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From Masers to Lasers in Space — and at the Cinema!

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Well beyond its first successful demonstration in 1960, the laser has found its way into applications that are the stuff of Hollywood movies — and into the movie theater, too.

JUSTINE MURPHY, SENIOR EDITOR, [email protected]

Sixty years ago, physicists Charles Hard Townes, James P. Gordon and H.J. Zeiger demonstrated the maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation). It wasn’t long before Townes and fellow physicist Arthur Schawlow proved that masers could be made to operate in the visible and infrared regions. Around the same time, research by Gordon Gould, then a graduate student at Columbia University, found that a concentrated beam of light could push technology beyond the maser, and coined his concept the laser — for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation....Read full article

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    Published: October 2016
    Glossary
    astronomy
    The scientific observation of celestial radiation that has reached the vicinity of Earth, and the interpretation of these observations to determine the characteristics of the extraterrestrial bodies and phenomena that have emitted the radiation.
    maser
    An acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Predecessor to the laser, the maser or 'microwave laser' was the first device to produce coherent electromagnetic waves, and was done at microwave frequencies through amplification by stimulated emission. A laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is a maser that works over a broader range of higher frequency photons in the ultraviolet and visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
    astronomyCharles Hard Townessemiconductor lasersJames P. GordonH.J. Zeigermasermicrowave amplification by stimulated emission of radiationArthur SchawlowGordon GouldTheodore H. MaimanLaserslight amplification by stimulated emission of radiationNASAlaser frequency combsaerospaceMax Planck Institute of Quantum OpticsInstitute for Solar PhysicsUniversity Observatory Munichsolarexoplanetslunar laser communication demonstrationLLCDLunar Atmosphere Environment ExplorerLADEEDeep Space NetworkDSNFrancesco MarsiliJet Propulsion LaboratoryBall AerospaceDefense Research and DevelopmentCanada–ValcartierDRDCAir Force Special Operations CommanddefenseAC-130W gunshipWi-FiKing Abdullah University of Science & TechnologyKAUSTvisible light communicationVLCLEDsDolby LaboratoriesDolby Vision Cinema Laser ProjectorDisplaysLasers Special Section

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