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The laser works by the same principle as the maser, but produces higher-frequency coherent radiation at visible wavelengths. The maser was the precursor to the laser, inspiring theoretical work by Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow that led to the invention of the laser in 1960 by Theodore Maiman. When the coherent optical oscillator was first ...
Maiman had begun conceptualizing a solid-state laser design even before he undertook the maser project at Hughes. [ 5 ] : 45 [ 14 ] : 59 Moving the microwave frequency of masers up the electromagnetic spectrum 50,000-fold to the frequency of light would require finding a feasible lasing medium and excitation source and designing the system.
The first device using amplification by stimulated emission operated at microwave frequencies, and was called a maser, for "microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". [10] When similar optical devices were developed they were first called optical masers, until "microwave" was replaced by "light" in the acronym, to become laser.
In 1956, Gould proposed using optical pumping to excite a maser, and discussed this idea with the maser's inventor Charles Townes, who was also a professor at Columbia and later won the 1964 Nobel prize for his work on the maser and the laser. [9] Townes gave Gould advice on how to obtain a patent on his innovation, and agreed to act as a witness.
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Arthur Leonard Schawlow (May 5, 1921 – April 28, 1999) was an American physicist who, along with Charles Townes, developed the theoretical basis for laser science. His central insight was the use of two mirrors as the resonant cavity to take maser action from microwaves to visible wavelengths.
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