title: Glasgow Subway

text: If the Crossrail Glasgow project is approved, then West Street station will be redeveloped as an interchange between the new surface railway and the Subway. This was to have been completed by 2010, but has yet to begin—probably because funding has not been made available.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: The Glasgow Connectivity Commission, established by Glasgow City Council in 2017 has suggested the creation of a rapid transit network with light rail metro and tram lines. The network would re-use existing and abandoned rail routes and contain an airport rail link.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: In April 2010, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport approved outline plans for a £290 million upgrade of the Subway—the first since the comprehensive modernisation of the late 1970s. The proposals were approved by the Scottish Government in March 2011, and changes to be brought in include:


title: Glasgow Subway

text: The first station to be modernised was . This began in 2011 and finished in 2012. The modernisation of the station included the retiling of all the walls and floors, the replacement of escalators, a new ticket office, better way finding and also a piece of public art.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: Further plans were announced to modernise Ibrox and Kelvinhall stations before the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Furthermore, all other stations were planned to receive updated branding prior to modernisation work being carried out on them, so as to achieve unity in design.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: Modernisation measures include additional safety measures, improved accessibility access and the use of smart technology such as electronic tickets.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: Before the modernisation, the Subway offered no formal connections to other transport at ground level, although in practice two stations, Merkland Street and Buchanan Street, were only a short walk from British Rail stations. These links were improved at this modernisation:-


title: Glasgow Subway

text: The first rolling stock was largely built in 1896, with additional trailer carriages added over the following 19 years. This rolling stock was converted from cable to electric traction in 1935 and finally withdrawn from service in 1977 upon the closure of the railway for modernisation.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: The first 33 cars of the current rolling stock was built by Metro-Cammell, Washwood Heath between 1977 and 1979. Eight additional trailer cars were built in 1992. The rolling stock entered service when the subway re-opened after modernisation work on 16 April 1980. The original 33 were refurbished by ABB at Derby Litchurch Lane Works in 1995.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) unveiled a £200M contract with Stadler and Ansaldo STS in 2016 for modernisation of the Subway, including new rolling stock. These trains were expected to enter service after the modernisation completed in 2020; however they have not yet entered service. These new trains are now expected to enter service in 2023. The trains are being built by Stadler Rail at their factory in Altenrhein in eastern Switzerland.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: A ticket on the Glasgow Subway, unlike many other underground systems, does not use a distance-based fare structure. A ticket allows passengers to stay on the underground for as long as they like.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: With the introduction of smartcard technology, known as Bramble, there is a two-tier fare structure. There is a single fare option, with adult (plastic) smartcard fares being over 10% cheaper than 'disposable' paper tickets. Smartcards have a daily cap which is cheaper than the disposable return ticket and significantly cheaper than the disposable all-day ticket. A smartcard is required for any form of season ticket (7 days, 4 weeks, 6 months or 1 year).


title: Glasgow Subway

text: Smartcards are available online for free, taking up to 10 working days for delivery, or for £3 from stations.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: All tickets are available at any station either through a machine or at the ticket office. Tickets must be 'tapped' on the card reader to validate the ticket and must be retained for exit.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: The concession fare is for disabled or elderly individuals who are holders of a National Entitlement Card that has been issued by SPT.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: In September 2012 SPT launched an app for Apple iPhones and Android smartphones called iShoogle which allows users to "Check in" using Facebook at Subway stations. Shoogle guide does a search of local area amenities such as bars, shops, cafes, banks and entertainment that are near subway stations, there are local area maps using Apple Maps or Google Maps as well as the official SPT map and timetables of the first and last trains and photos from SPT's archives. The app also has facts about the Subway.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: The origin of the Subway's supposed, but seldom used outside the press, nickname, "The Clockwork Orange" (coined from the title of the book and film "A Clockwork Orange") is subject to dispute. Some believe that it was originally coined by the media of the period, whilst others credit it to the then chairman of British Rail, Sir Peter Parker, who was quoted in a late 1970s publicity video of the new trains as saying "so these are the original Clockwork Orange". Most of its carriages were painted orange (although called "Strathclyde PTE red" because "Orange" has sectarian connotations in Glasgow), the corporate colour of Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive at the time.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: While the "Clockwork Orange" nickname is often used in tourist guidebooks and local literature, it is virtually unused by locals, who will refer to the system simply as "the Subway" or "the Underground".


title: Glasgow Subway

text: Prior to the introduction of new trains in the 1970s, the name "Shoogly Train" ("shoogly" meaning "shaky" in the Scots language) was used because the design of the cars allowed a degree of movement or "shoogle" between the backrest and squab of each seat.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: The celebrated Glaswegian writer and broadcaster Cliff Hanley composed a satirical song about the pre-modernisation era Subway entitled "The Underground Song". It was popular as a stage piece performed by the comedians Rikki Fulton and Jack Milroy in their Francie and Josie act.


title: Glasgow Subway

text: The Glasgow Subway and its adjacent public houses are the focal point of a pub crawl known as the Subcrawl. Participants buy an all day ticket, disembark at each of the 15 stations and have a drink in the nearest bar. Two of the stations (West Street and Shields Road) are not very near a pub or bar; Subcrawls are popular amongst young Glaswegians and especially students at the city's universities. During the journey between stations, participants are usually required to stand in the train and not hold onto any supports, known as Subsurfing. A subcrawl usually takes a whole day, and completing a crawl (drinking in the same pub one started in) is regarded as quite an achievement.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 171,944 inhabitants and is the main "comune" (municipality) of the Province of Reggio Emilia.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The inhabitants of Reggio nell'Emilia are called "Reggiani", while the inhabitants of Reggio di Calabria, in the southwest of the country, are called "Reggini".


