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A Bright Light in Virginia

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Scientific Journeys

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Abstract

I consider myself fortunate to have book-ended my career as an experimental physicist by working on a great tool of science—the laser. This device, which sprang to life in 1960, spent very little time as a new gadget looking for an application. In the intervening years since its inception, it became an indispensable scientific research tool and ubiquitous in our lives.

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References

  1. Theodore H. Maiman, The Laser Inventor. Springer International Publishing, Cham, SW (2018)

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  2. See Chapter 16; an abridged version of this story was previously published in Physics Today Online, 12 August 2010

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  3. See Chapters 17 and 27 for my encounters with two remarkable MIT professors

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  4. See Chapter 18 and a useful general reference on the first 50 years of fusion research, including the program at Princeton University: Dale Meade, Nuclear Fusion 50 (2010) 014004; https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/50/1/014004

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  7. G.R. Neil et al, Physical Review Letters 84 (4), 662 (2000)

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  8. H. Frederick Dylla and Steven T. Corneliussen, “Free-Electron Lasers Come of Age”, Photonics Spectra, p. 65, August 2005

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  9. G.R. Neil et al, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Sect. A 557 (1), 9–15 (2006)

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  10. R. Rox Anderson et al, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 38, 10, 913–919 (2006), https://doi.org/10.1002/lsm.20393; Fernanda H. Sakamoto et al, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 44, 175–183 (2012); https://doi.org/10.1002/lsm.21132

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  12. Pellegrini, C. “The history of X-ray free-electron lasers”, European Physical Journal H 37, 659–708 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/e2012-20064-5

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lewes, DE, USA

    H. Frederick Dylla

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  1. H. Frederick Dylla
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Correspondence to H. Frederick Dylla .

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Dylla, H.F. (2020). A Bright Light in Virginia. In: Scientific Journeys. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55800-0_26

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