Principles of the Optical Maser - How laser work

[turbohead]

I was browsing Youtube for laser videos and came across one from the AT&T archives. I search PL and does and it does not appears to have been posted before.

Since we are all laser addicts, I think it is important to understand how a laser works. This video (although a bit long) provides a very good explanation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuORqMb481k

or

http://techchannel.att.com/play-vide...-Optical-Maser

Enjoy!

[kitatit]

Hi turbohead,

thanks for posting that It was quiet interesting.

I love the way they present stuff in that era.

"Once again, science saves the day, Harrah!"

Cheers
Kit

[Jem]

Excellent video, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Thanks for posting

[White-Light]

I wonder if the early scientists were all dyslexic? Maser instead of laser.

Interesting video though.

[Jem]

MASER = Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

LASER = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

Edit: Found a couple of Wiki links...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maser

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser

[RonZ]

MASER = Molecular Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

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Hey Jem, not trying to be a nit picky pain, but the M in maser stands for microwave (not molecular). Best, Ron.

[Jem]

Indeed it does Ron, well spotted

[Eidetic]

The "M" stands for microwave, but in the first year after Maiman's first one, Bell Labs continued to insist on the phrase "optical maser" to describe it. To justify their position and to further dismiss Gordon Gould's claim of priority on the invention and his use of the term "laser", it was suggested they use the word "molecular" to broaden the meaning of the acronym to encompass visible wavelength devices. It didn't work. Pink ruby did.

[Vidal Wolf]

I would be really interested in seeing one of the original ammonia masers. Ive seen pictures of several of them in old books. Thats science!

[dnar]

The 1960's called, they want their film format back.

Thanks for sharing.