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The old town has a hexagonal form, which derives from the ancient walls, and the main buildings are from the 16th–17th centuries. The commune's territory lies entirely on a plain, crossed by the Crostolo stream.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Reggio began as a historical site with the construction by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus of the Via Aemilia, leading from Piacenza to Rimini (187 BC). Reggio became a judicial administration centre, with a forum called at first "Regium Lepidi", then simply "Regium", whence the city's current name.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: During the Roman age Regium is cited only by Festus and Cicero, as one of the military stations on the Via Aemilia. However, it was a flourishing city, a "Municipium" with its own statutes, magistrates and art colleges.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Apollinaris of Ravenna brought Christianity in the 1st century CE. The sources confirm the presence of a bishopric in Reggio after the Edict of Milan (313). In 440 the Reggio diocese was placed under the jurisdiction of Ravenna by Western Roman Emperor Valentinianus III. At the end of the 4th century, however, Reggio had decayed so much that Saint Ambrose included it among the dilapidated cities. Further damage occurred with the Barbarian invasions. After the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476 Reggio was part of Odoacer's realm. In 489 it came under Ostrogothic control; from 539 it was part of the Roman Empire (Italy), but was taken by Alboin's Lombards in 569. Reggio was chosen as Duchy of Reggio seat.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: In 773, the Franks took Reggio. Charlemagne gave the bishop the authority to exercise royal authority over the city and established the diocese' limits (781). In 888, Reggio was handed over to the Kings of Italy. In 899, the Magyars heavily damaged it, killing Bishop Azzo II. As a result of this, new walls were built. On 31 October 900 Emperor Louis III gave authority for the erection of a "castrum" (castle) in the city's centre.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: In 1002, Reggio's territory, together with that of Parma, Brescia, Modena, Mantua and Ferrara, were merged into the March of Tuscany, later held by Matilde of Canossa.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Reggio became a free commune around the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century. In 1167 it was a member of the Lombard League and took part in the Battle of Legnano. In 1183 the city signed the Treaty of Konstanz, from which the city's consul, Rolando della Carità, received the imperial investiture. The subsequent peace spurred a period of prosperity: Reggio adopted new statutes, had a mint, schools with celebrated masters, and developed its trades and arts. It also increasingly subjugated the castles of the neighbouring areas. At this time the Crostolo stream was deviated westwards, to gain space for the city. The former course of the stream was turned into an avenue called Corso della Ghiara (gravel), nowadays Corso Garibaldi.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The 12th and 13th century, however, were also a period of violent internal struggle between the Scopazzati (meaning "swept away from the city with brooms", noblemen) and Mazzaperlini (meaning "lice killers", plebeians) parties, and later those of Ruggeri and Malaguzzi, involved in a bitter domestic rivalry. In 1152 Reggio also warred with Parma and in 1225 with Modena, as part of the general struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. In 1260 25,000 penitents, led by a Perugine hermit, entered the city, and this event calmed the situation for a while, spurring a momentous flourishing of religious fervour. But disputes soon resurfaced, and as early as 1265 the Ghibellines killed the Guelph's leader, Caco da Reggio, and gained preeminence. Arguments with the Bishop continued and two new parties formed, the Inferiori and Superiori. Final victory went to the latter.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: To thwart the abuses of powerful families such as the Sessi, Fogliani and Canossa, the Senate of Reggio gave the city's rule for a period of three years to Obizzo II d'Este. This choice marked the future path of Reggio under the seignory of the latter's family, as Obizzo continued to rule "de facto" after his mandate has ceased. His son Azzo was expelled by the Reggiani in 1306, creating a republic ruled by 800 common people. In 1310 the Emperor Henry VII imposed Marquis Spinetto Malaspina as vicar, but he was soon driven out. The republic ended in 1326 when Cardinal Bertrando del Poggetto annexed Reggio to the Papal States.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The city was subsequently under the suzerainty of John of Bohemia, Nicolò Fogliani and Mastino II della Scala, who in 1336 gave it to Luigi Gonzaga. Gonzaga built a citadel in the St. Nazario quarter, and destroyed 144 houses. In 1356 the Milanese Visconti, helped by 2,000 exiled Reggiani, captured the city, starting an unsettled period of powersharing with the Gonzaga. In the end the latter sold Reggio to the Visconti for 5,000 ducats. In 1405 Ottobono Terzi of Parma seized Reggio, but was killed by Michele Attendolo, who handed the city over to Nicolò III d'Este, who therefore became seignor of Reggio. The city, however, maintained a relevant autonomy, with laws and coinage of its own. Niccolò was succeeded by his illegitimate son Lionello, and, from 1450, by Borso d'Este.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: In 1452, Borso was awarded the title of Duke of Modena and Reggio by Frederick III. Borso's successor, Ercole I, imposed heavy levies on the city and appointed the poet Matteo Maria Boiardo, born in the nearby town of Scandiano, as its governor. Later another famous Italian writer, Francesco Guicciardini, held the same position. In 1474, Ludovico Ariosto, author of "Orlando Furioso", was born in the Malaguzzi palace, near the present day townhall. He was the first son of a knight from Ferrara, who was in charge of the Citadel, and a noblewoman from Reggio, Daria Maleguzzi Valeri. As a grown man he would be sent to Reggio as governor on behalf of the dukes of Ferrara, and would spend time in a villa outside the town ("Il Mauriziano") that still stands.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: In 1513, Reggio was handed over to Pope Julius II. The city was returned to the Este after the death of Hadrian VI on 29 September 1523. In 1551 Ercole II d'Este destroyed the suburbs of the city in his program of reconstruction of the walls. At the end of the century work on the city's famous Basilica della Ghiara began, on the site where a miracle was believed to have occurred. The Este rule continued until 1796, with short interruptions in 1702 and 1733–1734.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The arrival of the republican French troops was greeted with enthusiasm in the city. On 21 August 1796, the ducal garrison of 600 men was driven off, and the Senate claimed the rule of Reggio and its duchy. On 26 September, the Provisional Government's volunteers pushed back an Austrian column, in the Battle of Montechiarugolo. Though minor, this clash is considered the first one of the Italian Risorgimento. Napoleon himself awarded the Reggiani with 500 rifles and 4 guns. Later he occupied Emilia and formed a new province, the Cispadane Republic, whose existence was proclaimed in Reggio on 7 January 1797. The Italian national flag, named Il Tricolore (three-colours flag), was sewn on that occasion by Reggio women. In this period of patriotic fervour, Jozef Wybicki, a lieutenant in the Polish troops of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, an ally of Napoleon, composed in Reggio the "Mazurek Dąbrowskiego", which in 1927 became the Polish national anthem.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The 1815 Treaty of Vienna returned Reggio to Francis IV of Austria-Este, but in 1831 Modena rose up against him, and Reggio followed its example organizing a corps under the command of General Carlo Zucchi. However, on 9 March, the Duke conquered the city with his escort of Austrian soldiers.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: In 1848, Duke Francis V left his state fearing a revolution and Reggio proclaimed its union with Piedmont. The latter's defeat at the Novara brought the city back under the Este control. In 1859 Reggio, under dictator Luigi Carlo Farini, became part of the united Italy and, with the plebiscite of 10 March 1860, definitively entered the new unified Kingdom.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Reggio then went through a period of economic and population growth from 1873 to the destruction of the ancient walls. In 1911, it had 70,000 inhabitants. A strong socialist tradition grew. On 7 July, the city hosted the 13th National Congress of the Italian Socialist Party. On 26 July 1943, the fascist régime's fall was cheered with enthusiasm by the Reggiani. Numerous partisan bands were formed in the city and surrounding countryside.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Jews began arriving to Reggio in the early 15th century. Many Jews were Sephardim from Spain, Portugal and other parts of Italy. Nearly all were fleeing religious persecution. The Jewish community was prosperous and enjoyed considerable growth for the next several hundred years. The Synagogue of Reggio Emilia was relocated in 1672 into the ghetto, and rebuilt in 1858.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: After the Napoleonic era the Jews of Reggio gained emancipation and began to migrate to other parts of Europe looking for greater economic and social freedom. Thus, the Jewish community in Reggio began to lower. The German occupation during World War II and the Holocaust hastened the decline. Today, only one jew remains in Reggio Emilia. The jewish Community of Reggio Emilia was merged with Modena's. However, an unused synagogue and burial ground still exist. In 2016 the City Council posed some small street plates in front of the houses of the deported Jews to preserve their remembrance.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Many notable rabbinic scholars have resided in Reggio. These include Isaac Foa, Immanuel Sonino, Obadiah ben Israel Sforno, Nathan ben Reuben David Spira, Menahem Azariah Fano, Baruch Abraham ben Elhanan David Foa, Hezekiah ben Isaac Foa, Isaac ben Vardama Foa, Israel Nissim Foa, Israel Solomon Longhi, Isaiah Mordecai ben Israel Hezekiah Bassani, Israel Benjamin ben Isaiah Bassani, Elhanan David Carmi, Benjamin ben Eliezer ha-Kohen, Joshua ben Raphael Fermi, Moses Benjamin Foa, Abram Michael Fontanella, Judah Ḥayyim Fontanella, Israel Berechiah Fontanella, Raphael Jehiel Sanguinetti, Isaac Samson d'Angeli, R. J. Bolognese, Hananiah Elhanan Ḥai ha-Kohen, Jacob Levi, Moses Benjamin Levi, Israel Berechiah Sanguinetti, David Jacob Maroni, Giuseppe Lattes, Alessandro da Fano, Lazzaro Laide Tedesco, and Shimshon Chaim Nachmani.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The climate in Reggio Emilia is temperate continental, with hot rather moist summers (the temperatures can sometimes rise above 35 °C) (95°F) and fairly rigid winters with frequent frosts (the temperatures can go below -10 °C) (14°F). Precipitations are evenly distributed all year long, but October, November and April are the most rainy months, while July and January are the most arid.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: In the city you can rarely see snow, even though almost every year there is a period when it's snowing. Due to the rather high temperatures, it does not settle, or if it does, the layer of snow is not very consistent.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: During Autumn and Winter it is very common, especially in the areas outside the city, to encounter very thick fog, even though nowadays it is less frequent than in the past.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Other meteorological phenomena that one can expect in the area is the hard rain, freezing rain during winter, and hail during summer but rarely during spring.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The area is not particularly windy and there are often days of total calm, especially during the anticyclonic phases in winter, while spring is more ventilated. The most intense winds are the ones blowing from North-East (Bora) or from South-West (Libeccio). The latter, during its descent from the Northern Apennines, it sometimes tends to become a downslope wind and thus being very dry and hot. In rare and particular conditions, the downwind of the Alps, the Foehn, can reach Reggio Emilia from the North-West. In Reggio Emilia, the average annual high temperature is , the annual low temperature is , and the annual precipitation is .


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The Reggio Emilia approach to preschool education was started by the schools of Reggio Emilia after World War II and is well known around the world. It is based and inspired on theories of Malaguzzi, Bruner, Vygotsky, Dewey, Piaget and Gardner. Reggio Emilia holds the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre, a modern structure where the Reggio Emilia approach is implemented, exported and spread around the world.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The economy of the province of Reggio Emilia was for a long time based on agriculture. One typical product, known worldwide and imitated, is Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Another is Lambrusco wine.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Reggio Emilia produce also the "Balsamic Vinegar" a condiment for salad but also cheese, strawberries and many other dishes.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: In the twentieth century Reggio Emilia and its territory saw also a rapid development of small and medium industries, particularly in the sector of agricultural machinery. For more than 100 years, there has been a strong tradition that supported the development of consumers'cooperatives, as well as, building and banking cooperatives.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: New developments in mechanics and information technology are at the origin of some new companies operating in mechatronics. Another well-established sector is the ceramic tiles industry (mainly concentrated in the districts of Scandiano and Casalgrande).


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Other leading sectors include: electronics (Cellular Line, Phonocar, RCF audio); finance (Credito Emiliano); fashion (Marina Rinaldi, Max Mara); food (Newlat); machinery (ARGO SpA, Emak, Interpump Group, Landi Renzo, Lombardini S.r.l.; Preston & Barbieri, Smeg (appliances)); utilities (Iren).


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The industrial growth has attracted immigration from North and Central Africa, East Europe, and Far East (China, Pakistan, India). The immigration rate in the province is about 25%.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Researches on the quality of life indicate that in recent years Reggio Emilia is in very good position among Italian provinces.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: Reggio Emilia railway station, opened in 1859, forms part of the Milan–Bologna railway. It is also a terminus of three secondary railways, linking Reggio Emilia with Ciano d'Enza, Guastalla and Sassuolo, respectively. The station is situated at Piazza Guglielmo Marconi, at the eastern edge of the city centre.


title: Reggio Emilia

text: The other major railway station, Reggio Emilia AV Mediopadana, is on the Milan–Bologna high-speed railway (there is also a connection with Reggio Emilia-Guastalla railway). It is located at the Mancasale locality, approximately north from the city centre.


title: Black (video game)

text: Black is a 2006 first-person shooter video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in February 2006. The player assumes control of Jack Kellar, a black ops agent being interrogated about his previous missions involving a terrorist operation. Gameplay involves players confronting enemies by using firearms and grenades. The game is notable for its heavily stylized cinema-inspired action as well as its sound quality and focus on destructive effects during gameplay.


title: Black (video game)

text: "Black" received generally positive reviews upon release. Critics praised the gameplay, sound design and presentation, but criticized the game's short length and lack of multiplayer. Despite Criterion's desire to develop a sequel, creative differences with Electronic Arts ultimately ended plans for one. As such a spiritual successor, "Bodycount", was created by the same developers at Codemasters and released in 2011.


title: Black (video game)

text: "Black" is set in Ingushetia and Chechnya, Russia. The protagonist is Sergeant First Class Jack Kellar (Marty Papazian), an inadequately disciplined member of a CIA black ops unit. The unknown interrogator (Paul Pape) questions Kellar about an arms smuggling terrorist organization and gang called the "Seventh Wave" who have been responsible for a number of terrorist attacks and homicides. Kellar is soon shown that, unless he co-operates, he and his actions will be declassified, meaning he will be convicted at court-martial, dishonorably discharged, and imprisoned for life. Though initially resistant, Kellar agrees to tell his story.


