Avco-Everett Research Laboratory

Laser work at Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory (AFCRL) (Rudolph Bradbury); early work on ruby lasers (Charles H. Townes, John Howard); Department of Defense (DOD) high-energy laser program; Steve Harris and Anthony DeMaria; optical masers and phased array lasers; CO2 laser at Avco-Everett; reform of service laboratories (Peter Schweitzer), 1960s; laser color centers and pump light attenuation (application to rangefinders); interaction with Office of Naval Research; spinoffs of laser research. Laser damage studies at AFCRL (q-switching); instigated by Peter Avizonis and Art Guenther; Raman light (R. K. Chang), development of Optical Parametric Oscillators; simulated Brillouin scattering (George Wolga); tunable laser work (Tony Siegman, Steve Harris); Avco Gas Dynamic Laser (GDL); Erlan Bliss and Dave Milam; Stickley replaced by Howard Schlossberg; dispersion of laser damage group; transfer of laser glass and damage experience to DOE—Livermore. Stickley moves to Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); Glenn Sherwood, Maurice Sinnot, Ed Gerry, David Mann, Steve Lukasik; Laser Window Program; DARPA interdisciplinary materials science program; Chemical Laser Damage Program (J. A. Harrington). Joins the Department of Energy (DOE) and its laser fusion program; politics and recruitment; Lawrence Livermore Laboratory vs. Los Alamos National Laboratory; DOD vs. DOE laboratories. The Strategic Defense Initiative; Stickley moves to Battelle Memorial Institute.

Maser research at Hughes Research Laboratories. The laser; Maiman’s work; building a laser rangefinder; Q-switching; stimulated Raman scattering; other laser research. The impact of Sputnik and the Vietnam War on Hughes Aircraft Co. Procedures for selecting research projects.

Furumoto headed the laser development program for the Jersey Nuclear-AVCO Isotopes (JNAI) laser isotope separation project from 1972 on. Discussion of the original decision to use a linear-lamp-excited transverse flow dye laser; Charles Pike's injection-locked laser; how they increased the lifetimes and efficiencies of the flash lamps; how they determined some of the design parameters; how the vortex flashlamp dye laser program was terminated; the JNAI High Density Experiment; the movement of the project from AVCO-Everett Research Laboratory in Everett, Massachusetts, to Richmond, Washington. Also prominently mentioned are: Sargent Janes, Arthur Kantrowitz, Lawrence Levin, and Richard Levy.

Discussion of role as science advisor, mainly for JASON and the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC); the formation of JASON and PSAC; and work on other panels (governmental and non-governmental); relations with Congress; consultantships (AVCO and Convair). Family background, education; career at IBM (from 1952); Wallace Eckert; inventions (patents); publications.

Discussion of role as science advisor, mainly for JASON and the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC); the formation of JASON and PSAC; and work on other panels (governmental and non-governmental); relations with Congress; consultantships (AVCO and Convair). Family background, education; career at IBM (from 1952); Wallace Eckert; inventions (patents); publications.

Discussion of role as science advisor, mainly for JASON and the President's Science Advisory Committee (PSAC); the formation of JASON and PSAC; and work on other panels (governmental and non-governmental); relations with Congress; consultantships (AVCO and Convair). Family background, education; career at IBM (from 1952); Wallace Eckert; inventions (patents); publications.

Research and education, 1956 to ca. 1970. Establishment of the electromagnetics group at United Aircraft Research Center, 1958. Inauguration of laser research after the Schawlow-Townes paper appeared. Modulating laser output. Modelocking investigations. Laser work on fusion and gas-dynamic CO2 lasers by other United Technologies groups. Also prominently mentioned are: Nicolaas Bloembergen, Chap Cutler, Edward Danielson, Carl Feyrar, Fork, Bill Glenn, Steve Hanis, Logan E. Hargrove, Hans Heynau, Henry Hoadley, George Housemann, Ippen, Arthur Robert Kantrowitz, Wes Kuhrt, Willis E. Lamb, John Lee, Reiss Meyerand, Al Penny, Peter Persham, Pollack, Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Marlan Scully, Chuck Shank, Ben Snavely, Charles Hard Townes, Brian Tracy, Caspar Ultec, Hans Weber; Andersen Laboratories, Inc., Avco-Everett Research Laboratory, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Eastman Kodak Co., Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group, Office of Naval Research of United States Navy, and University of Connecticut.

Boyer, former head of the laser division at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, discusses the origins of the Los Alamos Laser Program, the influence of Air Force Weapons Laboratory (AFWL) High-energy Laser Program on his own program, the connection with his earlier nuclear rocket propulsion studies; Abraham Hertzberg’s proposal of the gas-dynamic laser concept and his visit to Los Alamos to discuss laser function. Los Alamos’s growing interest in laser fusion in the 1960s, their awareness of Ray Kidder’s work at Livermore, the three-pronged approach to laser fusion taken at Los Alamos, the development of interest in chemical lasers with AFWL support; in glass lasers; carbon dioxide laser fusion work; development of the electron-beam CO₂ laser and patent dispute with AVCO; the Division of Military Application interest in isotope separation and weapons simulation; comparison with the Livermore program; molecular isotope separation program at Los Alamos vs. Livermore and Exxon Nuclear exploration of the atomic vapor process; influence of Basov & Aleksandr Prokhorov’s work and others on Boyer’s group; technical problems of compressing thermonuclear fuel; electron attachment instability; problem of the wavelength effect; computer codes and modeling; laser fusion target design; laser system designs; frequency conversion work for isotope separation; large CO₂ lasers at Los Alamos; self-oscillation and target reflection problems in them; resonator optics of large CO₂ laser; Helios Design; Antares design; Boyer’s High Energy Laser Review Group participation and the contrast between Dept. of Defense and Dept. of Energy research and development policy.