Lasers

Figure 32 Artist’s rendering of sun-pumped laser as it would operate in space. The sun’s rays are collected by a parabolic reflector and are focused on the laser’s surface by two cylindrical mirrors.

Sun
Parabolic Collector
Hyperbolic-cylindric secondary mirror
Semi-circular-cylindric tertiary mirror
Laser beam

A LASER IN YOUR FUTURE?

Atomic energy, only a scientific dream a few short years ago, is now providing needed power in many parts of the world. In the same way, the laser, also an atomic phenomenon, has made its way out of the laboratory and into the fields of medicine, commerce, and industry. If it hasn’t touched your life as yet, you need only be patient. It will.

Indeed the most exciting probability of all is that lasers undoubtedly will change our lives in ways we cannot even conceive of now.

Figure 33 Tiny hole drilled in paper clip demonstrates remarkable capability of laser beam. Paper clip is 1¼ inches long. Hole (top) was drilled by the laser microwelder shown in Figure 1.

SUGGESTED REFERENCES

Books

ABC’s of Masers and Lasers, Allan H. Lytel, Howard W. Sams and Company, Inc., Publishers, Indianapolis, Indiana 46206, 1966, 96 pp., $2.25.
The Laser: Light That Never Was Before, Ben Patrusky, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York 10016, 1966, 128 pp., $3.50.
Masers and Lasers, Manfred Brotherton, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York 10036, 1964, 224 pp., $8.50.
Masers and Lasers, H. Arthur Klein, J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19105, 1963, 184 pp., $3.95.
The Story of the Laser, John M. Carroll, E. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., New York 10003, 1964, 181 pp., $3.95.
Quantum Electronics: The Fundamentals of Transistors and Lasers, John R. Pierce, Doubleday and Company, Inc., New York 10017, 1966, 138 pp., $1.25.
Lasers and Their Applications, Kurt R. Stehling, The World Publishing Company, Cleveland, Ohio 44102, 1966, 192 pp., $6.00.
Understanding Lasers and Masers, Stanley Leinwoll, Hayden Book Companies, New York 10011, 1964, 96 pp., $1.95.
Atomic Light: Lasers, Richard B. Nehrich, Jr., Glenn I. Voran, and Norman F. Dessel, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., New York 10016, 1967, 136 pp., $3.95.

Articles—General and Historical

Advances in Optical Masers, A. L. Schawlow, Scientific American, 209: 34 (July 1963).
The Evolution of the Physicist’s Picture of Matter, P. A. M. Dirac, Scientific American, 208: 45 (May 1963).
Filling in the Blanks in the Laser’s Spectrum, F. M. Johnson, Electronics, 39: 82 (April 18, 1966).
The Amateur Scientist—How a persevering amateur can build a gas laser in the home, C. L. Stong, Scientific American, 211: 227 (September 1964).
The Amateur Scientist—Homemade Laser, C. L. Stong, Scientific American, 213: 108 (December 1965).
The Amateur Scientist—How to make holograms and experiment with them or with ready-made holograms, C. L. Stong, Scientific American, 216: 122 (February 1967).
The Maser, James P. Gordon, Scientific American, 199: 42 (December 1958).
The Quantum Theory: Early Years to 1923, Karl Darrow, Scientific American, 186: 47 (March 1952).
Laser’s Bright Magic, T. Meloy, National Geographic Magazine, 130: 858 (December 1966).
Infrared and Optical Masers (original paper), A. L. Schawlow and C. H. Townes, Physical Review, 112: 1940 (December 15, 1958).
Laser Market Enters Era of Practicality, W. Mathews, Electronic News, 11: 1 (April 18, 1966).
Lasers, A. K. Levine, American Scientist, 51: 14 (March 1963).
Lasers, A. L. Schawlow, Science, 149: 13 (July 2, 1965).
Lasers and Coherent Light, A. L. Schawlow, Physics Today, 17: 28 (January 1964).
The Laser’s Dazzling Future, L. Lessing, Fortune, 67: 138 (June 1963).
Optical Masers, A. L. Schawlow, Scientific American, 204: 52 (June 1961).
Optical Pumping, A. L. Bloom, Scientific American, 202: 72 (October 1960).
Research on Maser-Laser Principle Wins Nobel Prize in Physics, J. P. Gordon, Science, 146: 897 (November 13, 1964).
Resource Letter MOP-1 on Masers (Microwave through Optical) and on Optical Pumping, H. W. Moos, American Journal of Physics, 32: 589 (August 1964), extensive bibliography. Available from American Institute of Physics, 335 East 45th Street, New York 10017. Enclose stamped return envelope.
Advances in Holography, K. S. Pennington, Scientific American, 218: 40 (February 1968).
Applications of Laser Light, D. R. Herriott, Scientific American, 219: 140 (September 1968).
Holography for the Sophomore Laboratory, R. H. Webb, American Journal of Physics, 36: 62 (January 1968).
Laser Light, A. L. Schawlow, Scientific American, 219: 120 (September 1968).
The Modulation of Laser Light, D. F. Nelson, Scientific American, 218: 17 (June 1968).

