't be too hard to prove, as many of us have admitted > to conspiring mightily to undermine various institutions. (And we even use > encypted e-mail, the very essence of a secret conspiracy.) > > It might be fun to see them try this. Would they charge some of us as > ringleaders? Or would they declare the entity itself an illegal > organization? (As they have done with various cultural, political, and even > religous groups, like Hezbollah, the Aum religion, etc.) > > Interesting times. Quite. One partial solution I see is to rewrite premail in C so it runs at a respectable speed[1], fix some of the bugs[2], integrate it with more mailers, and then encourage everybody to subscribe through nyms. I'd love to see them try to prosecute users at nym.alias.net by presenting a court order to Community Connexion in Oakland. ;) [1] Yes, it's really slow on slower machines. [2] One of the most obvious is when Premail sends out 3 copies of a message for a 2 remailer chain, 9 copies for a 3 remailer chain, something like 27 for a 4 remailer chain, and so on. If nothing else, that's a security hole which allows people to know how many warrants they will need.

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Re: Citizenship silliness. Re: e$: crypto-expatriatism (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 11:46:40 -0500 > From: Petro <petro(a)playboy.com> > Subject: Re: Citizenship silliness. Re: e$: crypto-expatriatism (fwd) > >That'll work for gasoline because soap and gasoline are soluble. I doubt it > >would work very well for alcohol but once I get this mess with the tree > >straightened out I'll do a little backyard experiment. > > > >What I had in mind was to pour some alcohol on the concrete drive way and > >light it. Then use a waterbottle with a water/soap mix. Do you think that > >would be a suitable simulation? > > No. Ok, then what would be a suitable test in your view? It seems to me that after reviewing your comments this would be sufficient. We have a small pool of fuel that is on fire, we spray water on it and monitor the behaviour. We then create another similar pool and spary water w/ detergent in it and note any differences. > The point of using the detergent has nothing to do with it's > solubility in gasoline/kerosene (I have much more experience with JP5 than > gas, and JP5 is basically a high grade kerosene/diesel), but rather it is > there to break up the water tension & allow the water to "float" on top of > the gas/oil/whatever. Actualy it's to keep the water from forming 'beads' because of differences in density. The surface tension of water is much higher than most fuels so if you put a little water in a lot of fuel you don't want it to bead. This is analogouse to why you put your injector cleaner in *before* the gas so that the difference in density won't effect the thoroughness of the mixing. You can do the same sort of thing at home with cooking oil, water, and detergent. As to water floating on top of gasoline, it won't for any lentgh of time greater than a fraction of a second, detergent or no detergent. > Actually, by using solar heating/cooling techiques instead of > (ineffecient) conversion to electicity, you can save MUCH more energy. I have several friends who are as fanatical about this technology as you seem to be. I find it interesting that in 20 years of playing with it they are still in the red. The proof is in the pudding. > I don't see how, you just get it up there inside the orbit of the > earth, and let gravity do the rest. If it was ONLY that simple. When you leave the Earth you have the Earths orbital momental (and it is considerable). I'll refer you to: Classical Mechanics (2nd ed) HC Corben, P. Stehle ISBN 0-486-68063-0 (Dover) $10.95 Introduction to Space Dynamics WT Thomson ISBN 0-486-65113-4 (Dover) $8.00 Because I'm way to lazy today to want to delve in to triple-integrals and such. > I don't mind killing a salamander or 100, but I don't want my > electric supply, and it's attendant costs to be dependent on ONE > technology, or source of supply. If there is any alternative that will fulfill the requirements and doesn't require the arbitrary collateral damage then it isn't worth it, period. If for no other reason than the ethical responsibility to pass on the world as undamaged as possible to