Re: More than a curio?
As stated in the article, the energy escapes as photons with a slightly higher energy than the ones emitted by the laser, basically they bounce off the molecules moving towards the laser and, being light, what would normally result in a speed increase for a Newtonian collision translates as an energy increase for a photon.
About as efficient as braking a car by firing tennis balls at it I suspect.
As with all refrigeration, this is not some anti-entropic free lunch, lasers emit much more energy as waste heat than what leaves in the beam as coherent photons.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