title: Black (video game)

text: Four days earlier, Kellar and his military unit were attacking a Seventh Wave stronghold in the city of Veblensk. Kellar kills three high-ranking members of the cell but then disobeys orders by rushing inside a terrorist controlled building, where a hitman suddenly ambushes him. However, this hitman did not cause Kellar’s demise, and Kellar learns that his captor is an American, William Lennox, a former CIA wetwork operative. After faking his own death in Cairo, Lennox has apparently become the leader and gang boss of Seventh Wave.


title: Black (video game)

text: Kellar's next mission is to cross the border into Treneska and traverse the Vlodnik Canal to destroy a base and weapons cache. He then meets a female black ops soldier named MacCarver (Cree Summer), the commander of black ops Team Bravo, after fighting a wave of terrorists at a farmhouse. Kellar and MacCarver then move to destroy an arms factory in the city of Naszran. To complete the mission, they must navigate an old graveyard and town, both heavily defended. After doing so, they assault the town's iron foundry, destroying its productive capacity. They then meet a third member of the team, Solomon.


title: Black (video game)

text: They learn that Valencio, one of the four bosses of Seventh Wave, is hiding in Tivliz Asylum. The team decide to attack the asylum yard, with Keller rushing into the asylum despite Solomon protesting that their order was to hold. Keller finds Valencio after blowing up a concrete machine gun nest and briefly interrogates him for Lennox's location.


title: Black (video game)

text: Based on information gathered from the mission, Team Bravo proceeds to a well-defended dockyard, clears the area, and links up with Alpha Team. Alpha Team, however, is destroyed in an ambush while Lennox escapes. In light of the disastrous result, the operation is declared cancelled. Despite this, Kellar leads a retaliatory assault against the Graznei Bridge before leaving his team at the gates of Lennox's compound to successfully penetrate the defenses both around and inside the Spetriniv Gulag. During the attack, Keller triggers an explosion resulting from the destruction of two concrete barricades, and subsequent explosions in the final room of the underground bunker, presumably killing Lennox.


title: Black (video game)

text: The interrogator then reveals to Kellar that authorities had, in fact, always known of Lennox's involvement in Seventh Wave. Kellar had acted predictably, doing what his profile said he would, while his pursuit of Lennox was both expected and welcome - but Lennox is not in fact dead. Kellar is told that a false "death" in a car accident has been arranged for him to provide cover so he could continue his pursuit of Lennox. The game ends with Kellar being told to get ready for his next assignment.


title: Black (video game)

text: The gameplay is essentially a straightforward first-person shooter. Players can only carry two weapons at a time; therefore, strategy is needed when choosing weaponry, with weapons differing in characteristics. The player can also carry grenades, which can be thrown without switching weapons. Land mines and grenades can be detonated prematurely by shooting them.


title: Black (video game)

text: The game is mission-based, with each mission separated by a cut scene video. On harder difficulties, there are more objectives that must be completed before the player can progress. These extra objectives involved collecting various intelligence documents, blueprints, or destroying parts of the environment. These are all indicated by the HUD cross-hair changing color when the player points at the relevant object.


title: Black (video game)

text: Successful completion of the objectives over all missions in all difficulties above 'Easy' results in the awarding of Silver Weapons (infinite bullets) and unlocking the M16-A2 (40mm underslung grenade launcher attachment) as the starting default weapon with infinite 40mm grenades. When unlocked, these features are permanent and cannot be removed without starting a fresh storyline.


title: Black (video game)

text: Criterion intended to "do for shooting what "Burnout" did for racing - tear it apart", with dual emphasis on destructible environments and the handling and behavior of real-world firearms. Bullets that hit buildings, terrain and objects leave visible damage; moreover, the guns are rendered with great detail and accuracy, though some weapons' features are stylized or exaggerated. The emphasis on the appearance, function, and sounds of the weapons led the developer to label the game as "Gun-Porn". Another notable and original feature is the use of real-time blur while reloading, giving a depth of field and more perspective to the game. Similarly, when the player drops below two bars of health, the screen turns black and white, the sound of the character's heartbeat become the dominant noise and the game goes into slow motion, and the large and small motors in the control pads match the sound of systolic and diastolic part of the heartbeat.


title: Black (video game)

text: The game was not developed with an overarching plot structure in mind and this was implemented as something of an afterthought towards the end of development. The initial idea for relating the plot in-game came from Black's director, Alex Ward, who wanted to have a radio-play-style voiceover spoken over a 'black' screen.


title: Black (video game)

text: Emphasizing the game's action film heritage, sound effects for the weapons in the game were based on various sounds from films. For example, Bruce Willis' Heckler & Koch MP5 in "Die Hard", Jack Bauer's pistol in "24", and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Uzi in "True Lies".


title: Black (video game)

text: Realizing in the chaos of a heavy gun battle the heavy mix of sound and music would produce a cacophony of noise, the sound designers developed the "choir of guns" concept. Whereas, traditionally in a shooter game, each weapon model would be assigned a different sound, "Black" assigns each enemy their own "voice", similar to the way in which each member of a choir would have their own distinct voice. For example, there are three enemies firing, one would be assigned a low voice, another a medium voice, and the third a high voice. This allows all the weapons being fired in any particular scene to harmonize and deliver a distinct sound for the game. "Black"s sound was nominated for Best Audio at the 2006 BAFTA Video Games Awards, and won Best Art & Sound jointly with "Burnout Revenge" (another game by Criterion) at the 2006 Develop Industry Excellence Awards.


title: Black (video game)

text: The music for "Black" was composed by Chris Tilton, using a theme co-authored with Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino. It was recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage.


title: Black (video game)

text: "Black"s PlayStation 2 version received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.


title: Black (video game)

text: "Black" received "favorable" reviews on both platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Black (video game)

text: In Japan, "Famitsu" gave the PS2 version all four eights, for a total of 32 out of 40. "The Times" also gave the game four stars out of five and stated: "As the entire game is played at fever-pitch, you soon find yourself looking forward to the next mission briefing, if only for a chance to catch your breath. The only mystery to "Black" is why there is no multiplayer mode, since such intense battle settings would make for great competitive bouts". "The Sydney Morning Herald" similarly gave it four stars out of five: "Little strategy is required for each stage, with abundant health packs and aggressive opponents of little intelligence. But there are many strategies and the use of cover is vital". "Detroit Free Press" gave the Xbox version three stars out of four and said: "The action is intense and the effects are splendid, though the un-reality applies also to the worlds in which you battle". However, "The A.V. Club" gave the game a C+, stating that it was worth playing for "six hours. Pretty good hours, but still, "The A.V. Club" can't stress that number enough"; and added "that was awesome for "Doom", a free download with 16 extra maps available after registration. But 40 bucks for "Black"s eight levels, with no multiplayer mode, and unlockable difficulty settings the only incentive to replay? The question is really whether renting this lovely oversized tech demo is worth a whole weekend".


title: Black (video game)

text: In an interview, co-creator and designer Stuart Black revealed that plans for a sequel were underway, but are now scrapped due to differences with Electronic Arts. Stuart Black and many of the developers of "Black" worked on the now released "Bodycount"; a spiritual successor to the game which, developed by Codemasters, was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 during Q3 2011.


title: Housefull 3

text: Housefull 3 is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film co-written and directed by Sajid-Farhad and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala under the banner Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment. The film is the third installment of the "Housefull franchise" and is distributed by Eros International. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri, Lisa Haydon, Chunky Pandey, and Jackie Shroff. The film was theatrically released in India on June 3, 2016, and grossed billion worldwide on a budget of million.


title: Housefull 3

text: Three robbers attempt to steal jewels from a building in London, but are captured by the police. Six years later, Batook Patel, a wealthy and successful businessman, disapproves marriage of his three beautiful daughters, Ganga, Jamuna, and Saraswati, as he believes that the previous ladies in his family were doomed because of marrying.


title: Housefull 3

text: One night, at a friend's party, the girls reveal to their friend that secretly, they each have a boyfriend. Ganga, Jamuna, and Saraswati are respectively smitten with Sandy (who wants his own football club), Teddy (a wannabe racer), and Bunty (a wannabe rapper). Sandy has a self-destructive split personality "Sundy", who awakens whenever Sandy hears the word "Indian". When the girls tell their father about them, Batook takes help of a restaurant owner Aakhri Pasta who dresses up as the family's fortune teller who claims that when the girl's husbands first see, speak to, or set foot into Batook's house, Batook will die. The girls, wanting to keep their boyfriends, make them pretend to be disabled. Sandy pretends to be crippled, Teddy blind and Bunty mute. At Pasta's restaurant, Batook reveals to Pasta that his daughters are actually the daughters of Urja Nagre, an underworld crime lord. Batook, a former associate of Nagre's, takes care of the girls while Nagre is in jail. Batook has planned to marry the girls to his three sons, the robbers who tried to steal the jewels. Unbeknownst to him, Nagre has arrived in London.


title: Housefull 3

text: While the girls prepare a wax statue for Batook, the boys go into town, where the boys are observed by him to be disabled. Bunty appears crippled, Sandy blind and Teddy mute. Later, Nagre asks Batook, about his daughter's future husbands. Batook says that he knows three men suitable for the daughters. Batook takes Nagre to a Gurdwara to see his sons, claiming they are orphans who do community service. Nagre chooses the three suitable for his daughters.


title: Housefull 3

text: At Batook's house, Nagre claims that Batook owes him 50 million pounds. Nagre gives the boys 10 days to make up the money, or the girls must marry 'the chosen boys'. During these 10 days, Nagre and "his sons" will also live in Batook's house, meaning that the girls' boyfriends must act in front of just as they were observed by Batook and Nagre. During a party, the girls get Batook's sons — Rishi, Rohan, and Rajeev — drunk. The next day, they are happy to have sex with their respective girls, only to find out that they had sex with the maids. The maids request compensation, or they will sue them. Nagre surrenders to his daughters' pleas of love.


