Advancing the Laser: 50 Years and Into the Future

• "Green light allows big pictures from small projectors," by Vikram Ghatia, et al. SPIE Newsroom, 1 March 2010. Green-laser technology can provide bright, efficient, and high-resolution microprojector products with minimal power consumption for portable devices.

• "Blue and IR alkali lasers pumped by multiphoton absorption," by Glen Perram, et al., SPIE Newsroom, 24 February 2010. Red pumping produces both blue and mid-IR beams without resonator or thermal load, offering enhanced underwater communication and blinding heat-seeking missiles.

• "The CO₂ laser: the workhorse of the laser material processing industry," by Anthony DeMaria and Thomas Hennessey, January 2010. Since Ted Maiman's creation of the first working laser nearly 50 years ago, the laser material processing market has grown, and the CO₂ laser, which will be 46 years old this year, has captured the largest portion of that market. A summary of CO₂ laser technology and a guide to choosing the best type of CO₂laser.

Celebrate and salute!

Starting with the exciting "Cirque du Lasaire" reception held at SPIE Photonics West in January, SPIE is celebrating laser advances at events throughout the year. Observances include photo displays recognizing and honoring those who have moved the technology forward, exhibits of vintage laser gear, special panels and speakers, laser light shows, and other events. Celebrate the laser with SPIE at:

• SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing in Orlando, Florida, 5-9 April
• SPIE Photonics Europe in Brussels, Belgium, 12-16 April
• SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation in San Diego, California, 27 June - 2 July
• SPIE Optics + Photonics in August, both in San Diego, California.

Open access to technical articles and features on laser technology

• SPIE Newsroom technical articles, videos, and podcasts on new research; subscribe to email alerts about new content.

• Selected SPIE Digital Library papers on laser advances, from more than 75,000 laser-technology publications in SPIE conference proceedings and journals.

• SPIE Professional feature articles on laser history and future prospects, and archival interviews with laser luminaries from
  other SPIE member publications.

• eBook chapters from SPIE Press books on laser technology; stay current with email updates on new monographs, handbooks, and other publications, or browse the list of SPIE Lasers + Sources publications.
  

Free posters and DVDs for students and educators

• New poster: "Lasers: Illuminating the Future"
  The laser's many uses stem from its unique properties. Learn how lasers have transformed our world in many ways, with this informative poster.
  
  
• Poster: "Lasers: The Incredible Power of Light"
  Lasers solve a plethora of problems and have changed the face of research, medicine, communications, security, entertainment, and other aspects of life. Learn about laser varieties and technology with this informative poster.
  
  
• DVD: "Light in Action: Lasers, Cameras & Other Cool Stuff"
  Audience age: 9-11
  Kids showing kids that science can be fun and exciting and that advancements with light are all around them.
  View the Light in Action demonstrations:
     Pinhole camera experiment
     Bubble experiment
     Kaleidoscope experiment
  
  
• DVD:"Optics: Light at Work"
  Audience age: 12-13
  Real world applications of optics technology, as well as, examples of "cool" new technology such as nanomedicine, space telescopes, invisibility, and solar energy.

In their own words!

Follow the Advancing the Laser Video Series as new interviews are added throughout the golden anniversary year. New this week: Nobel Laureate Charles Townes reminisces about the formative years of the laser, and talks about new horizons in science.

Also in the series, Joe Schmitt, LightLab; Peter Leibinger, TRUMPF; author Jeff Hecht giving a virtual tour of the vintage laser equipment display at SPIE Photonics West; Theodore Maiman, in a 1983 video, on the birth of the laser; James Fujimoto, MIT; John Emmett, on laser development at LLNL; Frank Wise, Cornell Univ.; Leon Esterowitz, NSF; Joshua Bienfang, NIST; and R. Rox Anderson, Harvard Univ. Medical School.

View other recent video SPIE Newsroom features and interviews:

• New vistas in adaptive optics: laser guide star
• Yoel Fink, MIT: Imaging fabric and multimaterial fibers
• Ed Moses, NIF: The National Ignition Facility
• Robert Zawadzki, Univ. California, Davis: Imaging the eye
• Anthony Durkin, Beckman Laser Institute: Photonics for dermatology
• Paras Prasad, State Univ. of New York: Nanobiophotonics
• Fred Dylla, AIP: Free electron lasers
• Rüdiger Brockmann, TRUMPF: High-power disk lasers
• Harold Craighead, Cornell Univ.: Optically transduced MEMS/NEMS resonators
• Charles Townes, Univ. California Berkeley: Fun with science
• DARPA Urban Challenge: Robots' day in the sun
• Upendra Singh, NASA: Frontiers in lasers
• Claire Gmachl, Princeton Univ.: Quantum cascade lasers
• Andrew Brown, Aculight Corp.: Fiber lasers

Advancing the Laser efforts are supported by:

SPIE is a
Founding Partner and Sponsor
of LaserFest.

Through community-based events and programs, LaserFest is helping to showcase the
prominence of the laser in today's world.

SPIE has joined other LaserFest Founding Partners in funding grants for laser outreach in schools and communities.