Beam The Race to Make the Laser

by Hecht, Jeff

• ISBN13: 9780195142105
• ISBN10: 0195142101
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-03-10
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In 1954, Charles Townes invented the laser's microwave cousin, the maser. The next logical step was to extend the same physical principles to the shorter wavelengths of light, but the idea did not catch fire until October 1957, when Townes asked Gordon Gould about Gould's research on usinglight to excite thallium atoms. Each took the idea and ran with it. The independent-minded Gould sought the fortune of an independent inventor; the professorial Townes sought the fame of scientific recognition. Townes enlisted the help of his brother-in-law, Arthur Schawlow, and got Bell Labs intothe race. Gould turned his ideas into a patent application and a million-dollar defense contract. They soon had company. Ali Javan, one of Townes's former students, began pulling 90-hour weeks at Bell Labs with colleague Bill Bennett. And far away in California a bright young physicist named TedMaiman became a very dark horse in the race. While Schawlow proclaimed that ruby could never make a laser, Maiman slowly convinced himself it would. As others struggled with recalcitrant equipment and military secrecy, Maiman built a tiny and elegant device that fit in the palm of his hand. His rubylaser worked the first time he tried it, on May 16, 1960, but afterwards he had to battle for acceptance as the man who made the first laser. Beam is a fascinating tale of a remarkable and powerful invention that has become a symbol of modern technology.

Author Biography

Jeff Hecht met his first laser as a Caltech undergraduate in 1968, and took a while to figure out what it was good for. In his case, it was a lot of words--he's been writing about lasers and optics for the past thirty years. His books include City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics (OUP, 1999), Understanding Lasers (1994), Understanding Fiber Optics (2002), Laser: Light of a Million Uses (1998), Optics: Light for a New Age (1988), and The Laser Guidebook (1991). He is a correspondent for the weekly international magazine New Scientist.

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE: MAY 16, 1960, MALIBU, CALIFORNIA	3	(113)
1 THE LASER RACE	7	(12)
2 MICROWAVES ARE THE FIRST STEP	19	(14)
3 LEAPING A FEW ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE: THE OPTICAL MASER	33	(13)
4 THE OUTSIDER'S INVENTION: THE LASER	46	(14)
5 BELL LABS TAKES THE EARLY LEAD	60	(13)
6 STIMULATING THE EMISSION OF MONEY	73	(10)
7 A SPREADING INTEREST IN THE LASER IDEA	83	(11)
8 A PAUSE TO COMPARE NOTES	94	(12)
9 A DARK HORSE JOINS THE RACE	106	(10)
10 "EVERYBODY KNEW IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN WITHIN MONTHS"-BELL LABS FEELS SAFELY IN THE 'LEAD	116	(11)
11 A CRASH PROGRAM AT "PIPSQUEAK INC."	127	(13)
12 THE SIREN CALL OF THE LASER	140	(7)
13 THE CRITICAL QUESTION OF EFFICIENCY	147	(11)
14 AN IDEA SIMPLER IN THEORY THAN IN PRACTICE	158	(11)
15 TRIUMPH IN THE PALACE OF SCIENCE	169	(14)
16 AN UNEXPECTED STRUGGLE FOR ACCEPTANCE	183	(12)
17 "WE WERE ASTOUNDED"-A STUNNED REACTION	195	(14)
18 RUNNERS-UP CROSS THE FINISH LINE	209	(12)
19 EPILOGUE	221	(16)
DRAMATIS PERSONAE	237	(4)
SOURCES	241	(18)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	259	(8)
INDEX	267