A Brief History of Science with Levity

by Mike Bennett

  Neodymium is a common dopant in various solid-state laser crystals, including yttrium orthovanadate (Nd:YVO4), yttrium lithium fluoride (Nd:YLF) and yttrium aluminium garnet (Nd:YAG). All these lasers can produce high powers in the infrared spectrum at 1064 nm. They are used for cutting, welding and marking of metals and other materials, and also in spectroscopy and for pumping dye lasers.

  These lasers are also commonly frequency doubled, tripled or quadrupled, in so-called “diode-pumped solid-state” (DPSS) lasers. Under second, third, or fourth harmonic generation these produce 532 nm (green, visible), 355 nm and 266 nm (UV) beams. This is the technology behind the bright laser pointers, particularly at green (532 nm) and other short visible wavelengths.

  Ytterbium, holmium, thulium and erbium are other common dopants in solid-state lasers. Ytterbium is used in crystals such as Yb:YAG, Yb:KGW, Yb:KYW, Yb:SYS, Yb:BOYS and Yb:CaF2, typically operating around 1020–1050 nm. They are potentially very efficient and high-powered due to a small quantum defect. Extremely high-powered ultra-short pulses can be achieved with Yb:YAG. Holmium-doped YAG crystals emitting at 2097 nm form an efficient laser operating at infrared wavelengths strongly absorbed by water-bearing tissues. The Ho-YAG is usually operated in a pulsed mode, and passed through optical fibre surgical devices to resurface joints, remove rot from teeth, vaporise cancers and pulverise kidney and gall stones.

  Titanium-doped sapphire (Ti:sapphire) produces a highly tuneable infrared laser, commonly used for spectroscopy. It is also notable for use as a mode-locked laser producing ultra-short pulses of extremely high-peak power.

  Thermal limitations in solid-state lasers arise from unconverted pump power that manifests itself as heat. This heat, when coupled with a high thermo-optic coefficient, can give rise to thermal lensing as well as reduced quantum efficiency. These types of issues can be overcome by another novel diode-pumped solid-state laser, the diode-pumped thin disk laser. The thermal limitations in this laser type are mitigated by using a laser medium geometry in which the thickness is much smaller than the diameter of the pump beam. This allows for a more even thermal gradient in the material. Thin disk lasers have been shown to produce up to kilowatt levels of power.

  In September 2007, BBC News reported that there was speculation about the possibility of using positron annihilation to drive a very powerful gamma ray laser. Dr David Cassidy of the University of California proposed that a single such laser could be used to ignite a nuclear fusion reaction, replacing the banks of hundreds of lasers currently employed in inertial confinement fusion experiments. Space-based X-ray lasers pumped by a nuclear explosion have also been proposed as antimissile weapons. Such devices would only be one-shot weapons.

  Living cells have been used to produce laser light. The cells were genetically engineered to produce green fluorescent protein (GFP). The GFP is used as the laser’s “gain medium”, where light amplification takes place. The cells were then placed between two tiny mirrors, just 20 millionths of a metre across, which acted as the “laser cavity” in which light could bounce many times through the cells. Upon bathing the cells with blue light, it could be seen to emit directed and intense green laser light.

  CHAPTER 24

  In this, the penultimate chapter of the book, I will discuss my initial experiences in the business world, and the reasons why I was prompted to head off in my own direction and start my own company in 1984 in order to pursue my fascination with science and technology.

  Soon after leaving university, and completing my practical training in the oil and gas industry, my first assignment was with a major oil service company in Abu Dhabi. After two or three trips offshore working as a trainee, I was reassigned to North Gulf division, to work on an ongoing well intervention programme in Basra, southern Iraq. This was at the beginning of 1980, and I was still working in Basra when the first Gulf War started.

  The first Gulf War was initiated when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein decided to invade Iran. At that time, the Shah of Iran was still in power, and the country was still in favour with the United States. Within days of the war starting, my colleagues and I were minding our own business in the desert, when a group of warplanes appeared. We thought that they would be overflying our position on the way to a military target.

  It turned out that they were American-built F-4 Phantoms of the Iranian air force. They came in on a strafing run in an attempt to destroy some of the Iraqi oil-producing infrastructure. I had never been shot at before, but to be strafed with rocket fire from a warplane is terrifying. We just scattered, and following the raid several of my work colleagues had been badly injured and two were dead.

  The same day, my surviving colleagues and I decided that enough was enough and we would get out of Iraq. We therefore fuelled up all of our trucks, took all the food and water that we had and drove west towards Saudi Arabia. It took us nearly two days to reach the border, but the Saudis were very generous, yet again, and allowed us to freely enter their country as they knew that Iraq was now a war zone. I spoke to a friend after the Shah fell and the Islamic radicals took power. He jokingly said that the main difference now was that people must pray outside and drink inside.

  The Saudis have been very courteous and helpful to me on many occasions, and the only time that I can remember having a problem with a Saudi national was later, when I was working in Dhahran, which I now describe.

