{"id":78,"date":"2022-02-09T11:58:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T10:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/?p=78"},"modified":"2022-05-19T15:19:48","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T14:19:48","slug":"the-laser-turns-60-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/2022\/02\/09\/the-laser-turns-60-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The laser turns 62!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1960 the laser, one of the most important and versatile scientific instruments of all time, was invented. It was on 16 May 1960, that the North American physicist and engineer,\u00a0Theodore Maiman<\/a> (1927-2007), obtained the first laser emission.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Press Photo Dr. Theodore H. Maiman with his new laser device in New York (July 7th, 1960).<\/p><\/div>\n

This date is therefore of great importance not only for those of us who carry out research in the field of optics and other scientific fields, but also for the general public who use laser devices in their daily lives. CD, DVD and Blu-ray players, laser printers, barcode readers, and fibre-optic communication systems that connect to the worldwide web and Internet are just a few of the many examples of laser applications in our daily life. Lasers also have a range of important biomedical applications; for example they are used to correct myopia, treat certain tumours and even whiten teeth, not to mention the beauty clinics that continually bombard us with advertisements for laser depilation, which has become so popular nowadays. However, the laser is of great importance not only due to its numerous scientific and commercial applications or the fact that it is the essential tool in various state-of-the-art technologies but also because it was a key factor in the boom experienced by optics in the second half of the last century. Around 1950 “optics was widely considered a somewhat dull discipline with a great past, but without prospects of a great future” (Kragh, 2002<\/a>). At that time, the most prestigious journals were full of scientific papers from other branches of physics. However, this situation changed dramatically thanks to the laser which led to a vigorous development of optics. It is indisputable that the laser triggered a spectacular reactivation in numerous areas of optics and gave rise to others such as optoelectronics, non-linear optics or optical communications.<\/p>\n

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spie.org\/laser60<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

This date is therefore of great importance not only for those of us who carry out research in the\u00a0field of optics and other scientific fields, but also for the general public who use laser devices in\u00a0their daily lives. CD, DVD and Blu-ray players, laser printers, barcode readers, and fibre-optic\u00a0communication systems that connect to the worldwide web and Internet are just a few of the\u00a0many examples of laser applications in our daily life. Lasers also have a range of important\u00a0biomedical applications; for example they are used to correct myopia, treat certain tumors\u00a0and even whiten teeth, not to mention the beauty clinics that continually bombard us with\u00a0advertisements for laser depilation, which has become so popular nowadays. However, the\u00a0laser is of great importance not only due to its numerous scientific and commercial\u00a0applications or the fact that it is the essential tool in various state-of-the-art technologies but\u00a0also because it was a key factor in the boom experienced by optics in the second half of the last\u00a0century. Around 1950 optics was considered by many to be a scientific discipline with a great\u00a0past but not much of a future. At that time, the most prestigious journals were full of scientific\u00a0papers from other branches of physics. However, this situation changed dramatically thanks to\u00a0the laser which led to a vigorous development of optics. It is indisputable that the laser\u00a0triggered a spectacular reactivation in numerous areas of optics and gave rise to others such as\u00a0optoelectronics, non-linear optics or optical communications.<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, on the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the laser’s invention, <\/span>President Barack Obama sent a presidential message<\/a> to the founding partners of LaserFest<\/a>, a yearlong initiative created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first working laser, recognizing it as \u201cone of the most important and versatile inventions of the 20th century.\u201d In his message, President Obama recognized the \u201cintensely creative theoretical work\u201d that led to the development of the laser, \u201cfollowed by innovative engineering and a spectacular diversity of applications that have brought economic benefits unimagined at the start of the process.\u201d He went on to say he looks forward \u201cwith real excitement to further advances in this field and new applications as yet undreamed of today.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is a laser?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

It is a device capable of generating a light beam of a much greater intensity than that emitted\u00a0by any other type of light source. Moreover it has the property of coherence, which ordinary\u00a0light beams usually lack. The angular dispersion of a laser beam is also much smaller and so\u00a0when a laser ray is emitted and dispersed by the surrounding dust particles it is seen as a\u00a0narrow straight light beam. But let us leave to one side the specialized technical points, more\u00a0suitable to other types of publications, and concentrate on aspects of the invention of the laser\u00a0which are no less important and no doubt of greater interest to the general public. The word\u00a0laser is actually an acronym for \u201cL<\/b>ight A<\/b>mplification by S<\/b>timulated E<\/b>mission of R<\/b>adiation\u201d\u00a0and was coined in 1957 by the American physicist Gordon Gould<\/a>\u00a0(1920-2005), working for the private company\u00a0Technical Research Group (TGR), who changed the \u201cM<\/strong>\u201d of Maser for the \u201cL<\/strong>\u201d of Laser. In the image below, the phrase \u201csome rough calculations on the feasibility of a LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation\u201d may be seen (Gordon Gould\u2019s manuscript, 1957).<\/code><\/p>\n

