Beam: The Race to Make the Laser

by Jeff Hecht

Overview

While some researchers sought fame and prestige at their Bell Telephone laboratory, others worked in secret on a military contract, and still others, basically one pair of decidedly dark horses, toiled on an heretical idea in a small space at Hughes Research Laboratories. When the right light finally appeared to the pair at Hughes, pulsing red at a rate even the one who was color-blind could dimly see, they knew they had the first ruby laser; what is more, they had it on their first try. It was 1960, and theirs was the culmination of years of theoretical and applied research. Journalist Hecht describes these very different paths leading to the laser, the people in the teams and their approaches, the debates between and amidst teams, and the fight for the two dark horses to get recognition. Hecht includes a number of period photographs. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195142105
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	12/24/2004
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jeff Hecht has been writing about lasers and optics for thirty-five years. A correspondent for New Scientist and a contributing editor to Laser Focus World, his books include: City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics (OUP, 1999; expanded and revised edition 2004), Understanding Lasers: An Entry-Level Guide (2008), Understanding Fiber Optics (2005), Laser: Light of a Million Uses (1998), Laser Pioneers (1992), Optics: Light for a New Age (1988), and The Laser Guidebook (1991). His web site is www.jeffhecht.com.

Table of Contents

Preface
Prologue

1. The Laser Race
2. Microwaves Are the First Step
3. Leaping a Few Orders of Magnitude: The Optical Maser
4. The Outsider's Invention: The Laser
5. Bell Labs Takes the Early Lead
6. Stimulating the Emission of Money
7. A Spreading Interest in the Laser Idea
8. A Pause to Compare Notes
9. A Dark Horse Joins the Race
10. "Everybody Knew It Was Going to Happen Within Months"--Bell Labs Feels Safely in the Lead
11. A Crash Program at "Pipsqueak Inc."
12. The Siren Call of the Laser
13. The Critical Question of Efficiency
14. An Idea Simpler in Theory than in Practice
15. Triumph in the Palace of Science
16. An Unexpected Struggle for Acceptance
17. "We Were Astounded"--A Stunned Reaction
18. Runners-Up Cross the Finish Line
19. Epilogue

Dramatis Personae
Sources
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Hecht tells the story of the several competing laboratories that were attempting in the late 1950s to use the phenomenon of simulated emisson to produce a coherent and monochromatic light source. The story is interesting in its own right, both to physicists and engineers interested in the intellectual climate of the time and to the general public as an example of excitement and competition within the scientific community."—CHOICE

From the Publisher