  The main thing that I sometimes find hard to deal with is some of the hypocrisy that you encounter when travelling, not only overseas but within the UK as well. I remember one particular occasion when I was working for Saudi Aramco in Dhahran. My boss at the time would regularly lecture me on the corruption and decadence in my country. He would also call me an infidel, which is fairly insulting in itself.

  After putting up with this all week, my colleagues and I often drove to Bahrain at the weekend, as Bahrain has a very Western-friendly and liberal regime. Bahrain is only a small island, but is a separate sovereign state connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway. At the weekends, the causeway traffic is horrendous due to Saudis driving to Bahrain in their droves for some rest and recreation.

  One weekend we were in a nightclub in one of the major hotels in Bahrain. Astonishingly, I met my boss there. He had a large whisky in one hand and a Filipino hooker in the other. I was utterly shocked by his breath-taking hypocrisy, as I knew that after the weekend he would be back on his ivory tower preaching morality to me yet again.

  I believe that the acid test of any religion is its ability to accept, or at least tolerate, tongue-in-cheek commentary regarding their particular faith. It seems to me that many religions are very good at dishing out criticism, but are completely unable to accept any criticism of their own faith.

  For example, one of the most hilarious films that I have ever seen was called The Life of Brian, produced by Monty Python. It was a total spoof on Christianity and Jesus Christ himself, but it was not banned, and was basically just ignored by the church. Should this type of film be made about some other religions, the perpetrators would have a death sentence placed upon them by the religious fanatics, and would have to go into hiding in fear for their lives.

  Anyway, following that aside, we will return to the activities occurring in North Gulf division in 1980. On arriving in Saudi Arabia, I first telephoned my boss to inform him of the situation and where we were. He said that we had done well to save the company’s equipment from further destruction and that he would arrange to fly us back to Abu Dhabi.

  In fact, he had just hatched a plan to use this situation for his benefit. He knew that the bean counters (aka accounts staff) in Abu Dhabi would never go into a war zone to make an asset inventory. He therefore flew up to Saudi Arabia, in order to debrief us and assess the situation. We then flew down to Abu Dhabi, while he remained in Saudi Arabia.

  It subsequently transpired that he arranged for all of the remaining equipment in Basra and other areas in Iraq to be driven into Saudi Arabia, allegedly to protect the company’s asse
ts. We later discovered, after he had resigned from the company, that all of this equipment had been sold to another service company operating in the kingdom, and the money he obtained was his nest egg to start his own business. I subsequently learned that he had been on the make previously. When we needed more pickup trucks, we were delivered old used vehicles, but the bean counters in Abu Dhabi told me that the company was invoiced for new vehicles.

  The gentleman in question subsequently returned to Aberdeen and started his own business in the fair trade city. Shortly thereafter he became a multi-millionaire from his business activities, but his success was short-lived. He was forced to leave the UK after the initiation of an Inland Revenue investigation. The last time I heard, he was living in South America, and should he ever return to the UK or Europe, the Inland Revenue would very much like to speak to him.

  I continued working in the Persian Gulf region for another four years, however I was becoming more and more disillusioned with the business activities of my peers. The final straw came in 1984, when I was told that I would be relocated to Libya.

  At that time, Colonel Gaddafi was on the blacklist of most Western powers, as he had already been caught selling Semtex and arms to the IRA, and was suspected of developing his own nuclear programme. At the time of my pending transfer, I had a good Indian friend called Vishnu who had been working for another company in Libya for several years.

  When I contacted him he told me not to come. At the time, the Americans had a carrier group in the Gulf of Sidra and had lured the best pilots from the Libyan air force into combat by initiating provocative moves within Libyan airspace. The American warplanes promptly shot down all of the best pilots and aircraft in the Libyan air force, in order to give the US air supremacy over Libya. As soon as this was achieved, the remainder of the Libyan air force was destroyed on the ground. F-111 bombers were then dispatched from American air force bases in the UK, in order to destroy strategic targets within Libya.

  Vishnu told me that all he could do was sit in his hotel in Tripoli, watch the bombs fall around him and hope for the best. There were several Americans holed up in the same hotel as him at the time. They told him that they really liked the Brits, as the Americans called our country the USS UK, the largest aircraft carrier that they had. They also said that it was the only unsinkable aircraft carrier that they “owned”. Nice.

  I therefore quit my job in the Middle East and returned to the UK to start my own company. The company did well for many years, as I have related in previous chapters. However in 1995, the international price for crude oil dropped below $10 per barrel. Today this would be unthinkable, but at that time the lifting costs on many fields in the North Sea were above this level.

  I think what upsets a lot of Brits is that every time the Americans say, “Jump,” the British government says, “How high?” I think the reason for this is that virtually all of the top government officials and civil servants are ex-Eton and Oxbridge, and they do not live in the real world. One hundred years ago Britain was a superpower. Today, although Britain is a great and important country and economic power, we are certainly not a superpower.

  I think that most top government officials insist on Britain having a nuclear deterrent, in the belief that the country will be perceived as sitting at the top table in the world power structure. We can no longer afford to develop our own credible independent nuclear deterrent, and the Americans know this. In order to continue sitting at the top table, we need to buy their latest Trident submarine-launched systems, and the government seems prepared to do almost anything in order to keep this system.