First page of Gordon Gould\u2019s 1957 lab notebook where he defines the term \u2018laser\u2019. Credit: (AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives.<\/p><\/div>\n

The origins of the development of the laser may be found in a paper by Albert Einstein<\/a>\u00a0(1879-1955) on\u00a0stimulated emission of radiation in 1916 (\u00abStrahlungs-emission und -absorption nach der\u00a0Quantentheorie\u00bb, Emission and absorption of radiation in Quantum Theory<\/a>).\u00a0But it was an article published on 15 December 1958 by two physicists, Charles Townes<\/a> (1915-2015) and Arthur Schawlow<\/a>\u00a0(1921-1999)\u00a0titled \u00a0\u201cInfrared and Optical Masers\u201d<\/a> that\u00a0laid the theoretical bases enabling Maiman to build the first laser at the Hughes Research\u00a0Laboratories (HRL) in Malibu, California in 1960. Maiman used as the gain medium a synthetic\u00a0ruby crystal rod<\/a>\u00a0 one centimeter long\u00a0with mirrors on both ends and so created the first ever active optical resonator. It is probably\u00a0not general knowledge that the Hughes Research Laboratories<\/a>\u00a0was a private research company founded\u00a0in 1948 by Howard Hughes<\/a> (1905-1976), eccentric multimillionaire, aviator, self-taught engineer, Hollywood producer and entrepreneur, played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the film \u201cThe Aviator\u201d<\/a>\u00a0directed by Martin Scorsese in 2004.<\/p>\n

The executives of the Hughes Research Laboratories gave Maiman a deadline of nine months,\u00a050,000 dollars and an assistant to obtain the first laser emission. Maiman was going to use a\u00a0movie projector lamp to optically excite the gain medium but it was his assistant, Irnee\u00a0D\u2019Haenes, who had the idea of illuminating the ruby crystal with a photographic flash.<\/p>\n

Charles H. Townes (left) and Arthur Leonard Schwalow (right). Nobel Museum, Stockholm. Credit: Augusto Bel\u00e9ndez.<\/p><\/div>\n

When he obtained the first laser emission, Maiman submitted a short article to the prestigious\u00a0physics journal the Physical Review. However, it was rejected by the editors who said that the\u00a0journal had a backlog of articles on masers \u2013antecedent of the laser in the microwave region and\u00a0so had decided not to accept any more articles on this topic since they did not merit\u00a0prompt publication. Maiman then sent his article to the prestigious British journal, Nature,\u00a0which is even more particular than the Physical Review. However it was accepted for\u00a0publication and saw the light (excuse the pun) on 6 August 1960 in the section Letters to\u00a0Nature under the title \u201cStimulated Optical Radiation in Ruby\u201d<\/a>, with Maiman as its sole author. This\u00a0article which ran to barely 300 words and took up the space of just over a column may well be\u00a0the shortest specialized article on such an important scientific development ever published. In\u00a0a book published to celebrate the centenary of the journal Nature, Townes described Maiman\u2019s\u00a0article as \u201cthe most important per word of any of the wonderful papers\u201d that this prestigious\u00a0journal had published in its hundred years of existence. After Maiman\u2019s article was officially\u00a0accepted by Nature, the Hughes laboratories announced that the first working laser had been\u00a0built in their company and called a press conference in Manhattan on 7 July 1960.<\/p>\n

In a very short time the laser stopped being a simple curiosity and became an almost unending source of new scientific advances and technological developments of great significance. In fact the first commercial laser came on the market barely a year later in 1961. In the same year the first He-Ne lasers, probably the most well known and widely used lasers ever since, were commercialized. In these early years between 1960 and 1970 none of the researchers working on developing the laser \u2013the majority in laboratories of private companies such as those of Hughes, IBM, General Electric or Bell- could have imagined to what extent lasers would transform not only science and technology but also our daily life over the subsequent 60 years.<\/p>\n

On May 16, 2020, we\u00a0 celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Maiman’s monumental accomplishment in conjunction with the International Day of Light<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

He-Ne laser illuminating an optical set-up made using two holographic lenses in the old Optics laboratory placed at the University of Alicante. This university was one of the pioneer universities in Spain in the application of laser to research. \/ Augusto Bel\u00e9ndez, Variable holographic filter (1988)<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

“55th anniversary of the laser\u2019s invention\u201d: Published in IYL2015 BLOG (May 27th, 2015)<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1960 the laser, one of the most important and versatile scientific instruments of all time, was invented. It was on 16 May 1960, that the North American physicist and engineer,\u00a0Theodore Maiman (1927-2007), obtained the first laser emission. This date … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4215,6416,7028],"tags":[1443,706,2379,6412],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-divulgacion-cientifica","category-noticias-de-interes","category-premios-nobel","tag-divulgacion","tag-fisica","tag-laser","tag-optica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8235,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/8235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ua.es\/fisicateleco\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}