INTRODUCTION 1
THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM 5
RADIO WAVES 9
LIGHT AND THE ATOM 14
WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT COHERENT LIGHT? 19
CONTROLLED EMISSION 25
A LASER IS BORN 29
LASING—A NEW WORD 32
SOME INTERESTING APPLICATIONS 34
A MULTITUDE OF LASERS 42
COMMUNICATIONS 48
A LASER IN YOUR FUTURE? 52
SUGGESTED REFERENCES 53
United States Atomic Energy Commission
Division of Technical Information
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-60742
1968; 1969(rev.)
[Illustration: _Nothing about lasers is more astonishing than their
ability to produce holograms, under arrangements such as shown
above. Two laser beams (of different colors) emerge from the curtain
(rear). They are optically combined (left center) and the combined
beam is then divided by prisms, mirrors and lenses so that part of
it shines on the figurines (foreground) and part on the square
holographic plate (right center). When the plate is developed (like
an ordinary photographic film), it will seem to have only a dull
gray surface until it is viewed with spatially coherent light (such
as from a laser or a beam through a pinhole) shining through it.
Then an amazing, multi-colored, three-dimensional image of the
figurines will be visible. (See page 19 and Figure 13.)_]
[Illustration: LASERS]