  I think this attitude was originally ingrained upon politicians when the United Nations was set up. The Security Council only has five permanent members: the United States, Russia, the UK, France and China. These five countries, as the reader will know, were the first five nations to develop nuclear weapons. In a wholly undemocratic system, any one of these five permanent members can veto anything within the Security Council, thereby rendering any proposed resolutions dead in the water should they choose to do so.

  I remember one day in 1995 when I was called to a meeting with the contracts department at BP in Aberdeen. They informed me that due to the collapse in the oil price, hundreds of redundancies would be made in their company. Two thirds of the personnel in the contracts department would be laid off, and I was informed that from now on all of the business for BP on the UK continental shelf would be split up into tenders for only three major groups. These would be the northern, central and southern North Sea.

  Although my company had been performing successful work for BP for many years, and had a very good track record, it would be very difficult for me to continue under this new system.

  When tendering for work, the tender documents are initially provided in two stages. Firstly, they issued the technical tender, in which you are required to prequalify for the commercial phase by demonstrating your technical abilities. Following this, the commercial tender is issued to the technically approved companies. Unfortunately for us, despite our track record, the size of the contracts to be awarded (covering entire swathes of the North Sea per contract), meant that we were effectively excluded from obtaining any further work.

  The reason is that the bean counters would reject our commercial tender on the grounds that the financial gearing ratio was way outside the limit of what they were allowed to accept. The problem was that, despite your track record, no company would award you a contract that was worth over half of the entire turnover of your company.

  I could see the writing on the wall, and therefore looked to find a far larger company to purchase my own business, so that future tenders would be issued through an organisation large enough to overcome this gearing ratio hurdle. I had no other choice, because if I did nothing I knew that it would be almost impossible to obtain any new contracts, and I would probably be handing out redundancy notices to all of my staff the following year.

  I found a company called Scotoil Services that was large enough to absorb my company. Due to our track record and profitability, we negotiated a takeover, whereby they purchased the entire stock of my company and guaranteed to keep all of the staff for at least a two-year period. I was required to resign as the CEO, but was kept on as the business manager in order to oversee the future development of the company.

  This initially worked well, and we won a number of new contracts in the North Sea. Some of the new contracts were in the Persian Gulf, as I had many contacts and knowledge of the business in that area. Although I was no longer the CEO of the company, and needed to request permission for each of my business trips, I was treated well and pretty much got what I asked for provided that the bottom line was healthy.

  As we had won new contracts in the UAE, on a subsequent business trip my wife asked if she could accompany me. My boss kindly agreed, and the trip went ahead.

  During this period, when I returned to Scotland I would tell my wife about my experiences while I had been away. She was born and raised in Stavanger, Norway, and at the time had never travelled outside of Western Europe. Sometimes, after hearing about my overseas trips, she accused me of turning into a racist which I was not happy about, as I have always tried to be courteous and respectful to people of all colours, creeds and religions.

  Two weeks later I was due to travel back to Abu Dhabi, and as it was the school holidays her mother came over from Norway to look after the children so that my wife could accompany me on the trip. My client at the time knew that she was coming, as his company made the hotel reservations for our visit. On our first evening in Abu Dhabi, he offered to take us out for a meal.

  That evening, the only parking spaces available were two blocks away, so we had about a ten-minute walk to the restaurant. He brought four wives with him, all of whom were completely covered in the normal black dress apart from a small slit for their eyes. My client carried a bamboo cane and every time that we needed to cross the road or change direction, he would strike
one of his wives on the side with the cane, in the same way that you herd sheep.

  My wife was so outraged by this that I had to physically restrain her or she would have broken his nose. I told her that should she do this, I would lose my contract and she would go to jail, so it was not a good idea. Following this encounter she has never called me racist again.

  The problem was that she had absolutely no experience of any culture outside Europe at that time. I told her that rather than attacking the Muslims, she should maybe have a look at the Mormons living around Salt Lake City. Many of them have more wives than wealthy Muslims, and although she may not agree with the behaviour of either group, the world is a diverse place and you must live and let live.

  Soon after this, my boss in Scotland sadly died of a heart attack. I was very surprised as he did not smoke or drink, ate healthy food and was a very keen cyclist. One day out of the blue he just collapsed while cycling with friends on the outskirts of Aberdeen. Following this things were very difficult at work, as his children now had control of his company.

  I was told by long-term staff members that none of his children had much business acumen or knowledge of the company’s operations. However, as the company owned a large city centre site, the plan was to relocate the existing business, sell the land and cash in the chips. This is what eventually happened. The company occupied a 22 acre Brownfield site ideally located adjacent to Aberdeen harbour and the city centre. Most of this site was then sold for commercial development. Today, this site has been developed into a large shopping mall, cinema complex and fast food outlets. I am very sad about this, as these kind of operations do not generate new overseas revenue for the UK economy as we used to do. They just try to take a slice of the existing pie, which is not in the long-term future interests of the UK.