Beam The Race To Make The Laser

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN 13 : 0195142101
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Beam written by Jeff Hecht and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2005-03-10 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prologue: May 16, 1960, Malibu, California. 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.

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher : Jeff Hecht
ISBN 13 : 0306415461
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Beam Weapons written by Jeff Hecht and published by Jeff Hecht. This book was released on 1984-03-31 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beam Weapons examines the directed-energy weapons that became a central part of the Reagan Administration's Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as "Star Wars." First published in 1984, it describes the science and technology behind directed energy weapons, the state of the art at the time Reagan launched the program, and the military issues involved. The first full-length book published on the topic, it exhaustively documents the technical and military realities and uncertainties.

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199755728
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.21/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Beam : The Race to Make the Laser written by Jeff Hecht and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005-02-11 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 using light 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 into the 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 Ted Maiman 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 ruby laser 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 : Rob Herber
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030257371
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Nico Bloembergen written by Rob Herber and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-25 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography is a personal portrait of one of the best-known Dutch physicists, Nicolaas Bloembergen. Born in 1920 in Dordrecht, Bloembergen studied physics in Utrecht, leaving after World War II for the United States, where he became an American citizen in 1958. At Harvard University, he pioneered nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR, used in chemistry and biology for structure identification; moreover leading to MRI), laser theory and nonlinear optics. In 1978 he was awarded the Lorentz Medal for his contribution to the theory of nonlinear optics (used in fiber optics), and in 1981 he received the Nobel Prize for physics, along with Arthur Schawlow and Kai Siegbahn. The book is based on numerous conversations with Nicolaas Bloembergen himself, his wife Deli Brink, his family, and colleagues in science. It describes his childhood and study in Bilthoven and Utrecht, the first postwar years at Harvard, the discoveries of masers and lasers, and the award of the Nobel Prize. It also delves into Bloembergen's involvement in American politics, particularly his role in Ronald Reagan's controversial "Star Wars" program.

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 1633884600
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long, Strange Quest for the Ultimate Weapon written by Jeff Hecht and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The whole story of laser weapons with a focus on its many interesting characters and sometimes bizarre schemes The laser--a milestone invention of the mid-twentieth century--quickly captured the imagination of the Pentagon as the key to the ultimate weapon. Veteran science writer Jeff Hecht tells the inside story of the adventures and misadventures of scientists and military strategists as they exerted Herculean though often futile efforts to adapt the laser for military uses. From the 1950s' sci-fi vision of the death ray, through the Reagan administration's Star Wars missile defense system, to more promising developments today, Hecht provides an entertaining history. As the author illustrates, there has always been a great deal of enthusiasm and false starts surrounding lasers. He describes a giant laser that filled a Boeing 747, lasers powered like rocket engines, plans for an orbiting fleet of robotic laser battle stations to destroy nuclear missiles, claims that nuclear bombs could produce intense X-ray laser beams, and a scheme to bounce laser beams off giant orbiting relay mirrors. Those far-out ideas remain science fiction. Meanwhile, in civilian sectors, the laser is already being successfully used in fiber optic cables, scanners, medical devices, and industrial cutting tools. Now those laser cutting tools are leading to a new generation of laser weapons that just might stop insurgent rockets. Replete with interesting characters, bizarre schemes, and wonderful inventions, this is a well-told tale about the evolution of technology and the reaches of human ambition.

Author : Simon Hooker
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192649728
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Laser Physics written by Simon Hooker and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-08-05 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the interaction of radiation and matter, and the principles of laser operation are treated at a level suitable for fourth-year undergraduate courses or introductory graduate courses in physics, chemistry or engineering. The factors which determine efficiency, wavelength coverage, output power, and beam quality of the different classes of laser are treated both in terms of fundamental theory and practical construction aspects. Details of established types of solid-state, semiconductor, and gas lasers are examined together with the techniques that enable their output to be converted widely across the spectrum. The latest advances in high power fibre lasers, femtosecond lasers, and X-ray lasers are explained. The text is liberally illustrated with more than 300 diagrams. An extensive bibliography is provided, together with numerical problems in each chapter. Solutions are available via the web.