the next generation. (another oversite in current economic thought that I find makes it unusable) > We already have the have/have not situatiuon. True, but only because the current energy sources are located in specific geographic areas. > I think there is also this issue that NG doesn't "burn" when the > tank cracks, it "explodes", and when it does burn, it is very similar to > alcohol in that it doesn't have much of a flame. Actualy natural gas isn't any more flamable than gasoline or alcohol. What makes it safer is the gas diffuses in the air much faster than either alcohol or gasoline. In fact, in an accident I'd rather have a gas involved than a liquid because of this. I've seen several natural gas fires and they burn a yellow-orange (course they could be putting something in there besides the odorant to cause this). ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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ANNOUNCE: Bay Area Cypherpunks, Sat. Sept. 12, 12-6, KPMG Mountain View
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The Septembre Bay Area Cypherpunks Meeting will be Saturday from 12-6, at KPMG, 500 E. Middlefield Rd., Mountain View, with the organized part beginning at 1:00. IPSEC - Hugh Daniel will talk about the latest IPSEC Free/SWAN work Crypto 98 - Various people will talk about what they saw at the conference. Dinner after the meeting will be at some restaurant on Castro St. Mtn.View. Directions: KPMG is a relatively-unmarked building at the corner of Middlefield Rd. and Ellis St. in Mountain View, surrounded by Netscape. The lobby entrance is on the Ellis St. side. The Ellis exit on 101 is between 85 and 237. http://www.mapblast.com/mapblast/blast.hm?CMD=MAP&GC=X%3A-122.05265%7CY%3A3… Probable speaker for October - Sue Bardakos from Entrust ----------- Mailing list administrivia - this announcement has been sent to cypherpunks(a)algebra.com cypherpunks-announce(a)toad.com coderpunks(a)toad.com cryptography(a)c2.net If you want to get off one of the lists, send mail to listname-request(a)machine.domain (probably majordomo!) for the listserver that sent you the mail. ----------- Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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Joe Cypherpunk
by sixdegrees 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Name: Ivan Cypherpunk E-Mail Address: cypherpunks(a)algebra.com sixdegrees Password: listhome Hi. You've been sponsored as "Significant Other" by Joe Cypherpunk as part of something called sixdegrees, one of the fastest growing phenomena on the Web, located at http://www.sixdegrees.com You may have already heard of the six degrees of separation concept - where everyone on the planet is connected to each other through fewer than 6 people. Well, we haven't quite connected the whole world yet, but there are over a million people participating, and over 900,000 of them are connected in one giant chain. And, just by confirming your relationship with Joe, you can instantly tap into this interconnected community of interesting people from all over the world. So what? Well, by getting connected, you can come to the Web site (which is completely FREE) and use a whole variety of valuable, fun and intriguing services that make use of this massive chain of connections. You can come see who's logged on the site right now and when you find someone interesting, we'll show you exactly how you're connected no matter how many degrees it takes, and then you can instant message them. You can also find out how you're connected to that head of personnel at the big firm where you've been trying to get your foot in the door. You can chat with people from around the globe and then see who you know in common. You can post burning questions on your own personalized bulletin board and get valuable answers from your "circle" (your friends and friends of friends). You can even get Movie recommendations from the people you're connected to. So, stop by the site at http://www.sixdegrees.com to learn more and give it a try. (You can log in with this password: listhome). ==================================================================== You can also get things started and get yourself connected right from this e-mail: ** To confirm your relationship with Joe, just send a reply that says