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Dr. Amnon Yariv, CaltechI joined a small group at Bell Labs in 1960. The paper by Schawlow and Townes was out for about two years, and there was a big race worldwide to make a laser. There were three or four groups at Bell at the time: Derrick Scoville, C.G.B. Garrett, Ali Javan, and others, all taking different approaches to making lasers. And the question was, which of the various supporters at Bell Labs would be the winner. We took bets, as a matter of fact. In 1960 I took my annual vacation with my wife and new baby, and we went to San Diego. After a week in San Diego, I got a phone call from Jim Gordon, my boss. He said, "There's a fellow up at the Hughes Research Lab in Malibu who claims to have made a laser. Could you take a day off at our expense and shoot out to Malibu and check it out?" So I did. I drove the three-hour drive to Malibu to meet Ted Maiman of Hughes (Aircraft Company). He very nervously showed me his first results.... And I guess he wasn't quite sure of himself. You know, when you're claiming you've made the world's first laser, you're nervous. And he was seeking reassurance. Well, I thought he had it and I told him so. Then I called Jim Gordon and said, "Jim, I think we lost the race." But in typical Bell Labs fashion, we weren't quite ready to concede defeat. We said, "That was done on a pulsed basis; that's not very important." Well, you know how many pulsed lasers have been made since then. So there was a lesson in that, which I tell my students in quantum electronics: that, with all of us working full time, with a lot of technical support, looking for a laser, we all thought CW (continuous wave). It never occurred to us to try it on a pulsed basis, which of course was a lot simpler. And Ted Maiman, working alone at Hughes Malibu, actually working against the wishes of his boss, took a different approach. So in a way we were kind of brainwashing each other. Those were very exciting days, and they were exciting because almost everything we did was new and publishable at that time.
Bell Labs researcher Claire Gmachl, co-inventor of the 'bow-tie' laser, enjoys the festivities. [more] Speakers in this Section |
![[ Claire Gmachl ]](../images/party_gmachl2.jpeg)