software laser

n. An optical laser works by bouncing photons back and forth between two
mirrors, one totally reflective and one partially reflective. If the lasing
material (usually a crystal) has the right properties, photons scattering
off the atoms in the crystal will excite cascades of more photons, all in
lockstep. Eventually the beam will escape through the partially-reflective
mirror. One kind of sorcerer's apprentice mode involving bounce message s
can produce closely analogous results, with a cascade of messages escaping
to flood nearby systems. By mid-1993 there had been at least two publicized
incidents of this kind.

