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Compact discs....supermarket bar code readers....long distance telephone communications over fiber optic cable...Lasik eye surgery.... all of these marvels of technology (and many more) involve the use of lasers. But what do most people really know about lasers? I have produced and directed a short documentary that explores the history, current uses and potential future of lasers. And this amazing invention -- first constructed in 1960 by physicist Ted Maiman -- is linked not to some high-tech company but to theoretical physics. In 1917, Albert Einstein wrote a scientific paper on stimulated emission of radiation. This would serve as an important theoretical foundation for the laser. In the 1950's, physicist Charles H. Townes at Columbia University directed research that resulted in the MASER (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation). Townes and fellow physicist (and brother-in-law) Arthur Schawlow wrote a paper in 1958 proposing development of an optical maser -- what we now know as the LASER (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation). You can view a short version of the documentary at Motion Matrix web site (input
word lasers in search entry) The longer 17 1/2 minute version is now available at the LaserFest web site:
www.laserfest.org
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View Video
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A preview version also is available for free viewing at You Tube:
www.youtube.com/LCSwriter
A 17 1/2 minute version of the documentary is available for sale
to schools and colleges. This video includes more history of the
laser, video on semiconductor lasers, and future potential uses of
lasers in quantum computing and holographic television. This
material is not available in the shorter version at the Motion
Matrix web site. This longer version is being used by school
districts in El Paso and Houston, Texas and other locations.
The Video and Film Festival Circuit....
Lasers: Solution Looking for a Problem was shown in a 9 1/2
minute version at several video/film festivals. These include:
Dallas Video Festival (August 7, 2005)
Seguin Film & Arts Festival (October 1, 2005)
Texas Independent Filmmakers Festival in San Antonio (October 22,
2005)
Edgeworks in Corpus Christi (November 5, 2005)
During 2006, a 17 1/2 minute version of the documentary was
shown at the following video festivals:
Flatland Film Festival in Lubbock, Texas (August 11, 2006)
A Festival of Films, produced by Texas Independent Filmmakers,
San Antonio (October 14, 2006)
Suggested Web Sites About Lasers....
http://laserweb.org
http://www.rp-photonics.com/lasers.html
http://www.osa.org (Optical Society of America)
The longer version of the documentary is listed at Internet
Movie Data Base. This version also is available for high schools
and colleges. Contact the producer about distribution companies
in the United States and Canada.
Suggested Books About Lasers....
Beam: The Race to Make the Laser by Jeff Hecht. Oxford
University Press 2005.
How the Laser Happened: Adventures of a Scientist by Charles
H. Townes. Oxford University Press 1999.
Lasers: Harnessing the Atom's Light by James P. Harbison and
Robert E. Nahory. Scientific American Library 1997.
The Laser Odyssey by Theodore Maiman. Laser Press 2000.
