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Ted Maiman and 50 Years Small IEEE SCV Compressed Jeff Hecht, Laser Focus World Author BEAM: the Race to Make the Laser [email protected] http://www.jeffhecht.com Photo courtesy of Kathleen Maiman 50 years since May 16, 1960 Background Ted Maiman and the first laser Impact of the first laser Other lasers He-Ne, Neodymium, CO2, Diode, etc. Developing laser applications Looking to the future Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 2 The Starting Point -- Microwave Maser Charles Townes and James Gordon (1954) Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 3 3-level solid-state masers - 1956 Nicolaas Bloembergen, Harvard Derrick Scovil Ruby maser - Chihiro Kikuchi, 1957 4°K liquid helium cooling; 2.5 tons, desk-sized Military Funding Sought more practical, compact design Army contract to Hughes Research Labs Ted Maiman redesigned with internal magnet, liquid N2 Reduced to a few pounds Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 4 Optical is next higher accessible frequency band Terahertz, far-IR undeveloped Proposals Valentin Fabrikant, Russia, 1939, optical amplifier 1950s US: Robert Dicke, John von Neumann Charles Townes starts first serious effort 1957 Examined analytically and posed physics problem What would be needed for "optical maser" Talks with Gordon Gould about optical pumping Gould goes off and designs laser Townes and Schawlow solve same problem Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 5 Fabry Perot resonator (Gould) Schawlow-Townes use same approach Both require a suitable material Population inversion, stimulated emission Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 6 Optically pumped Electrically excited gas metal vapor Noble gases Helium, neon, argon Alkali metals Others possible Potassium, cesium, etc Lamps pump narrow RF or DC discharge lines Somewhat simple physics Very selective excitation Spectra well known Low power Relatively efficient Fairly simple physics Easier to work with Difficult to work with Javan, Bennett at Bell Gould, Townes Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 7 Optically pumped dielectric solids Precedent in solid-state microwave masers Ruby Rare earths Physically complex systems Potentially simple to use Optical materials not well developed Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 8 First QEC Sep 14-16, 1959 Most papers on microwave masers Slow progress on He-Ne lasers at Bell Labs Slow progress on metal vapors at Columbia Schawlow says ruby won't work 3-level laser, low fluorescence efficiency ARPA-TRG program just getting started Million dollar grant, parallel effort, mostly classified Doubts about laser Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 9 BS EE, U of Colorado PhD, Physics, Stanford, with Willis Lamb Working at Hughes Research Laboratories Finished ruby microwave maser Seeking new project Optically pumping microwave maser Would reduce noise Noise increased with temperature Became an issue with liquid nitrogen operation Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 10 Tougher challenge than microwave maser Potentially high rewards Sought "simple, compact and rugged" material Could ruby work? Maiman knew it from microwave maser Maiman wasn't convinced by Schawlow's analysis Where was energy going? Measured fluorescence for himself It was near 100% Went for optically pumped laser Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 11 Continuous lamps Carbon arc – fumes, excess heat AH6 arc lamp (high-power projector) Would barely provide enough energy ‘It was very hard to get excited about a marginal design’ Pulsed sources Exploding wires too messy, poor source Xenon photographic flashlamp (Leo Levitt) Color temperature 7700° C – ruby needed 4700°C 3 coiled models readily available Enough to demonstrate laser emission Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 12 Maiman's group moves from Culver City to Malibu Maiman works at home Writes paper on measurements Shows management he's doing something Avoids telling them much Designs ruby laser Managers still in Culver City Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 13 Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 14 Stepped up flashlamp power Turned up voltage Measured spectrum Measured pulse duration and decay Oscilloscope trace Threshold about 950 V Worked first time Beam quality modest New crystals improved Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 15 Ruby Laser Impact Proved laser was feasible First solid-state laser New approach to laser operation Pulsed operation High gain Well engineered and easy to replicate Small and simple Used readily available components TRG, Bell, others replicated within weeks Made lasers accessible Ruby became first commercial laser Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 16 Publication problems led to press conference Muddied historical record Replication was acid test of success Observations and lessons Start with materials you know. Brilliant inventions look