Articles—Special Subjects

Biological Effects of High Peak Power Radiation, S. Fine et al., Life Sciences, 3: 209 (1964).
The Interaction of Light with Light, J. A. Giordmaine, Scientific American, 210: 38 (April 1964).
Chemical Lasers, George C. Pimental, Scientific American, 214: 32 (April 1966).
Color Laser Stores Data, J. Eberhart, Science News, 90: 51 (July 23, 1966).
Communication by Laser, Stewart E. Miller, Scientific American, 214: 19 (January 1966).
Guidelines for Selecting Laser Materials, R. H. Hoskins, Electronic Design, 13: M29 (July 19, 1965).
Holography: The Picture Looks Good, J. Blum, Electronics, 39: 139 (April 18, 1966).
How Dangerous Are Lasers?, L. H. Dulberger, Electronics, 35: 27 (January 26, 1962).
Injection Lasers, R. W. Keyes, Industrial Research, 6: 46 (October 1964).
Laser Potential in Deep-Space Link Grows, B. Miller, Aviation Week and Space Technology, 84: 71 (January 31, 1966).
Laser Retinal Photocoagulator, N. S. Kapany et al., Applied Optics, 4: 517 (May 1965).
Laser Welding in Electronic Circuit Fabrication, J. P. Epperson, Electrical Design News (EDN), 10: 8 (October 1965).
The Light That Slices Inch into Millionths, (use of interferometry in industry), Steel, 158: 38 (February 28, 1966).
The Optical Heterodyne—Key to Advanced Space Signaling, S. Jacobs, Electronics, 36: 29 (July 12, 1963).
Photography by Laser, E. N. Leith and J. Upatnieks, Scientific American, 212: 24 (June 1965).
Liquid Lasers, Alexander Lempicki and Harold Samelson, Scientific American, 216: 81 (June 1967).
Plasma Experiments with a 570-kJ Theta-Pinch, F. C. Yahoda, et al., Journal of Applied Physics, 35: 2351 (August 1964).
A Sun-Pumped CW One-Watt Laser, C. G. Young, Applied Optics, 5: 993 (June 1966).
3-D Image Made at Home, Science News, 90: 185 (10 September 1966).
Scanning with Lasers, Robert A. Myers, International Science and Technology, 65: 40 (May 1967).

Booklets

Applications of Lasers to Information Handling, The Perkin-Elmer Corporation, Norwalk, Connecticut 06852, 1966, 32 pp., free. Reprint of five talks given by company personnel.
Laser Interferometer, Airborne Instruments Laboratory, Division of Cutler-Hammer, Inc., Deer Park, Long Island, New York 11729, 1965, 20 pp., free. Collection of article reprints.
Laser: The New Light, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07971, 19 pp., free. Full color, nontechnical brochure presents some background, principles, and applications of the laser.

Argon laser, which emits high-power blue-green beam continuously, has application in signal processing, communications, and spectroscopy. This unit is being beamed through prisms that separate its several discrete wavelengths of light, displayed on card at left foreground.

FOOTNOTES

[1]Sometimes referred to as hertz (abbreviated Hz), for the 19th Century German physicist Heinrich Hertz; 1000 Hz = 1000 cps.

