Editing Laser science

{{Short description|Branch of optics}}
{{Redirect|Laser physics|the journal|Laser Physics (journal)}}
[[File:Military laser experiment.jpg|thumb|250px|A laser experiment on an [[optical table]]]]
[[File:Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.jpg|thumb|250px|Laser modules (bottom to top: 405, 445, 520, 532, 635, and 660&nbsp;nm)]]
'''Laser science''' or '''laser physics''' is a branch of [[optics]] that describes the theory and practice of [[laser]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Travis S. |title=Introduction to laser science and engineering |date=2020 |publisher=CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=978-1-138-03639-0 |edition=1st |location=Boca Raton London New York}}</ref>

Laser science is principally concerned with [[quantum electronics]], [[laser construction]], [[optical cavity]] design, the physics of producing a [[population inversion]] in [[active laser medium|laser media]], and the temporal evolution of the light field in the laser. It is also concerned with the physics of laser beam propagation, particularly the physics of [[Gaussian beam]]s, with [[laser applications]], and with associated fields such as [[nonlinear optics]] and [[quantum optics]].

==History==
{{See also|Laser}}
Laser science predates the invention of the laser itself. [[Albert Einstein]] created the foundations for the laser and [[maser]] in 1917, via a paper in which he re-derived [[Max Planck]]’s law of radiation using a formalism based on probability coefficients ([[Einstein coefficients]]) for the [[Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)|absorption]], [[spontaneous emission]], and [[stimulated emission]] of electromagnetic radiation.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Albert |last=Einstein |title=Zur Quantentheorie der Strahlung |trans-title=On the Quantum Theory of Radiation|language=de |year=1917}}</ref> The existence of stimulated emission was confirmed in 1928 by [[Rudolf W. Ladenburg]].<ref name="Steen, W. M 1998">Steen, W. M. "Laser Materials Processing", 2nd Ed. 1998.</ref> In 1939, Valentin A. Fabrikant made the earliest laser proposal. He specified the conditions required for light amplification using stimulated emission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wwwold.unimib.it/ateneo/presentazione/direzione_ammva/prevenzione_protezione/Semin_sicur_laser.ppt |title=Il rischio da laser: cosa è e come affrontarlo; analisi di un problema non così lontano da noi |language=it |trans-title=The risk from laser: what it is and what it is like facing it; analysis of a problem which is thus not far away from us. |work=Programma Corso di Formazione Obbligatorio Anno 2004 |year=2004 |first=Dimitri |last=Batani |format=Powerpoint |access-date=January 1, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070614115935/http://wwwold.unimib.it/ateneo/presentazione/direzione_ammva/prevenzione_protezione/Semin_sicur_laser.ppt |archive-date = June 14, 2007}}</ref> In 1947, [[Willis E. Lamb]] and R. C. Retherford found apparent stimulated emission in hydrogen spectra and effected the first demonstration of stimulated emission;<ref name="Steen, W. M 1998"/> in 1950, [[Alfred Kastler]] (Nobel Prize for Physics 1966) proposed the method of [[optical pumping]], experimentally confirmed, two years later, by Brossel, Kastler, and Winter.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1966/press.html |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1966 |work=Presentation Speech by Professor Ivar Waller |access-date=October 17, 2010}}</ref>

The theoretical principles describing the operation of a microwave laser (a maser) were first described by [[Nikolay Basov]] and [[Alexander Prokhorov]] at the ''All-Union Conference on Radio Spectroscopy'' in May 1952. The first maser was built by [[Charles H. Townes]], [[James P. Gordon]], and [[Herbert J. Zeiger]] in 1953. Townes, Basov and Prokhorov were awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1964 for their research in the field of stimulated emission. [[Arthur Ashkin]], [[Gérard Mourou]], and [[Donna Strickland]] were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018 for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics.<ref name=N18>{{cite web | title = The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 | publisher = Nobel Foundation | url = https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/press-release/|access-date=2 October 2018}}</ref>

The first working laser (a pulsed [[ruby laser]]) was demonstrated on May 16, 1960, by [[Theodore Maiman]] at the [[Hughes Research Laboratories]].<ref>{{cite web |access-date=October 17, 2010 |url=http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/284158_townes.html |title=The first laser |publisher=[[University of Chicago]] |author=Townes, Charles Hard |author-link=Charles Hard Townes }}</ref>
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==See also==
*[[Laser acronyms]]
*[[List of laser types]]

<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Travis |title=Introduction to Laser Science and Engineering |date=20 August 2019 |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton |doi=10.1201/b22159 |isbn=9781315178561 |s2cid=201244143 |edition=1st |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/introduction-laser-science-engineering-travis-taylor/10.1201/b22159 |access-date=January 25, 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080614025123/http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/laserfaq.htm A very detailed tutorial on lasers]

{{Lasers}}
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[[Category:Laser science| ]]