title: Housefull 3

text: The next day, the girls take their boys to church, for confession because they felt that they were mocking disables by having the boys act as if they were disabled. After this, the boys feel guilty, as they were marrying the girls only for money. They go to the warehouse of Madame Tussauds to meet their girlfriends. They instead find Batook's sons whose goons attack them. While Teddy and Bunty fight them, Sandy hears Teddy say "Indian", and Sundy arrives, trying to kill Sandy. Batook also arrives who is blackmailed by the boys to divide Nagre's fortune into 7 shares. More people come as shares increase considerably. Nagre arrives, and attempts to kill everyone in the warehouse, while the lights turn on and off. As the girls arrive, Rishi, Rohan, and Rajeev see them, and hold them at knifepoint in front of Nagre. Sandy, Teddy, and Bunty then rush to save the girls, injuring themselves in the process. The girls forgive the boys, and Batook reveals the whole story planning and the girls and their boyfriends reconcile with Urja Nagre, the girls real father.


title: Housefull 3

text: The film was scheduled to release on 18 March 2016, but was pushed and released theatrically on 3 June 2016.


title: Housefull 3

text: The film grossed approximately in India and from overseas territories on its opening day. It grossed nett in India on its second day. By the end of its opening weekend, the film had grossed approximately worldwide. The film's final domestic gross stands at and overseas gross stands at , thus taking the total worldwide gross to .


title: Housefull 3

text: The music for "Housefull 3" is composed by Sohail Sen, Mika Singh, Shaarib-Toshi and Tanishk Bagchi while the lyrics are written by Sameer Sen, Farhad-Sajid, Sanjeev Chaturvedi, Mamta Sharma, Arafat Mehmood, Rani Malik, Manoj Yadav and Danish Sabri. The background score is given by Julius Packiam. The music rights are acquired by T-Series.


title: Housefull 3

text: The first song of the film "Pyar Ki" was released on 24 April 2016. The full music album was released on 10 May 2016.


title: Laser diode

text: A laser diode (LD, also injection laser diode or ILD, or diode laser) is a semiconductor device similar to a light-emitting diode in which a diode pumped directly with electrical current can create lasing conditions at the diode's junction.


title: Laser diode

text: Driven by voltage, the doped p–n-transition allows for recombination of an electron with a hole. Due to the drop of the electron from a higher energy level to a lower one, radiation, in the form of an emitted photon is generated. This is spontaneous emission. Stimulated emission can be produced when the process is continued and further generates light with the same phase, coherence and wavelength.


title: Laser diode

text: The choice of the semiconductor material determines the wavelength of the emitted beam, which in today's laser diodes range from infra-red to the UV spectrum. Laser diodes are the most common type of lasers produced, with a wide range of uses that include fiber optic communications, barcode readers, laser pointers, CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc reading/recording, laser printing, laser scanning and light beam illumination. With the use of a phosphor like that found on white LEDs, Laser diodes can be used for general illumination.


title: Laser diode

text: A laser diode is electrically a PIN diode. The active region of the laser diode is in the intrinsic (I) region, and the carriers (electrons and holes) are pumped into that region from the N and P regions respectively. While initial diode laser research was conducted on simple P–N diodes, all modern lasers use the double-hetero-structure implementation, where the carriers and the photons are confined in order to maximize their chances for recombination and light generation. Unlike a regular diode, the goal for a laser diode is to recombine all carriers in the I region, and produce light. Thus, laser diodes are fabricated using direct band-gap semiconductors. The laser diode epitaxial structure is grown using one of the crystal growth techniques, usually starting from an N doped substrate, and growing the I doped active layer, followed by the P doped cladding, and a contact layer. The active layer most often consists of quantum wells, which provide lower threshold current and higher efficiency.


title: Laser diode

text: Laser diodes form a subset of the larger classification of semiconductor "p"–"n" junction diodes. Forward electrical bias across the laser diode causes the two species of charge carrier – holes and electrons – to be "injected" from opposite sides of the "p"–"n" junction into the depletion region. Holes are injected from the "p"-doped into the "n"-doped, and electrons vice versa, semiconductor. (A depletion region, devoid of any charge carriers, forms as a result of the difference in electrical potential between "n"- and "p"-type semiconductors wherever they are in physical contact.) Due to the use of charge injection in powering most diode lasers, this class of lasers is sometimes termed "injection lasers," or "injection laser diode" (ILD). As diode lasers are semiconductor devices, they may also be classified as semiconductor lasers. Either designation distinguishes diode lasers from solid-state lasers.


title: Laser diode

text: Another method of powering some diode lasers is the use of optical pumping. Optically pumped semiconductor lasers (OPSL) use a III-V semiconductor chip as the gain medium, and another laser (often another diode laser) as the pump source. OPSL offer several advantages over ILDs, particularly in wavelength selection and lack of interference from internal electrode structures. A further advantage of OPSLs is invariance of the beam parameters – divergence, shape, and pointing – as pump power (and hence output power) is varied, even over a 10:1 output power ratio.


title: Laser diode

text: When an electron and a hole are present in the same region, they may recombine or "annihilate" producing a spontaneous emission — i.e., the electron may re-occupy the energy state of the hole, emitting a photon with energy equal to the difference between the electron's original state and hole's state. (In a conventional semiconductor junction diode, the energy released from the recombination of electrons and holes is carried away as phonons, i.e., lattice vibrations, rather than as photons.) Spontaneous emission below the lasing threshold produces similar properties to an LED. Spontaneous emission is necessary to initiate laser oscillation, but it is one among several sources of inefficiency once the laser is oscillating.


title: Laser diode

text: The difference between the photon-emitting semiconductor laser and a conventional phonon-emitting (non-light-emitting) semiconductor junction diode lies in the type of semiconductor used, one whose physical and atomic structure confers the possibility for photon emission. These photon-emitting semiconductors are the so-called "direct bandgap" semiconductors. The properties of silicon and germanium, which are single-element semiconductors, have bandgaps that do not align in the way needed to allow photon emission and are not considered "direct." Other materials, the so-called compound semiconductors, have virtually identical crystalline structures as silicon or germanium but use alternating arrangements of two different atomic species in a checkerboard-like pattern to break the symmetry. The transition between the materials in the alternating pattern creates the critical "direct bandgap" property. Gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, gallium antimonide, and gallium nitride are all examples of compound semiconductor materials that can be used to create junction diodes that emit light.


title: Laser diode

text: In the absence of stimulated emission (e.g., lasing) conditions, electrons and holes may coexist in proximity to one another, without recombining, for a certain time, termed the "upper-state lifetime" or "recombination time" (about a nanosecond for typical diode laser materials), before they recombine. A nearby photon with energy equal to the recombination energy can cause recombination by stimulated emission. This generates another photon of the same frequency, polarization, and phase, travelling in the same direction as the first photon. This means that stimulated emission will cause gain in an optical wave (of the correct wavelength) in the injection region, and the gain increases as the number of electrons and holes injected across the junction increases. The spontaneous and stimulated emission processes are vastly more efficient in direct bandgap semiconductors than in indirect bandgap semiconductors; therefore silicon is not a common material for laser diodes.


title: Laser diode

text: As in other lasers, the gain region is surrounded with an optical cavity to form a laser. In the simplest form of laser diode, an optical waveguide is made on that crystal's surface, such that the light is confined to a relatively narrow line. The two ends of the crystal are cleaved to form perfectly smooth, parallel edges, forming a Fabry–Pérot resonator. Photons emitted into a mode of the waveguide will travel along the waveguide and be reflected several times from each end face before they exit. As a light wave passes through the cavity, it is amplified by stimulated emission, but light is also lost due to absorption and by incomplete reflection from the end facets. Finally, if there is more amplification than loss, the diode begins to "lase".


title: Laser diode

text: Some important properties of laser diodes are determined by the geometry of the optical cavity. Generally, the light is contained within a very thin layer, and the structure supports only a single optical mode in the direction perpendicular to the layers. In the transverse direction, if the waveguide is wide compared to the wavelength of light, then the waveguide can support multiple transverse optical modes, and the laser is known as "multi-mode". These transversely multi-mode lasers are adequate in cases where one needs a very large amount of power, but not a small diffraction-limited TEM00 beam; for example in printing, activating chemicals, microscopy, or pumping other types of lasers.


title: Laser diode

text: In applications where a small focused beam is needed, the waveguide must be made narrow, on the order of the optical wavelength. This way, only a single transverse mode is supported and one ends up with a diffraction-limited beam. Such single spatial mode devices are used for optical storage, laser pointers, and fiber optics. Note that these lasers may still support multiple longitudinal modes, and thus can lase at multiple wavelengths simultaneously. The wavelength emitted is a function of the band-gap of the semiconductor material and the modes of the optical cavity. In general, the maximum gain will occur for photons with energy slightly above the band-gap energy, and the modes nearest the peak of the gain curve will lase most strongly. The width of the gain curve will determine the number of additional "side modes" that may also lase, depending on the operating conditions. Single spatial mode lasers that can support multiple longitudinal modes are called Fabry Perot (FP) lasers. An FP laser will lase at multiple cavity modes within the gain bandwidth of the lasing medium. The number of lasing modes in an FP laser is usually unstable, and can fluctuate due to changes in current or temperature.


title: Laser diode

text: Single spatial mode diode lasers can be designed so as to operate on a single longitudinal mode. These single frequency diode lasers exhibit a high degree of stability, and are used in spectroscopy and metrology, and as frequency references. Single frequency diode lasers are classed as either distributed feedback (DFB) lasers or distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers.


title: Laser diode

text: Due to diffraction, the beam diverges (expands) rapidly after leaving the chip, typically at 30 degrees vertically by 10 degrees laterally.


title: Laser diode

text: For single spatial mode lasers, using symmetrical lenses, the collimated beam ends up being elliptical in shape, due to the difference in the vertical and lateral divergences. This is easily observable with a red laser pointer.


title: Laser diode

text: The simple diode described above has been heavily modified in recent years to accommodate modern technology, resulting in a variety of types of laser diodes, as described below.


title: Laser diode

text: As early as 1953 John von Neumann described the concept of semiconductor laser in an unpublished manuscript.