[2]Devised in France and officially adopted there in 1799, the metric system uses the meter as the basic unit of length and has been proposed for all measurements in this country.

[3]Named for the Swedish physicist Anders J. Angstrom.

[4]The wavelength, indicated by the Greek letter λ (lambda) is related to frequency (f) in the proportion λ (in meters) = 300,000,000/f. (The number 300,000,000 is the velocity of light in meters per second.)

[5]Microwaves are radio waves with frequencies above 1000 megacycles per second.

[6]Ten to 30,000,000 kilocycles per second; this is low in the electromagnetic spectrum, but not low in terms of the radio spectrum, which has a low-frequency classification of its own.

[7]Primitive as early radios were by today’s standards, they brought a new era to communication at the time. Unmodulated CW (continuous wave) transmissions and crystal receivers were used to summon rescuers in the Titanic disaster of 1912, for example.

[8]Energy = h (Planck’s constant) × frequency. Planck’s constant is the energy of 1 quantum of radiation, and equals 6.62556 × 10⁻²⁷ erg-sec.

[9]Each photon carries 1 quantum of radiation energy, which is a unit equal to the product of the radiation frequency and Planck’s constant (see footnote page 15).

[10]Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his 1905 explanation of the photoelectric effect (in terms of quanta of energy) and not for his relativity theory.

[11]Einstein’s theoretical explanation applies in the case of stimulation of a single atom. In practical stimulation, directionality is enhanced by stimulating many atoms in phase.

[12]An atomic clock is a device that uses the extremely fast vibrations of molecules or atomic nuclei to measure time. These vibrations remain constant with time, consequently short intervals can be measured with much higher precision than by mechanical or electrical clocks.

[13]The 1966 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Prof. Alfred Kastler of the University of Paris for his research on optical pumping and studies on the energy levels of atoms.

[14]See Accelerators, a companion booklet in this series, for a full account of the Stanford “Atom Smasher”.

[15]For descriptions of fission and fusion processes, see Controlled Nuclear Fusion, Nuclear Reactors, and Nuclear Power Plants, other booklets in this series.

[16]A bit is a digit, or unit of information, in the binary (base-of-two) system used in electronic data transmission systems.

[17]See SNAP, Nuclear Space Reactors and Power from Radioisotopes, other booklets in this series, for descriptions of nuclear sources of power for space.

This booklet is one of the “Understanding the Atom” Series. Comments are invited on this booklet and others in the series; please send them to the Division of Technical Information, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D. C. 20545.

Published as part of the AEC’s educational assistance program, the series includes these titles:

Accelerators

Animals in Atomic Research

Atomic Fuel

Atomic Power Safety

Atoms at the Science Fair

Atoms in Agriculture

Atoms, Nature, and Man

Books on Atomic Energy for Adults and Children

Careers in Atomic Energy

Computers

Controlled Nuclear Fusion

Cryogenics, The Uncommon Cold

Direct Conversion of Energy

Fallout From Nuclear Tests

Food Preservation by Irradiation

Genetic Effects of Radiation

Index to the UAS Series

Lasers

Microstructure of Matter

Neutron Activation Analysis

Nondestructive Testing

Nuclear Clocks

Nuclear Energy for Desalting

Nuclear Power and Merchant Shipping

Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear Propulsion for Space

Nuclear Reactors

Nuclear Terms, A Brief Glossary

Our Atomic World

Plowshare

Plutonium

Power from Radioisotopes

Power Reactors in Small Packages

Radioactive Wastes

Radioisotopes and Life Processes

Radioisotopes in Industry

Radioisotopes in Medicine

Rare Earths

Research Reactors

SNAP, Nuclear Space Reactors

Sources of Nuclear Fuel

Space Radiation

Spectroscopy

Synthetic Transuranium Elements

The Atom and the Ocean

The Chemistry of the Noble Gases

The Elusive Neutrino

The First Reactor

The Natural Radiation Environment

Whole Body Counters

Your Body and Radiation

A single copy of any one booklet, or of no more than three different booklets, may be obtained free by writing to:

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Transcriber’s Notes

Silently corrected a few typos.
Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.
In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.