The 50th anniversary of the laser has stimulated worldwide interest in the history of quantum electronics. This special collection, “Beginning of the Laser Era in the USSR,” presents early Soviet pioneering works that had a significant impact on laser science and quantum electronics. Several of the papers have never been published in English and were not generally available outside the USSR.
via Optics InfoBase – Laser Era in the USSR: LaserFest.
OSA has put a collection of early USSR papers on lasers online.
May 8th, 2010 issue of Science News has several articles on lasers, since May 16th, the 50th anniversary of the invention of laser is approaching.
1. Inventing the Light Fantastic
The history of the laser: An idea that began with Albert Einstein inspired a race to create a special beam of light that has since infiltrated numerous aspects of everyday life. (p. 18)
2. Lasing Beyond Light
Laser physicists have set their sights on new types of waves — manufacturing beams of sound, creating plasma swells and looking for ripples in spacetime. (p. 28)
3. Laser pioneer reflects on making Einstein’s idea real
Science News reporter Ron Cowen's Q&A with Nobel laureate and laser-technology pioneer Charles Townes. (p. 36)
Recommend to read.
They also published a flash version of timeline of the laser.
Physicist Dr. Theodore Maiman created the first-working laser in 1960 while at what was then Hughes Research Laboratories. Now called HRL Laboratories, LLC, it has been named a Physics Historical Site.
via Malibu Times