title: Laser diode

text: Following theoretical treatments of M.G. Bernard, G. Duraffourg and William P. Dumke in the early 1960s coherent light emission from a gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor diode (a laser diode) was demonstrated in 1962 by two US groups led by Robert N. Hall at the General Electric research center and by Marshall Nathan at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. There has been ongoing debate as to whether IBM or GE invented the first laser diode which was largely based on theoretical work by William P. Dumke at IBM's Kitchawan Lab (currently known as the Thomas J. Watson Research Center) in Yorktown Heights, NY. The priority is given to General Electric group who have obtained and submitted their results earlier; they also went further and made a resonant cavity for their diode. It was initially speculated, by MIT's Ben Lax among other leading physicists, that silicon or germanium could be used to create a lasing effect, but theoretical analyses convinced William P. Dumke that these materials would not work. Instead, he suggested Gallium Arsenide as a good candidate. The first visible wavelength laser diode was demonstrated by Nick Holonyak, Jr. later in 1962; he used gallium arsenide-phosphide alloy.


title: Laser diode

text: Other teams at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Texas Instruments, and RCA Laboratories were also involved in and received credit for their historic initial demonstrations of efficient light emission and lasing in semiconductor diodes in 1962 and thereafter. GaAs lasers were also produced in early 1963 in the Soviet Union by the team led by Nikolay Basov.


title: Laser diode

text: In the early 1960s liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) was invented by Herbert Nelson of RCA Laboratories. By layering the highest quality crystals of varying compositions, it enabled the demonstration of the highest quality heterojunction semiconductor laser materials for many years. LPE was adopted by all the leading laboratories, worldwide and used for many years. It was finally supplanted in the 1970s by molecular beam epitaxy and organometallic chemical vapor deposition.


title: Laser diode

text: Diode lasers of that era operated with threshold current densities of 1000 A/cm at 77 K temperatures. Such performance enabled continuous-lasing to be demonstrated in the earliest days. However, when operated at room temperature, about 300 K, threshold current densities were two orders of magnitude greater, or 100,000 A/cm in the best devices. The dominant challenge for the remainder of the 1960s was to obtain low threshold current density at 300 K and thereby to demonstrate continuous-wave lasing at room temperature from a diode laser.


title: Laser diode

text: The first diode lasers were homojunction diodes. That is, the material (and thus the bandgap) of the waveguide core layer and that of the surrounding clad layers, were identical. It was recognized that there was an opportunity, particularly afforded by the use of liquid phase epitaxy using aluminum gallium arsenide, to introduce heterojunctions. Heterostructures consist of layers of semiconductor crystal having varying bandgap and refractive index. Heterojunctions (formed from heterostructures) had been recognized by Herbert Kroemer, while working at RCA Laboratories in the mid-1950s, as having unique advantages for several types of electronic and optoelectronic devices including diode lasers. LPE afforded the technology of making heterojunction diode lasers. In 1963 he proposed the double heterostructure laser.


title: Laser diode

text: The first heterojunction diode lasers were single-heterojunction lasers. These lasers utilized aluminum gallium arsenide "p"-type injectors situated over "n"-type gallium arsenide layers grown on the substrate by LPE. An admixture of aluminum replaced gallium in the semiconductor crystal and raised the bandgap of the "p"-type injector over that of the "n"-type layers beneath. It worked; the 300 K threshold currents went down by 10× to 10,000 amperes per square centimeter. Unfortunately, this was still not in the needed range and these single-heterostructure diode lasers did not function in continuous wave operation at room temperature.


title: Laser diode

text: The innovation that met the room temperature challenge was the double heterostructure laser. The trick was to quickly move the wafer in the LPE apparatus between different "melts" of aluminum gallium arsenide ("p"- and "n"-type) and a third melt of gallium arsenide. It had to be done rapidly since the gallium arsenide core region needed to be significantly under 1 µm in thickness. The first laser diode to achieve "continuous wave" operation was a double heterostructure demonstrated in 1970 essentially simultaneously by Zhores Alferov and collaborators (including Dmitri Z. Garbuzov) of the Soviet Union, and Morton Panish and Izuo Hayashi working in the United States. However, it is widely accepted that Zhores I. Alferov and team reached the milestone first.


title: Laser diode

text: For their accomplishment and that of their co-workers, Alferov and Kroemer shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics.


title: Laser diode

text: The simple laser diode structure, described above, is inefficient. Such devices require so much power that they can only achieve pulsed operation without damage. Although historically important and easy to explain, such devices are not practical.


title: Laser diode

text: In these devices, a layer of low bandgap material is sandwiched between two high bandgap layers. One commonly-used pair of materials is gallium arsenide (GaAs) with aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs). Each of the junctions between different bandgap materials is called a "heterostructure", hence the name "double heterostructure laser" or "DH" laser. The kind of laser diode described in the first part of the article may be referred to as a "homojunction" laser, for contrast with these more popular devices.


title: Laser diode

text: The advantage of a DH laser is that the region where free electrons and holes exist simultaneously—the active region—is confined to the thin middle layer. This means that many more of the electron-hole pairs can contribute to amplification—not so many are left out in the poorly amplifying periphery. In addition, light is reflected within the heterojunction; hence, the light is confined to the region where the amplification takes place.


title: Laser diode

text: If the middle layer is made thin enough, it acts as a quantum well. This means that the vertical variation of the electron's wavefunction, and thus a component of its energy, is quantized. The efficiency of a quantum well laser is greater than that of a bulk laser because the density of states function of electrons in the quantum well system has an abrupt edge that concentrates electrons in energy states that contribute to laser action.


title: Laser diode

text: Lasers containing more than one quantum well layer are known as "multiple quantum well" lasers. Multiple quantum wells improve the overlap of the gain region with the optical waveguide mode.


title: Laser diode

text: Further improvements in the laser efficiency have also been demonstrated by reducing the quantum well layer to a quantum wire or to a "sea" of quantum dots.


title: Laser diode

text: In a quantum cascade laser, the difference between quantum well energy levels is used for the laser transition instead of the bandgap. This enables laser action at relatively long wavelengths, which can be tuned simply by altering the thickness of the layer. They are heterojunction lasers.


title: Laser diode

text: An Interband cascade laser (ICL) is a type of laser diode that can produce coherent radiation over a large part of the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.


title: Laser diode

text: The problem with the simple quantum well diode described above is that the thin layer is simply too small to effectively confine the light. To compensate, another two layers are added on, outside the first three. These layers have a lower refractive index than the centre layers, and hence confine the light effectively. Such a design is called a separate confinement heterostructure (SCH) laser diode.


title: Laser diode

text: A distributed Bragg reflector laser (DBR) is a type of single frequency laser diode. It is characterized by an optical cavity consisting of an electrically or optically pumped gain region between two mirrors to provide feedback. One of the mirrors is a broadband reflector and the other mirror is wavelength selective so that gain is favored on a single longitudinal mode, resulting in lasing at a single resonant frequency. The broadband mirror is usually coated with a low reflectivity coating to allow emission. The wavelength selective mirror is a periodically structured diffraction grating with high reflectivity. The diffraction grating is within a non-pumped, or passive region of the cavity . A DBR laser is a monolithic single chip device with the grating etched into the semiconductor. DBR lasers can be edge emitting lasers or VCSELs. Alternative hybrid architectures that share the same topology include extended cavity diode lasers and volume Bragg grating lasers, but these are not properly called DBR lasers.


title: Laser diode

text: A distributed feedback laser (DFB) is a type of single frequency laser diode. DFBs are the most common transmitter type in DWDM-systems. To stabilize the lasing wavelength, a diffraction grating is etched close to the p–n junction of the diode. This grating acts like an optical filter, causing a single wavelength to be fed back to the gain region and lase. Since the grating provides the feedback that is required for lasing, reflection from the facets is not required. Thus, at least one facet of a DFB is anti-reflection coated. The DFB laser has a stable wavelength that is set during manufacturing by the pitch of the grating, and can only be tuned slightly with temperature. DFB lasers are widely used in optical communication applications where a precise and stable wavelength is critical.


title: Laser diode

text: The threshold current of this DFB laser, based on its static characteristic, is around 11 mA. The appropriate bias current in a linear regime could be taken in the middle of the static characteristic (50 mA).Several techniques have been proposed in order to enhance the single-mode operation in these kinds of lasers by inserting a onephase-shift (1PS) or multiple-phase-shift (MPS) in the uniform Bragg grating. However, multiple-phase-shift DFB lasers represent the optimal solution because they have the combination of higher side-mode suppression ratio and reduced spatial hole-burning.


title: Laser diode

text: Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have the optical cavity axis along the direction of current flow rather than perpendicular to the current flow as in conventional laser diodes. The active region length is very short compared with the lateral dimensions so that the radiation emerges from the surface of the cavity rather than from its edge as shown in the figure. The reflectors at the ends of the cavity are dielectric mirrors made from alternating high and low refractive index quarter-wave thick multilayer.


title: Laser diode

text: Such dielectric mirrors provide a high degree of wavelength-selective reflectance at the required free surface wavelength λ if the thicknesses of alternating layers "d" and "d" with refractive indices "n" and "n" are such that "n""d" + "n""d" = λ/2 which then leads to the constructive interference of all partially reflected waves at the interfaces. But there is a disadvantage: because of the high mirror reflectivities, VCSELs have lower output powers when compared to edge-emitting lasers.


title: Laser diode

text: There are several advantages to producing VCSELs when compared with the production process of edge-emitting lasers. Edge-emitters cannot be tested until the end of the production process. If the edge-emitter does not work, whether due to bad contacts or poor material growth quality, the production time and the processing materials have been wasted.


title: Laser diode

text: Additionally, because VCSELs emit the beam perpendicular to the active region of the laser as opposed to parallel as with an edge emitter, tens of thousands of VCSELs can be processed simultaneously on a three-inch gallium arsenide wafer. Furthermore, even though the VCSEL production process is more labor- and material-intensive, the yield can be controlled to a more predictable outcome. However, they normally show a lower power output level.