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119310660
Total Pages : 608 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Understanding Lasers written by Jeff Hecht and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-11-27 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The expanded fourth edition of the book that offers an essential introduction to laser technology and the newest developments in the field The revised and updated fourth edition of Understanding Lasers offers an essential guide and introduction that explores how lasers work, what they do, and how they are applied in the real world. The author—a Fellow of The Optical Society—reviews the key concepts of physics and optics that are essential for understanding lasers and explains how lasers operate. The book also contains information on the optical accessories used with lasers. Written in non-technical terms, the book gives an overview of the wide-variety laser types and configurations. Understanding Lasers covers fiber, solid-state, excimer, helium-neon, carbon dioxide, free-electron lasers, and more. In addition, the book also explains concepts such as the difference between laser oscillation and amplification, the importance of laser gain, and tunable lasers. The updated fourth edition highlights the most recent research and development in the field. This important resource: Includes a new chapter on fiber lasers and amplifiers Reviews new topics on physics of optical fibers and fiber lasers, disk lasers, and Ytterbium lasers Contains new sections on Laser Geometry and Implications, Diode Laser Structures, Optimal Parametric Sources, and 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Puts the focus on research and emerging developments in areas such as spectroscopy, slow light, laser cooling, and extremely precise measurements Contains appendices, glossary, and index that help make this book a useful reference Written for engineering and physics students, engineers, scientists, and technicians, the fourth edition of Understanding Lasers contains the basic concepts of lasers and the most recent advances in the technology.

Author : Stephen R. Wilk
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199948011
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book How the Ray Gun Got Its Zap written by Stephen R. Wilk and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of engaging essays that discusses odd and unusual topics in optics

Author : Theodore H. Maiman
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319619403
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Laser Inventor written by Theodore H. Maiman and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-12-21 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these engaging memoirs of a maverick, Theodore H. Maiman describes the life events leading to his invention of the laser in 1960. Maiman succeeded using his expertise in physics and engineering along with an ingenious and elegant design not anticipated by others. His pink ruby laser produced mankind’s first-ever coherent light and has provided transformational technology for commerce, industry, telecom, the Internet, medicine, and all the sciences. Maiman also chronicles the resistance from his employer and the ongoing intrigue by competing researchers in industry and academia seeking to diminish his contribution in inventing the first laser. This work will appeal to a wide readership, from physicists and engineers through science enthusiasts to general readers. The volume includes extensive photos and documentary materials related to Maiman’s life and accomplishments never before published. "No one beat Maiman to the laser. How important is the laser? How important are all lasers? That is how important we have to regard Maiman’s contribution.He and the laser changed all of our lives, everyone’s!"Dr. Nick Holonyak, Jr., Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics, University of Illinois at Champaigne-Urbana, and inventor of the light-emitting diode (LED) and co-inventor of the transistor laser "More than five decades later, we can safely conclude that Theodore Maiman's groundbreaking discovery changed the world. Our modern life just as scientific research would be quite different without the laser."Dr. Ferenc Krausz, Director, Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany, and Professor of Physics, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, and pioneer in attosecond lasers and attophysics "Maiman had the stroke of genius needed to take a different approach [from his competitors]. The sheer elegance and simplicity of his design belies the intellectual achievement it represents. If his invention seems obvious to some today, it was far from obvious in 1960."Jeff Hecht, authoritative science writer on the historical development of the laser, author of books on lasers and fiber optics

Author : Climério Paulo da Silva Neto
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031297970
Total Pages : 78 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Materializing the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics written by Climério Paulo da Silva Neto and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-05-24 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a history of the instrumentation used to materialize the early thought experiments devised in the Einstein-Bohr disputes over the foundations of quantum mechanics. It shows how the second world war and cold war fostered the development of materials, instruments, and systems that made it possible to create, manipulate, and detect single quantum systems, thus creating the material conditions for experiments in foundations of quantum mechanics and for a broad spectrum of experimental inquiries on the structure and properties of matter which underlay the creation of new research fields such as quantum optics, quantum information, and atomic, molecular, and optical physics. Discussing research and development performed in diverse contexts, this book reveals how physicists carried instruments, and the knowledge they embodied, through disciplinary and geographic frontiers to probe entanglement, a most intriguing feature of the quantum world.