Beam: The Race to Make the LaserOxford University Press, 2005. gada 10. marts - 288 lappuses 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. |
Saturs
3 | |
7 | |
19 | |
THE OPTICAL MASER | 33 |
THE LASER | 46 |
5 BELL LABS TAKES THE EARLY LEAD | 60 |
6 STIMULATING THE EMISSION OF MONEY | 73 |
7 A SPREADING INTEREST IN THE LASER IDEA | 83 |
13 THE CRITICAL QUESTION OF EFFICIENCY | 147 |
14 AN IDEA SIMPLER IN THEORY THAN IN PRACTICE | 158 |
15 TRIUMPH IN THE PALACE OF SCIENCE | 169 |
16 AN UNEXPECTED STRUGGLE FOR ACCEPTANCE | 183 |
17 WE WERE ASTOUNDED A STUNNED REACTION | 195 |
18 RUNNERSUP CROSS THE FINISH LINE | 209 |
I 9 EPILOGUE | 221 |
DRAMATIS PERSONAE | 237 |
8 A PAUSE TO COMPARE NOTES | 94 |
9 A DARK HORSE JOINS THE RACE | 106 |
10 EVERYBODY KNEW IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN WITHIN MONTHS BELL LABS FEELS SAFELY IN THE LEAD | 116 |
I I A CRASH PROGRAM AT PIPSQUEAK INC | 127 |
12 THE SIREN CALL OF THE LASER | 140 |
SOURCES | 241 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 259 |
INDEX | 267 |
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Beam : The Race to Make the Laser: The Race to Make the Laser Jeff Hecht Ierobežota priekšskatīšana - 2005 |
Bieži izmantoti vārdi un frāzes
Abella absorbed Ali Javan amplifier Asawa atomic clock Basov Bell Labs Bell's Bennett bounce back bright cavity cesium Charles Townes chromium atoms clearance Columbia D'Haenens Daly developed e-mail electric energy levels excite atoms experiments Fabrikant flashlamp frequency Goldmuntz Gordon Gould Goudsmit helium and neon helium-neon laser Herriott Hughes Research idea infrared Irwin Wieder Javan Journal knew laboratory lamp laser beam laser project laser race light source looked lower laser level Lyons measure microwave maser microwave spectroscopy military mirrors molecules Nicolaas Bloembergen optical maser optical pumping oscillator oscilloscope paper patent photon Physical Review Letters physicist pink ruby population inversion potassium vapor problem produce a population Prokhorov pulses Quantum Electronics Rabinowitz radio red ruby resonant ruby crystal ruby laser ruby rod Sanders Schawlow and Townes scientists Shawanga Lodge solid solid-state Sorokin Soviet spectroscopy spontaneous emission stimulated emission talk telephone interview Townes's TRG's tube wavelengths waves Willis Lamb