In 1958, American scientists Schawlow and Townes discovered a magical phenomenon: when they illuminated the light emitted by a neon light bulb on a rare earth crystal, the crystal The molecules emit bright, bright light that always clusters together. Based on this phenomenon, they proposed the "laser principle", that is, when a substance is excited by energy with the same natural oscillation frequency of its molecules, it will produce this kind of non-divergent strong light - laser. They published important papers for this purpose and won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics.
After the research results of Xiao Luo and Towns were published, scientists from various countries proposed various experimental plans, but none of them were successful. On May 16, 1960, Maiman, a scientist at the Hughes Laboratory in California, USA, announced that he had obtained a laser with a wavelength of 0.6943 microns. This was the first laser ever obtained by mankind, making Maiman the first in the world. The scientist who brought lasers into practical use.
On July 7, 1960, Maiman announced the birth of the world's first laser. Maiman's plan was to use a high-intensity flash tube to stimulate rubies. Since ruby ??is physically just corundum mixed with chromium atoms, when ruby ??is stimulated, it emits a red light. Drilling a hole in the surface of a piece of ruby ??coated with a reflector allows red light to escape from the hole, creating a rather concentrated and slender red light beam that, when directed towards a certain point, can reach a height higher than the surface of the sun. high temperature.