only CONFIRM on the first line of the message body * To deny this particular relationship (but keep open the possibility of joining sixdegrees if the concept intrigues you) send a reply that says only DENY * And, if you'd like to make sure you don't hear from us again (even if somebody else you know lists you as a contact) then simply send a reply which says REMOVE in the SUBJECT LINE so we can process your request right away Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you at sixdegrees. ==================================================================== And, if you're really ambitious, you can get your network of connections growing right away. Just list the people you think might be interested in participating in sixdegrees and we'll contact them with an e-mail like this one which mentions your name and invites them to join. Just follow these directions: * Click your mail program's REPLY button. * On the FIRST line of the message body of the reply e-mail that opens, type only the word CONFIRM to let us know that you are in fact Joe's Significant Other. * On the next line of the message body list the first and last names and e-mail addresses of the people you'd like to invite (you can list as many as you'd like - but we recommend you list at least two), and the relationship numbers that correspond with how those people are related to you. MAKE SURE: * That the first name, last name, e-mail address and relationship number are separated by SEMI-COLONS. * You follow the format of these examples: John; Smith; jsmith(a)fakeplace.com; 12 Jane; Doe; superjane(a)fakeplace.com; 3 * And that you define each relationship by choosing a number from this list: 1=wife 2=husband 3=life partner 4=significant other 5=mother 6=father 7=sister 8=brother 9=daughter 10=son 11=other family member 12=friend 13=employer 14=employee 15=co-worker 16=client 17=service provider 18=business contact 19=fellow alum 20=acquaintance We look forward to hearing from you! =================================================================== PLEASE NOTE: All replies to this address are processed by a computer. If you have any problems, questions or requests send an e-mail to issues(a)sixdegrees.com and you'll receive a prompt and courteous response. And, if you'd like to review our privacy statement just visit http://www.sixdegrees.com/Public/About/Privacy.asp ==================================================================== sixdegrees is Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. E.DB.ANB.1

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Forwarded mail....
by Bernardo B. Terrado 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Do you have the same mail? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 19:27:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Jrjeffro(a)aol.com HaCkaZ OnlY Da EliTeHelLO YaLL DiS is Da MaDD AAOOLL HaCka Ima startin a GreWp fOR HaCs Only So In OthA WerDS yA gOttA KnOw The WAreZ anD HoW toO UsEr FaTe AnD AOL So MaIl Or Im Me FoR Da TeTaIls If YeR LeeTo K Pe@CE FrOmE The LeeTs HacKJeFFrO) >

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Crypto in a Cuban Crime...
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:18 PM -0400 on 9/15/98, Charles Smith of Win Schwartau's FUDFactory wrote something mildly clueful: > BUSTED CUBAN SPIES USE CRYPTO > ----------------------------- > FBI officials are proud that they broke up a small ring of Cuban > spies in Florida. The Cuban espionage agents are accused of > using encryption to encode messages and protect information. > Expect Director Freeh to use this bust as one of a hand full > historical examples of "crypto" crimes in his next Congressional > testimony. According to his last testimony in August 1998, only > 17 crimes over the past 10 years have been made more difficult > for the FBI by encryption. > > What the FBI Director won't tell you is that the Cubans have > been sending enciphered messages to their U.N. mission in New > York over SHORT-WAVE RADIO for almost 30 years. The Morse code > signals are encrypted with a Cuban one-time-pad cipher and > transmitted from Havana on a nightly basis. The Cuban encrypted > transmissions are so regular - some HAM radio operators set > their clocks by it. ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Forwarded mail...
