Laser pointers

Lasers

By royw

  • Basov Talk About Maser

    Basov Talk About Maser
    Weber's principles are once again detailed by Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov from Lebedev Institute of Physics at an All-Union Conference on Radio-Spectroscopy held by the USSR of Academy of Sciences.

  • Weber's Talk About Maser

    Weber's Talk About Maser
    The principles behind the maser are first detailed by Joseph Weber (From the University of Maryland, College Park) at the Electron Tube Research Conference in Ottawa.

  • Summary of Joseph Weber's Talk

    Summary of Joseph Weber's Talk
    A summary is posted in Transactions of the Institute of Radio Engineers Professional Group on Electron Devices later in June.

  • First Ammonia Maser

    First Ammonia Maser
    Charles H. Townes, James P. Gordon, and H. J. Zeiger build the first ammonia maser at Columbia University

  • Summary of Basov's Talk

    Summary of Basov's Talk
    A summary of Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov's talk is published.

  • Concept of Optical Maser Introduced

    Concept of Optical Maser Introduced
    Japanese engineer Jun-ichi Nishizawa proposes concept of a "semiconductor optical maser" in a patent application.

  • Patent for Laser, Manuscript of Calculations

    Patent for Laser, Manuscript of Calculations
    Bell Labs files a patent for a proposed optical maser, alongside the publication of the theoretical calculations of said device in "Physical Review."
  • Period: to

    Gould Files for Patent for Laser

    Gordon Gould files a patent application for his laser idea, which is denied by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and instead awarded to Bell Labs. This begins a 28 year lawsuit. Gould eventually won his first major patent in the form of an optically pumped and gas discharge lasers.

  • First Laser

    First Laser
    Using Townes' ammonia maser, Theodore H. Maiman builds the first working model of an optical maser, or laser.

  • First Gas Laser Operation

    First Gas Laser Operation
    Iranian physicist Ali Javan, along with William R. Bennet and Donald R. Harriott, constructed and operated the first gas laser. It used helium and neon to create a continuous beam of infrared light. Javan would later recieve and Albert Einstein World Award of Science in 1993.

  • First Laser Operation

    First Laser Operation
    Theodore H. Maiman operates the first ever functioning laser at Hughes Laboritories in Malibu, California. He was ahead of many teams, including Townes at Columbia University, Arthur L. Schawlow at Bell Labs, and Gould at the Technical Research Group company. This laser emitted a laser using a synthetic ruby crystal to make red laser light. Although it was only able to produce a strobe light due to its inner mechanism.

  • First Laser Diode

    First Laser Diode
    Based on a proposition from Basov and Javan, Robert N. Hall would demonstrate the first laser diode, made of gallium arsenide. It emitted a laser in the near-infrared wavelength.

  • First Fully Working Semiconductor Laser

    First Fully Working Semiconductor Laser
    Based on the semiconductor laser model by Nick Holonyak Jr. in 1962, Zhores Alferov (USSR), Izuo Hayashi, and Morton Panish (Bell Labs) would make the first semiconductor laser that would produce a continuous beam, alongside it no longer having to be cooled by liquid nitrogen, instead being able to be operated at room temperature.