Lessons learned -The laser from theory to practice

摘要

In September 1959, Theodore Maiman attended the first International Quantum Electronics Conference topresent a paper describing an exceptionally compact microwave-emitting ruby maser he had developed at theHughes Research Laboratories. On May 16, 1960 he succeeded in demonstrating the first working laser, alsousing ruby, a historic breakthrough that stunned others trying to develop a working laser. Maiman's success,described in my book Beam: The Race to Make the Laser (Oxford, 2005) teaches some important lessons intaking on challenging optical tasks.