Brief History of Lasers

History of Lasers:

The concept of “Semiconductor optical maser” was proposed by a Japanese engineer Jun-ichi Nishiwaza in April 1957. That same year, Charles Hard Townes and Arthur Leonard Shallow at Bell Labs began a serious study of infrared «optical masers». As ideas developed, they gave up on infrared radiation, instead of focusing on visible light. In the year 1958, a patent application was filed by the Bell Labs for their proposed optical maser; and Townes and Schawlow submitted a manuscript of the theoretical calculations they have done for the physical review that was published in 1958.

During that time only, a graduate student of Gordan Gould at Columbia University was researching on a Doctoral thesis about the energy levels of excited thallium. When Gould and Townes met, they talked of radiation emissions as a common theme; Later, in November 1957, Gould noted his ideas for a «laser», which involved using an open resonator (later an essential laser-device component). Furthermore, Prokhorov in 1958 solely proposed with the help of an open resonator, the first published of this idea. Meanwhile, Shallow and Towns had decided on an open-resonator laser design — apparently unaware of Prokhorov’s publications and Gould’s unpublished laser work.

It’s naming

Gould’s tried to use different versions or acronyms of ‘-ASER’ for different parts of the spectrum “UVASER” for ultraviolet rays, “XASER” for x-rays, etc. In the end, “LASER” was selected as the generic term for non-microwave devices. Gould’s notes proposed that the application of laser could be done in many fields including interferometry, spectrometry, nuclear fusion, and radar. He continued to develop the idea and filed a patent application in April 1959. The US Patent Office rejected his application and granted a patent to Bell Labs in 1960. This impelled a 28-year lawsuit that features scientific prestige and money as the stakes. Gould won his first minor patent in 1977, yet did not win the first significant patent lawsuit until 1987 when a federal judge ordered the U.S. Patent Office to issue patents to Gould for alternatively pumped and gas discharge laser devices ordered. There are different optical lense types available in the market. These types are used to manufacture laser optics windows and lasers co2.

In 1960, May 16, the first functioning laser was operated by Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories, Malibu, California, leaving behind several research teams, including those of Townes, at Columbia University, Arthur Schawlow, at Bell Labs, and Gould at the TRG (Technical Research Group) company.