Abstract
The number and varieties of lasers in use today is astonishing. They seem to be everywhere. Their almost endless inroads into such diverse fields as medicine, entertainment, science, industry, commerce, telecommunications, manufacturing, the military, and the Internet continue unabated.
Notes
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The term is also commonly used to refer to nuclear particle radiation, which is not part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- 2.
Editor’s note: The point marked “Waveguide” corresponds closely to invention of the maser.
- 3.
Just as supersonic aircraft are designed quite differently than subsonic craft.
- 4.
Intensity is measured as power divided by area.
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Maiman, T.H. (2018). Setting the Stage. In: The Laser Inventor. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61940-8_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61940-8_1
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