Celebrating 50 Years of Laser
- Instituet fuer Kernphysik, Forschungzentrum Karlsruhe (Germany)
When thinking of an innovation that has truly changed our world, it is the laser. Right after discovery back in 1960, it is immediately propelled to a public star. People loved the mystery around this new kind of light. It was soon recognized as a symbol of our entry into the future: The Laser Age has started. Newspapers speculated about ''death rays'' as new weapons. It did not take long time until it appeared in Science fiction movies. However reality was much more beneficial and even more diverse. This device has managed to exceed the wildest predictions of the early laser pioneers when it comes to its applications. Today lasers are not a weird scientist's toy, but are commonly used in our everyday life.Of course, nothing of that was foreseen in the early 1950s. Important fundamentals of lasers have been laid already in 1917 by Albert Einstein, introducing the Einstein coefficient of stimulated emission, and subsequent experimental work by Rudolf Ladenburg, Willis Lamb, Alfred Kastler and others.
- OSTI ID:
- 21506890
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1304, Issue 1; Conference: Carpathian summer school of physics - Exotic nuclei and nuclear/particle astrophysics (III): From nuclei to stars, Sinaia (Romania), 20 Jun - 3 Jul 2010; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3527251; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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EINSTEIN COEFFICIENTS
EQUIPMENT
EXCITED STATES
FORECASTING
GAS LASERS
POPULATION INVERSION
RANDOM PHASE APPROXIMATION
STIMULATED EMISSION
VISIBLE RADIATION
APPROXIMATIONS
CALCULATION METHODS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EMISSION
ENERGY LEVELS
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
LASERS
RADIATIONS