title: Laser diode

text: Vertical external-cavity surface-emitting lasers, or VECSELs, are similar to VCSELs. In VCSELs, the mirrors are typically grown epitaxially as part of the diode structure, or grown separately and bonded directly to the semiconductor containing the active region. VECSELs are distinguished by a construction in which one of the two mirrors is external to the diode structure. As a result, the cavity includes a free-space region. A typical distance from the diode to the external mirror would be 1 cm.


title: Laser diode

text: One of the most interesting features of any VECSEL is the small thickness of the semiconductor gain region in the direction of propagation, less than 100 nm. In contrast, a conventional in-plane semiconductor laser entails light propagation over distances of from 250 µm upward to 2 mm or longer. The significance of the short propagation distance is that it causes the effect of "antiguiding" nonlinearities in the diode laser gain region to be minimized. The result is a large-cross-section single-mode optical beam which is not attainable from in-plane ("edge-emitting") diode lasers.


title: Laser diode

text: Several workers demonstrated optically pumped VECSELs, and they continue to be developed for many applications including high power sources for use in industrial machining (cutting, punching, etc.) because of their unusually high power and efficiency when pumped by multi-mode diode laser bars. However, because of their lack of p–n junction, optically pumped VECSELs are not considered "diode lasers", and are classified as semiconductor lasers.


title: Laser diode

text: Electrically pumped VECSELs have also been demonstrated. Applications for electrically pumped VECSELs include projection displays, served by frequency doubling of near-IR VECSEL emitters to produce blue and green light.


title: Laser diode

text: External-cavity diode lasers are tunable lasers which use mainly double heterostructures diodes of the AlGaAs type. The first external-cavity diode lasers used intracavity


title: Laser diode

text: etalons and simple tuning Littrow gratings. Other designs include gratings in grazing-incidence configuration and multiple-prism grating configurations.


title: Laser diode

text: Laser diodes have the same reliability and failure issues as light emitting diodes. In addition they are subject to "catastrophic optical damage" (COD) when operated at higher power.


title: Laser diode

text: Many of the advances in reliability of diode lasers in the last 20 years remain proprietary to their developers. "Reverse engineering" is not always able to reveal the differences between more-reliable and less-reliable diode laser products.


title: Laser diode

text: Semiconductor lasers can be surface-emitting lasers such as VCSELs, or in-plane edge-emitting lasers. For edge-emitting lasers, the edge facet mirror is often formed by cleaving the semiconductor wafer to form a specularly reflecting plane. This approach is facilitated by the weakness of the [110] crystallographic plane in III-V semiconductor crystals (such as GaAs, InP, GaSb, etc.) compared to other planes.


title: Laser diode

text: The atomic states at the cleavage plane are altered compared to their bulk properties within the crystal by the termination of the perfectly periodic lattice at that plane. Surface states at the cleaved plane have energy levels within the (otherwise forbidden) bandgap of the semiconductor.


title: Laser diode

text: As a result, when light propagates through the cleavage plane and transits to free space from within the semiconductor crystal, a fraction of the light energy is absorbed by the surface states where it is converted to heat by phonon-electron interactions. This heats the cleaved mirror. In addition, the mirror may heat simply because the edge of the diode laser—which is electrically pumped—is in less-than-perfect contact with the mount that provides a path for heat removal. The heating of the mirror causes the bandgap of the semiconductor to shrink in the warmer areas. The bandgap shrinkage brings more electronic band-to-band transitions into alignment with the photon energy causing yet more absorption. This is thermal runaway, a form of positive feedback, and the result can be melting of the facet, known as "catastrophic optical damage", or COD.


title: Laser diode

text: In the 1970s, this problem, which is particularly nettlesome for GaAs-based lasers emitting between 0.630 µm and 1 µm wavelengths (less so for InP-based lasers used for long-haul telecommunications which emit between 1.3 µm and 2 µm), was identified. Michael Ettenberg, a researcher and later Vice President at RCA Laboratories' David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, New Jersey, devised a solution. A thin layer of aluminum oxide was deposited on the facet. If the aluminum oxide thickness is chosen correctly, it functions as an anti-reflective coating, reducing reflection at the surface. This alleviated the heating and COD at the facet.


title: Laser diode

text: Since then, various other refinements have been employed. One approach is to create a so-called non-absorbing mirror (NAM) such that the final 10 µm or so before the light emits from the cleaved facet are rendered non-absorbing at the wavelength of interest.


title: Laser diode

text: In the very early 1990s, SDL, Inc. began supplying high power diode lasers with good reliability characteristics. CEO Donald Scifres and CTO David Welch presented new reliability performance data at, e.g., SPIE Photonics West conferences of the era. The methods used by SDL to defeat COD were considered to be highly proprietary and were still undisclosed publicly as of June 2006.


title: Laser diode

text: In the mid-1990s, IBM Research (Ruschlikon, Switzerland) announced that it had devised its so-called "E2 process" which conferred extraordinary resistance to COD in GaAs-based lasers. This process, too, was undisclosed as of June 2006.


title: Laser diode

text: Reliability of high-power diode laser pump bars (used to pump solid-state lasers) remains a difficult problem in a variety of applications, in spite of these proprietary advances. Indeed, the physics of diode laser failure is still being worked out and research on this subject remains active, if proprietary.


title: Laser diode

text: Extension of the lifetime of laser diodes is critical to their continued adaptation to a wide variety of applications.


title: Laser diode

text: Laser diodes are numerically the most common laser type, with 2004 sales of approximately 733 million units,


title: Laser diode

text: Laser diodes find wide use in telecommunication as easily modulated and easily coupled light sources for fiber optics communication. They are used in various measuring instruments, such as rangefinders. Another common use is in barcode readers. Visible lasers, typically red but later also green, are common as laser pointers. Both low and high-power diodes are used extensively in the printing industry both as light sources for scanning (input) of images and for very high-speed and high-resolution printing plate (output) manufacturing. Infrared and red laser diodes are common in CD players, CD-ROMs and DVD technology. Violet lasers are used in HD DVD and Blu-ray technology. Diode lasers have also found many applications in laser absorption spectrometry (LAS) for high-speed, low-cost assessment or monitoring of the concentration of various species in gas phase. High-power laser diodes are used in industrial applications such as heat treating, cladding, seam welding and for pumping other lasers, such as diode-pumped solid-state lasers.


title: Laser diode

text: Uses of laser diodes can be categorized in various ways. Most applications could be served by larger solid-state lasers or optical parametric oscillators, but the low cost of mass-produced diode lasers makes them essential for mass-market applications. Diode lasers can be used in a great many fields; since light has many different properties (power, wavelength, spectral and beam quality, polarization, etc.) it is useful to classify applications by these basic properties.


title: Laser diode

text: Many applications of diode lasers primarily make use of the "directed energy" property of an optical beam. In this category, one might include the laser printers, barcode readers, image scanning, illuminators, designators, optical data recording, combustion ignition, laser surgery, industrial sorting, industrial machining, wireless power transfer (as power beaming), and directed energy weaponry. Some of these applications are well-established while others are emerging.


title: Laser diode

text: Laser medicine: medicine and especially dentistry have found many new uses for diode lasers. The shrinking size and cost of the units and their increasing user friendliness makes them very attractive to clinicians for minor soft tissue procedures. Diode wavelengths range from 810 to 1,100 nm, are poorly absorbed by soft tissue, and are not used for cutting or ablation. Soft tissue is not cut by the laser's beam, but is instead cut by contact with a hot charred glass tip. The laser's irradiation is highly absorbed at the distal end of the tip and heats it up to 500 °C to 900 °C. Because the tip is so hot, it can be used to cut soft-tissue and can cause hemostasis through cauterization and carbonization. Diode lasers when used on soft tissue can cause extensive collateral thermal damage to surrounding tissue.


title: Laser diode

text: As laser beam light is inherently coherent, certain applications utilize the coherence of laser diodes. These include interferometric distance measurement, holography, coherent communications, and coherent control of chemical reactions.


title: Laser diode

text: range-finding, telecommunications, infra-red countermeasures, spectroscopic sensing, generation of radio-frequency or terahertz waves, atomic clock state preparation, quantum key cryptography, frequency doubling and conversion, water purification (in the UV), and photodynamic therapy (where a particular wavelength of light would cause a substance such as porphyrin to become chemically active as an anti-cancer agent only where the tissue is illuminated by light).