obvious in hindsight. Physically ‘simple’ systems can be very complex in practice Good engineering complements good science Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 17 The Mixed Rewards of Fame Courtesy of Kathleen Maiman Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 18 Laser Boom followed Helium-neon laser Neodymium lasers Semiconductor diode lasers Carbon dioxide lasers Ion lasers Rare-gas halide excimer lasers Many more Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 19 Launching other laser development Sorokin and Stevenson IBM Watson Ur:CaF2 Sm:CaF2 Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 20 Red ruby lasers (Dec 1960) Art Schawlow, Bell Irwin Wieder Varian Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 21 Javan, Bennett, Herriott, Dec 1960 1.15-µm helium-neon laser, Bell Labs Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 22 Dane Rigden, Alan White, 632.8-nm Helium- Neon Laser, Bell, 1962 Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 23 Alan White, Dane Rigden, 632.8-nm Helium- Neon Laser, Bell, 1962 What the lab really looked like Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 24 Neodymium lasers Nd:Ca-tungstate, pulsed then CW L. F. Johnson and Kurt Nassau, Bell 1961 Nd:glass 1961 Elias Snitzer, American Optical Nd:YAG, 1964 Joseph E. Geusic, L. G. Van Uitert, Bell Snitzer 1964 made coiled fiber amplifier to place on linear lamp Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 25 Semiconductor diode lasers Robert Hall et al, GE R&D Labs 1962 Homostructure GaAs diode laser Pulsed and cryogenically cooled Fenner, Hall and Kingsley Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 26 Kumar Patel, CO2 laser, Bell Labs, 1964 1967 photo, higher power CO2 Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 27 Bill Bridges, Ar-Ion Laser, Hughes 1964 Developed CW with Gene Gordon, Ed Labuda, Bell Labs 1969 photo Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 28 Rare-gas halide "excimer" lasers-mid 1970s Stuart Searles, Gary Hart, Nick Djeu NRL J. J. Ewing and Charles Brau, Avco Everett Earl Ault, Mani Bhaumik, Northrop Gary Tisone and A.K. Hays, Sandia Tisone and Hays ArF e-beam pump Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 29 John Madey, 1970s, free-electron lasers – Stanford Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 30 First wave of small companies TRG, defense research Trion Instruments, ruby lasers Ann Arbor, spinoff of U of Michigan Korad, ruby lasers Maiman, spinoff of Hughes Spectra-Physics, helium-neon Silicon valley, spinoff of Varian Optics Technology, ruby, He-Ne Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 31 Hughes Aircraft – copies of Maiman's Raytheon – industrial lasers American Optical - glass lasers RCA – gas, diodes Perkin-Elmer (He-Ne with Spectra) Martin-Marietta General Electric (mostly research) IBM (mostly research) Westinghouse (mostly research) Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 32 July 7, 1960 Hughes press conference Increasing number of available communications channels – fiber optics True amplification of light – fiber amplifiers Probing matter for basic research - many Concentrating light for industry, chemistry and medicine – many examples High-power beams for space communications – not there yet Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 33 "A solution looking for a problem." Irnee D'Haenens, assistant to Ted Maiman Pulsed ruby lasers Non-contact materials working, hole drilling Dermatology, ophthalmology (detached retina) CW helium-neon lasers Measurement and alignment Communications, information processing Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 34 3D Holography Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks 1964 Courtesy Juris Upatnieks Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 35 Diode lasers Ranging Directly modulated communications CO2 lasers CW cutting Laser surgery Ion lasers Visible displays, UV sources, info-tech Neodymium lasers Metal working, CW or higher rep rate Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 36 Laser Light Shows and Displays Laserium Courtesy of Ivan Dryer Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 37 Government: $150 million Military equipment (rangefinder/designators) 'Energy' research (laser fusion, isotopes) Other (R&D, equipment) Civilian: $120 million Industrial Measurement Medicine Information handling Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 38 Emerging applications 1975 Inside a supermarket scanner Auto underbody welding @ Ford Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 39 From fusion to fiber LLNL Argus Laser 1976 Early fiber system 1979 Hecht - Maiman and 50 years of lasers 40 Laser videodisk MCA, Philips, Thomson-CSF 12-inch disk, one hour per side He-Ne player (cheap mass-produced tubes) Led to CDs, other optical disks Supermarket scanners UPC recently adopted Printed bar codes He-Ne reader in checkout counter Slowed by safety concerns, economy
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