Lasers

Discussion includes:  the founding of Trion Instruments; the first commercial lasers; pricing and markets; R & D contracts with the Department of Defense Agencies; Trion's collaboration with Jarrell Ash on a laser microscope; Lear-Siegler acquires Trion.

Clauser discusses his father's influence; early interest in electronics; undergraduate study in physics at California Institute of Technology in early 1960s; graduate study at Columbia University in the late 1960s; research on the Bell inequalities as a post-doc at University of California, Berkeley with C. H. Townes in the 1970s; collaboration with Abner Shimony and Michael H. Horne; atom interferometry and its possible applications; quantum mechanics and its conceptual problems.

This interview covers Charschan's memory of laser experimentation and techniques; the development of procedures for boring and drilling diamond dies; scribing ceramic plates for improved circuitry; the role and duties of the research center at Western Electric (AT&T Technologies); and the establishment of the ANSI laser safety standards (ANSI Z-136).

Interview covers changes in the organization of physics research departments at Bell Laboratories during the period of Burton's career, from 1938-1958. Childhood and educational background. Early years at Bell Labs; study of photo-electron emission; history of relationship between telephone company and television; work on radar bomb sights during World War II; origins of solid state physics research at Bell Labs; postwar organization and conditions there, design of physical layout of building 1; how Burton became director of semiconductor research; delay of 1929 expansion by Stock Market crash.

Fred P. Burns was one of the original group of senior scientists at Theodore H. Maiman's firm Korad. Burns left Korad to found Apollo in the late 1960s. Burns, after briefly relating his prior work history, tells how he was recruited by Maiman. He discusses Union Carbide's financing of Korad; Korad's venture into semiconductor lasers; why patents were not a deterrent in the early days; developing the laser for market; Korad's government contracts; the availability of venture capital for laser firms; Maiman's management style; and why Maiman left Korad. Burns also discusses founding Apollo; its size and markets; licensing under various patents; foreign markets; why Apollo (and Korad) eschewed the medical market. Also prominently mentioned is: City College of the City University of New York.

University training at University of California, Berkeley, under John Whinnery and Charles Birdsall. The adaptation of the argon ion laser to an airborne reconnaissance system. Other laser researches are touched upon, including the gas dynamic laser and laser isotope separation. Relations between basic research and systems research at Hughes Aircraft Company. (See also the interview of W.B. Bridges by Richard Cunningham on file in the Laser History Project Archives).

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.

Joined Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1959. Collaboration with John H. Sanders; initial motivation to study curved end-mirrors for laser resonators; interactions with Willard D. Lewis and James Power Gordon; demonstration of curved mirrors at March 1961 Berkeley conference.

Bowness was technical director of the Raytheon division that placed the company's lasers and laser systems on the commercial market starting in the early 1960s. Here he discusses the interaction with the Research Division that brought the ruby laser to the attention of his section (Special Microwaves Devices Operation [SMDO]); the availability of components and accessories; early military and commercial markets.

Spectra-Physics; its founding; role played by John Atwood of Perkin-Elmer; the 1.15 micron and 6328A helium-neon lasers; relation with Bell Laboratories scientists; Bloom’s role at Spectra-Physics; Spectra-Physics’s transition from a technologically to commercially oriented firm; the 3.39 micron helium-neon line; consultant at Coherent, Inc.