title: Laser diode

text: Laser diodes are used for their ability to generate ultra-short pulses of light by the technique known as "mode-locking." Areas of use include clock distribution for high-performance integrated circuits, high-peak-power sources for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy sensing, arbitrary waveform generation for radio-frequency waves, photonic sampling for analog-to-digital conversion, and optical code-division-multiple-access systems for secure communication.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Gerhard Berger (born 27 August 1959) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. He competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, twice finishing 3rd overall in the championship ( and ), both times driving for Ferrari. He won ten Grands Prix, achieved 48 podiums, 12 poles and 21 fastest laps. With 210 starts he is amongst the most experienced Formula One drivers of all time. He led 33 of the 210 races he competed in and retired from 95 of them. His first and last victories were also the first and last victories for the Benetton team, with eleven years separating them. He was also a race winner with Ferrari and with McLaren. When at McLaren, Berger drove alongside Ayrton Senna, contributing to the team's and constructors' titles.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Between 2006 and 2008 Berger owned 50% of the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team. In 2008 Red Bull became the 100% owner of Toro Rosso having bought back the 50% stake it sold to Berger two years before.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Gerhard Berger was born in Wörgl, Austria. His father Johann worked in his own truck company with Gerhard later working for his father and before being promoted to a driver. Berger, a multiple race winner in European Formula Three, moved up to Formula One in driving for the ATS team.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Berger was fortunate to be alive after a serious road accident shortly after entering Formula One. A week after the 1984 season ended, he was driving home in his BMW 323i through the hills above Salzburg when his car was rammed from behind, resulting in it cartwheeling off a cliff. Berger, at that time not wearing the seatbelt, was thrown clear of the BMW through the rear window. By chance, the first car on the crash scene was occupied by two surgeons who specialised in back injuries. The doctors realised the extent of his injuries (a broken neck and some damaged bones in his back) and made sure he was not moved until special equipment arrived. Following emergency surgery, and a stay in hospital in Innsbruck, he made a full recovery.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: A full season for Arrows followed in , though both Berger and teammate Thierry Boutsen were hampered by the Arrows A8 which was not the best chassis on the grid and did not allow either to exploit the immense power of the BMW M12 engine. Although he had some good drives (including running 6th in France), Berger would finish the season in 20th place having scored 3 points in the last two races of the year in South Africa and Australia.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: It was not until joining Benetton in that his F1 career took off. Finally in a car that allowed him to exploit both his talent and the exceptional power of the BMW turbo engine ( in qualifying in 1986), coupled with a clever Pirelli tyre strategy, Berger won his first Grand Prix in Mexico using the Benetton B186. Berger was also on course for an easy victory at his home race, the 1986 Austrian Grand Prix before being forced into the pits from a comfortable lead with a flat battery. Berger out-qualified teammate Teo Fabi 12–4 in 1986 though Fabi, who as a Rookie had qualified on the pole for the 1983 Indianapolis 500, took pole at the faster Österreichring and Monza circuits. Berger established himself as a very fast driver in Formula One that year, recording the fastest speed trap of the season, clocking an incredible 351.22 km/h (218.23 mph) at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. This remains the fastest straight line speed attained by a turbocharged car in the first turbo era.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Berger was also successful in Group A touring cars during this time, racing for the highly rated German Schnitzer BMW team, driving the highly competitive BMW 635 Csi in the European Touring Car Championship. He won the 1985 Spa 24 Hours partnering Italian touring car ace Roberto Ravaglia and fellow Formula One driver, Marc Surer of Switzerland.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Until the mid-1980s when teams began stopping their drivers competing in other categories of racing (primarily due to the risk involved), it was not uncommon for a Grand Prix driver to race in sports and touring cars. However, by 1985 Formula One drivers were not permitted race in any other category within 24 hours of the start of a Grand Prix. At the season ending 1985 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, Berger had to obtain permission from the FIA, FOCA, and from Arrows team to race in a Group A touring car race which was a support category for the weekend. He needed the permission as the Grand Prix was scheduled to start at 2 pm on Sunday, 3 November and the Group A race was to start at 3 pm on the Saturday. Driving an ex-Schnitzer BMW 635 CSi (that had finished 2nd behind his own at the Spa 24 Hours) for Australian racing legend and millionaire Bob Jane, Berger qualified 2nd on the grid but his race lasted just 3 laps before he was punted into the gravel trap at the end of the pit straight by the Holden Commodore V8 of local veteran John Harvey.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: For the 1987 season, Berger signed for Ferrari, partnering the Italian Michele Alboreto and replacing Stefan Johansson. After mechanical failures robbed him of the chance to perform, Berger came on strongly in the latter half of 1987, winning the final two rounds of the season. The 1987 Ferrari F1/87 benefitted from the work of ex-McLaren designer John Barnard although the car was designed by Austrian Gustav Brunner. Ferrari were back competing for race honours for the first time since mid-1985 from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards. Berger was running a close second to Nigel Mansell at the Hungaroring before he was forced to retire. At Estoril for the Portuguese Grand Prix Berger dominated the race from pole position before spinning in the latter stages to finish second after pressure from Alain Prost. The Austrian then looked to be heading for a second consecutive victory at the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit for the Mexican Grand Prix as he once again dominated the race but mechanical problems forced him to retire when leading. Success at both Suzuka and Adelaide for the Japanese and the Australian Grands Prix, including pole positions in both events and the fastest lap in Adelaide, ensured Ferrari and Berger went into the winter season with boosted confidence and both team and driver were tipped as favourites for the 1988 Championship. As he had done to Fabi in 1986, Berger out-qualified teammate Alboreto 12–4 in 1987. Berger's wins also gave Ferrari its first back to back victories since the late Gilles Villeneuve won the Monaco and Spanish Grands Prix in .


title: Gerhard Berger

text: In , the McLaren team, with twice World Champion Alain Prost and the sensationally fast Ayrton Senna dominated the season, winning 15 of the 16 rounds. The Honda V6 turbo engine in the McLaren MP4/4, and Lotus's 100T had superior fuel efficiency to the Ferrari, which caused both Berger and Alboreto to often drive much slower than possible in races. Berger was the only driver to break the McLaren stranglehold in 1988, winning the Italian Grand Prix after Senna tangled with Jean-Louis Schlesser, who had temporarily replaced Nigel Mansell (who was sick with chicken pox) in the Williams-Judd. Alboreto made it a Ferrari 1–2, finishing only half a second behind the Austrian. This was a particularly poignant victory for the team, as it came just weeks after the death of Enzo Ferrari. Berger was also the only non-McLaren to take pole in 1988 when he sat on pole for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It was also the only race where both Ferrari cars were on the front row, with Alboreto qualifying only 0.199 behind his teammate.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: The Ferrari F1/87/88C proved troublesome for both Berger and teammate Alboreto especially in terms of fuel consumption from the 1.5 litre turbo engine (Ferrari, unlike the Japanese, had not built a new engine for the season to cope with the lower fuel limit of 150 litres and the lower 2.5 Bar turbo limit, instead fronting with an updated version of their 1987 engine). At the very wet British Grand Prix for instance, Berger led the opening laps from Senna having already attained pole position, consequently building a large cushion over the rest of the field before having to slow just to finish (at the halfway mark he was in 2nd place, 50 seconds in front of 3rd placed Nigel Mansell). Ultimately he finished in 9th position, having fallen from 5th after running out of fuel coming out of the Woodcote chicane on the last lap, with Alboreto already having run out of fuel 3 laps from the finish. In the space of 200 metres Berger was passed by Nelson Piquet (Lotus), Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever (Arrows) and Riccardo Patrese (Williams). Both Ferrari drivers were often forced to use the lowest turbo boost setting they had (approximately 2.0 bar) and reduce their engine's revs in order to get the cars to the finish of a race. Until changes were made to the Ferrari's V6 engine late in the season, this meant that Berger and Alboreto were often vulnerable to attack from the leading atmospheric cars, with Berger estimating that he could often only use of the cars available during a race if he wanted to finish.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Berger was leading the final race of the season at Adelaide ahead of Prost and Senna before he clashed with former Ferrari driver René Arnoux in the Ligier while trying to lap the Frenchman. Before the race Berger, apparently with the full support of the team, told the McLaren drivers who qualified 1–2 in front of him that he was going to go all out and run as fast as he could without worrying about running out of fuel to give a good show for the fans. He did just that and after passing Senna for 2nd on lap 3, he set numerous fastest laps before finally catching and passing Prost on lap 14. From there he put some 5 seconds between himself and Prost before being taken out by Arnoux on lap 28. Berger out-qualified Alboreto in all 16 events for the 1988 Formula One calendar and in the eight races where they were both classified as finishers, finished behind Alboreto only once in France, spelling the end for the Italian after five seasons with the Maranello outfit.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: For 1989, Berger was joined at Ferrari by Nigel Mansell. The Ferrari 640 with its V12 engine was fast but fragile, thanks in part to its revolutionary semi-automatic gearbox designed by John Barnard. At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Berger tangled with Senna at the very first corner as the Brazilian found himself trapped between Riccardo Patrese's Williams-Renault to the left and Berger's Ferrari to the right, with the three drivers dicing for the lead. Berger was lucky to escape alive from a crash during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola's Tamburello corner, where he went straight on into the wall at almost . The car spun multiple times along the wall before catching fire. It took 16 seconds for a rescue crew to reach the Ferrari and put the fire out. Suffering remarkably few injuries, notably burns to his hands and some broken ribs, Berger was able to make it back to the cockpit at the Mexican Grand Prix after missing just the Monaco Grand Prix. Berger attributed this to Ferrari's unique semi-automatic paddle-shift gearbox, saying that his return would have been delayed if Ferrari still used the traditional gear stick transmission used in all other F1 cars in 1989.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: With the exception of the Australian Grand Prix where both Ferrari drivers had poor qualifying sessions, Berger featured in the top four in qualifying and races in all of the remaining Grands Prix but poor reliability and accidents meant that he only finished three races all year (by mid-season the problem with the semi-automatic transmission was found to be not enough power from the battery which was fixed with the help of team sponsor, electrical experts Magneti Marelli). His first points of the year didn't come until he finished in second place in Round 12 at the Italian Grand Prix. He won the next race in Portugal which was overshadowed by the accident involving Mansell and Senna, and then finished second at the next race in Spain. These races were in fact his only points scored for the year but was still enough to give him 7th in the championship after being 3rd in 1988. The improvement in form from Ferrari came too late though. At the British Grand Prix it was announced that Alain Prost would leave McLaren at the end of the season to join the Scuderia while Berger decided to sign for McLaren who, with their Honda V10 engines, was at the time the best and fastest team in Grand Prix racing.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: From 1990 to 1992 Berger joined Ayrton Senna at McLaren. His arrival was met with great anticipation as he had proven great form for Benetton and Ferrari. A McLaren-Honda seemed to offer Berger a genuine chance at the world championship for the first time. However, although generally quicker than his predecessor Alain Prost in relation to Senna in qualifying (he often qualified 2nd behind Senna), he was rarely able to match the Brazilian's pace during races. He took three wins in these three seasons, gifted the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix by Senna; as well as victories in Canada and Australia in 1992. During his three years at McLaren, Berger also obtained four pole positions and out-qualified Senna 8 times.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: His debut at McLaren ruffled feathers, as he outqualified Senna for the 1990 United States Grand Prix obtaining pole position. Initially, Berger complained of a lack of space in the McLaren MP4/5B for the 1990 season, which had been designed in 1988/89 for the shorter Senna and Prost. At the 1990 Canadian Grand Prix Berger finished first, around 45 seconds ahead of the eventual winner Senna, but was penalized by one minute for creeping at the start before the green lights. Berger also started from pole position at the 1990 Mexican Grand Prix. In 1990 Berger failed to win a race for his new team, while teammate Senna won the Drivers' Championship for the second time.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Towards the end of 1991, Berger found his form in the McLaren MP4/6 - a car he was able to fit in better than the MP4/5B, out-qualifying teammate Senna at the Portuguese, Spanish and the title deciding Japanese Grands Prix (claiming pole position in the latter two events).