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 21:14:19 +0200 > From: Anonymous <nobody(a)replay.com> > The post I made earlier went through without a problem, but as I mentioned in my original post I had made several anon posts through replay.com to cypherpunks(a)ssz.com and they never made it to the list. > > I also noticed that replay.com seems to be striping the subject from the posts as in my last post I *did* put a subject line on the message but it arrived to the list without one. > > In the messages I sent, a couple of them I used a chain of remailers but when they failed to appear I sent the remaining messages through replay.com only (using the https interface to send the messages). > > It may have just been a problem on replay's end but on all the posts I did get a conformation page that the messages had been accepted. > > Odd. > > I AM TOTOCUS!!! > Sounds to me like you need to be talking to replay. ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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IP: Working Photonic Lattice, A Dream For A Decade, Fabricated At Sandia
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Delivered-To: ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com X-Sender: believer(a)telepath.com Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 16:16:20 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Working Photonic Lattice, A Dream For A Decade, Fabricated At Sandia Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: owner-ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com Precedence: list Reply-To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: EurekAlert! http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/snl-wpladfad.html For Immediate Release: 15 September 1998 Contact: Neal Singer nsinger(a)sandia.gov (505) 845-7078 Sandia National Laboratories Working Photonic Lattice, A Dream For A Decade, Fabricated At Sandia: Lincoln Log-Like Structure To Improve Infrared And Optical Communications, Optical Computers ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- By interlocking tiny slivers of silicon into a lattice that, under a microscope, appears to be formed by toy Lincoln logs, scientists at the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories believe they have solved a major technical problem: how to bend light easily and cheaply without leaking it, no matter how many twists or turns are needed for optical communications or (potentially) optical computers. The lattice, dubbed a photonic crystal (crystals have regularly repeating internal structures), now works in the infrared range (approximately 10-micron wavelengths). This achievement is of military and commercial interest because the technique can be used to enhance or better transmit infrared images. Sandia researchers Shawn Lin and Jim Fleming now are preparing a 1.5 micron crystal -- the region in which almost all the world?s optically transmitted information is passed. The improvement -- which bends far more light in far less space at considerably less cost than current commercial methods -- will make possible tinier, cheaper, more effective waveguides to combine or separate optical frequencies at the beginning or end of information transmissions. It will find wide application in data transmission and in more compact and efficient sensors. (See "Technique Perfected...." backgrounder that follows.) Pierre Villeneuve, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), says, "With the structure [Sandia researcher] Shawn [Lin] is using now, he'll be able to hit the 1.5 micron mark within the next 12 months. This shows how 'key' this work is: He's using a technique that lends itself to hitting the mark." A venture capitalist requesting anonymity has approached the researchers to commercialize the process. The achievement, for which Sandia has applied for a patent, was reported in the July 16 issue of the journal Nature. The structure, in the regularity and spacing of its parts, is mirrorlike in not permitting light of a particular frequency, caught within the cavity of the structure, to escape. Instead, light must follow along any twists or turns designed into the log structure. By designing the distance between logs carefully, a chosen wavelength is reflected instead of passing out of the space, as longer or shorter wavelengths can. With introduction of an impurity like air or much thicker polysilicon "logs" to provide routes for preselected wavelengths introduced into the crystal, light travels along the impurity as it twists or bends. No matter how sharp the turns, light of frequency roughly in the middle of the band gap cannot escape. Funding for the project was provided by Sandia's Laboratory-Directed Research and Development office, which funds speculative, defense-related research, and by the DOE. A Photonic Band Gap What's "cool," in the eyes of some observers, is that Sandia researchers Lin and Fleming have created the equivalent of a photonic "band gap" that forbids certain frequencies of light from exiting the lattice. ("Band Gap" is a term usually applied to electrons, not photons, and signifies a range of energies in which electrons are absent because their presence would contradict quantum mechanical laws.) The nearly leak-proof lattices form a cage that trap and guide approximately 95 percent of the light sent within them, as compared with approximately 30 percent for conventional waveguides, and they take only one-tenth to one-fifth the space to bend the light. (The Sandia photonic lattice's turning radius is currently in the one-wavelength range, rather than the traditional waveguide bend of more than 10 wavelengths.) Standard, integrated-circuit manufacturing technology used to fabricate micromachines -- machines nearly too small to see -- at Sandia's Microelctronics Development Laboratory can create tens of thousands of waveguides from a single, 6-inch silicon wafer. This is a factor 10 to 100 times more dense than can be fabricated using more expensive gallium arsenide with current commercial technology. Potential uses: low-energy lasers, photonic computers, communications Because little light is lost in the three-dimensional mirroring that sends light back at itself, a new type of microlaser requiring little start-up energy is theoretically achievable. (Most conventional lasers require large jolts of energy to begin operating because so much light is lost in the lasing start-up process.) The achievement also brings nearer the day when computers that transmit information using photons rather than electrons become a practical reality. Currently, desktop computers use electrons to pass information, but as more circuits are included on new chips, they become more difficult to cool. Photons, the stuff of light, are faster and cooler than electrons. The problem is that no one has been able to bend useful frequencies of light around tight corners (as navigated by electrons through a million turns on a computer chip the size of a postage stamp) without incurring large losses in information; with previously used techniques, light leaks, and badly, the more tightly it is turned. One principle of optical communications is that differing frequencies of light are bent by different amounts. Waveguides first combine the frequencies of a number of information streams -- for example, telephone calls -- by bending them into the combined "white" light passing through an optical cable; then other waveguides separate the light into component frequencies by bending it at the end of its journey. Photonic Band Gap Crystals -- A History The idea of a "photonic band gap structure" was first advanced in 1987 by Eli Yablonovitch, now a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1990, he built the first photonic crystal, baseball-sized to channel microwaves useful in antennae applications. In the mid 1990s, scientists at Ames Laboratory in Iowa built crystals the size of ping pong balls, also for microwaves. The components were of a size that could be put together by hand, using straight metal pins (of the type that hold new shirts in place). The size reduction for current structures is a striking achievement that researchers have been attempting to achieve for a decade, says Del Owyoung, Sandia manager for the project. The difference in frequency is comparable to moving from masers to lasers, he said ? from microwaves to optical waves. According to Rama Biswa, a researcher at Ames Lab, "We had built the same structure [as Sandia has] ourselves, but more than 100 times larger, in the microwave frequency range. I think it is quite remarkable that Shawn Lin's group could do it at these wavelengths in the infrared and at this size." Villeneuve, who has theorized about uses for photonic crystals for much of the 1990s in a group led by MIT professor J. D. Joannopoulos, praised the Sandia group for "showing that what we're doing is valid," he says. "[People would say,] 'It's wonderful that you're coming out with all these great devices [that make use of photonic crystals], but your building block doesn't even exist!'" That is no longer the case. Sandia is a multiprogram DOE laboratory, operated by a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major research and development responsibilities in national security, energy, and environmental technologies. ### BACKGROUND: Technique Perfected In Building Surface-Etched Micromachines Shawn Lin and Jim Fleming achieved the desired crystalline spacing using techniques perfected in building surface-etched micromachines, at which Sandia is a world leader. Gears that spin require spaces between parts; specifically, a silicon base is covered with an expendable coating in which a part can be etched, and then the expendable portion is removed by chemical and mechanical means, leaving the gear or axle unencumbered by surrounding material and thus able to spin freely [www.mdl.sandia.gov/micromachines] Using a variant on the same technique, Fleming made an artificial crystal lattice. He took a silicon wafer, coated it with silicon dioxide, cut trenches into the silicon dioxide and then bathed the chip in polysilicon till it filled the trenches. Then he polished the surface until smooth and bathed the chip in another layer of silicon dioxide, into which he cut the same number of trenches as before, but so they lay across the trenches beneath them at right angles, and then filled these trenches with polysilicon. After repeating this process a number of time, Jim removed the silicon dioxide, using hydrofluoric acid, and got "micron layers of Lincoln logs, orthogonal to each other, and joined where they touch." Center to center, the polysilicon logs were 1.2 microns wide, 1.5 microns high, with a pitch of 4.8 microns -- child's play to achieve in the world of silicon micromachines. The proportions were identical to that specified by Ames Laboratory and Iowa State researchers as those necessary to make the photonic equivalent of an electronic band gap. Media Contact: Neal Singer nsinger(a)sandia.gov (505) 845-7078 Technical Contact : Shawn Lin slin(a)sandia.gov (505) 844-8097 Jim Fleming fleminjg(a)sandia.gov (505) 844-9158 Del Owyoung aowyoun(a)sandia.gov (505) 884-5481 ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ********************************************** --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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