title: Gerhard Berger

text: In 1992, Berger won the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix having overtaken Riccardo Patrese's Williams and attacking teammate Senna before the Brazilian retired. During the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix, Berger was involved in an incident with the Williams of Patrese. Patrese did not realize that Berger was heading towards the pitlane touched the McLaren's rear wheel and went airborne, narrowly missing a bridge, before coming to a halt in front of the armco of the pitlane. Berger then went on to win the Australian Grand Prix for the second time after a battle with Patrese. Berger therefore won his last race for McLaren and McLaren's last race with Honda engines. A lucrative offer from Ferrari proved too tempting for Berger who announced before the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix that he would be returning to the struggling Italian outfit.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Berger was persuaded by Ayrton Senna (who told him that Honda would leave Formula One at the end of the 1992 season, leaving McLaren without a works engine for the 1993 season) and also by his countryman Niki Lauda to return to the Italian team in 1993 as Lauda felt Berger brought valuable experience with him from his partnership with Senna. The active ride suspension made the car unpredictable to drive and the Ferrari F93A failed to record a single victory and spent the majority of the season competing for the lower points. Berger's best result was third position at the 1993 Hungarian Grand Prix. Berger had a number of spectacular incidents during the season including a clash with Michael Andretti at the start of the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix and a dramatic impact with the armco at the 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix having just exited the pits. The 1993 Monaco Grand Prix was perhaps where Berger displayed his fighting qualities best of all, obtaining second fastest lap before he attempted an opportunistic move on Damon Hill's Williams at Loews hairpin while challenging for second position. The Austrian was forced to retire.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: In 1994, Berger recovered from the deaths of close friend Senna and countryman Roland Ratzenberger at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, to score an emotional win at Hockenheim for the 1994 German Grand Prix in the Ferrari 412T, the first win for Ferrari since the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix. Berger also scored two pole positions in 1994, the first at Hockenheim and then at Estoril for the 1994 Portuguese Grand Prix where he retired from while leading. Berger was also in the lead at the final round at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix when he made a mistake, letting his former teammate Nigel Mansell pass and win for Williams.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: A final season with the team in 1995 saw Berger score a number of podiums and was in a race winning position at the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix having qualified second before stalling in the pits but the fastest lap was a mere consolation. A particularly audacious pass on Damon Hill in Canada was just one example of his strong racecraft. Berger produced another aggressive drive for third having received a 10-second stop-go penalty for a jump start and then climbing up through the field from 14th position at the 1995 German Grand Prix, making a number of overtakings on the way. At Monza both Ferrari drivers were in contention for the win, when an on-board camera on Jean Alesi's Ferrari fell into the path of Berger and smashed the Austrian's front suspension after damaging Alesi's car. The departure of both Alesi and Berger from Ferrari to Benetton also spelt the end of the number 27 and 28 era for Ferrari that stretched back to 1981 with Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi only interrupted by the signing of 1989 world champion Alain Prost for the 1990 season.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: With the arrival of Michael Schumacher at Ferrari in 1996, Berger moved back to Benetton, although the team lost the competitiveness of the previous years. He could have remained at Maranello, but felt that the new Ferrari V10 engine would take too much time to develop. Berger spent his final two years in the sport at the team he drove for in 1986 while also sporting a revised helmet design, with the Austrian flag being rotated horizontally. 1996 proved to be a disappointing season for the Austrian, the handling characteristics of the Benetton B196 not being to his taste. Berger nearly won the German Grand Prix for the second time in his career before his Renault V10 engine blew up, handing victory to Damon Hill in the Williams. Berger's main problem for the early part of 1996 was his driving position that prevented a smooth airflow into the airbox. Consequently, Berger was significantly slower down the straights than teammate Jean Alesi.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: The Benetton B197 had a lacklustre opening to the 1997 season at Melbourne but the team and Berger bounced back at the 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix, with Berger finishing second having overtaken Mika Häkkinen and Michael Schumacher. Berger then scored Benetton's final Grand Prix victory at the age of 37, again at Hockenheim, coming back after a 3 race layoff following a sinusitis surgery and the death of his father in a light aircraft accident. As well as the victory, Berger also claimed pole position and fastest lap during the 1997 German Grand Prix. He announced his decision to leave Benetton at the end of the season during the same weekend. He eventually retired at the end of the season, his final race seeing him finish a very close fourth in Jerez only seconds behind the victor Mika Häkkinen. In his final season as a Formula One driver, Berger and Alesi out-qualified each other 7 times each with the Austrian missing three races due to illness. Rumours of a Ferrari return for 1998 were false. Sauber offered Berger a drive for 1998 to partner Alesi, but the Austrian turned down the offer for a number of reasons, not least because of the new regulations for grooved tyres which the Austrian did not find inspiring.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: During the years that Berger was at McLaren (1990–1992), he became most famous for his humorous side. Popular accounts tell of many ingenious practical jokes thought up by the Austrian to break through his serious, focused and unyielding teammate Ayrton Senna. Senna accepted the challenge and as both were spurred on by team manager Ron Dennis, the practical joking escalated.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Accounts tell of an incident at Monza where in a joint helicopter ride Senna had been showing off his new tailor-made briefcase. Having been made of carbon fibre composite, Senna argued that it was virtually indestructible. Berger opened the door of the helicopter and threw the briefcase out, to Senna's disbelief. Berger asserted innocently that he only sought to test the hypothesis.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Berger later recounted further events before the 1990 Australian Grand Prix. "After dinner, we started to throw people in the swimming pool, all dressed. As I was good at defending myself, I escaped from the bath, but many people got wet. Senna ran away to avoid us from getting him, however, later, I went to his room and he awkwardly threw a glass of water at me. For a Tyrolean, that was nothing, but it did mean that the game was now on. With a hose, we improvised an extension to the fire extinguisher and we put it under his room door at three in the morning. We invited some people to watch and when we pushed the lever, Senna flew out of the window like a rocket. It looked like a bomb had exploded inside the room. The confusion woke many people up, who started to scream at Senna for making so much noise. He was terribly embarrassed."


title: Gerhard Berger

text: In an Australian hotel room Berger filled Senna's bed with frogs. Senna, understandably infuriated, confronted Berger, who replied, "Did you find the snake?" This incident prompted retaliation by Senna, who then proceeded to put a strong smelling French cheese in the air conditioning unit of Berger's room.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: On another occasion, Senna and Brazilian compatriot Maurício Gugelmin decided to fill Berger's shoes with shaving foam on a fast train ride to a dinner in Japan. The Austrian was forced to attend the dinner wearing a tuxedo with running shoes. A further incident followed in which Berger replaced Senna's passport photo with what Ron Dennis described as "an equivalent-sized piece of male genitalia" (although other media accounts refer to a black pair of breasts). Senna's fame meant he rarely had his passport checked, but on a later trip to Argentina, Berger's prank resulted in officials holding the Brazilian for 24 hours. As a response to this gag, Senna superglued all of Berger's credit cards together.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Berger's pranks continued at his new team for 1993, Scuderia Ferrari. Specifically, at the Fiorano Circuit a day before the launch of that season's new F1 car, Berger and his then new teammate, Jean Alesi, decided to take a nearby roadcar for a spin. Unbeknownst to them, that roadcar was team director Jean Todt's new specially made Lancia Y10. Because of the view that Alesi was driving conservatively, Berger decided to apply the handbrake causing the Lancia to flip upon their return to the pits, skidding upside down centimeters away from their yet-to-be unveiled new F1 car. Alesi was sent to the hospital. Later when Todt enquired about his roadcar, Berger conceded the two had put some "slight curb marks on the roof".


title: Gerhard Berger

text: The strong connection between Senna and Berger has extended beyond the Brazilian's death in 1994. Berger later acted as an advisor to Bruno Senna, Ayrton's nephew, who made his Formula One debut with the HRT F1 Team in the 2010 World Championship, and subsequently switched to Williams.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: A hugely popular figure in Formula One, Berger was up until 2003 regularly seen in the pitlane in his new capacity as Competitions Director at BMW, overseeing their successful return to Formula One in 2000.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Berger was the first to drive a F1 car on the new Shanghai Grand Prix circuit when he demonstrated a 2003 Ferrari F2003-GA.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: On 25 April 2004; 10 years after Ayrton Senna's death, Berger drove the JPS Lotus Renault 97T, which Senna had used in the 1985 championship, for 3 laps at Imola before the start of the 2004 San Marino Grand Prix.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: In February 2006, he acquired 50% of Scuderia Toro Rosso in a business deal which saw Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz purchase half of Berger Logistik, a road haulage company founded by Berger's father Johann in 1961. His Toro Rosso team won their first Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel taking the win. He sold his share back to Mateschitz in November 2008.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: In 2012 Berger was appointed President of the FIA Single Seat Commission. He left the seat in December 2014.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Berger's helmet originally was blue with yellow lines and azure and white details near the visor. In 1986, during his first spell at Benetton he used a different design that complimented the livery of the Benetton BMW. In 1987 his helmet was dark grey-blue, featuring the Austrian flag on either side. For the 1995 Portuguese Grand Prix Berger sported a helmet featuring flags of multiple nations. The top was painted to resemble the Austrian flag and "NO WAR IN THE WORLD" at the rear. The special design was a result of a winning entrant for a one-off competition. In 1996 Berger modified his original design with the Austrian flag rotated horizontally.


title: Gerhard Berger

text: Berger was driving his team's "second entry", and as the team had only entered one car for the entire championship, the second entry was ineligible to score points