Epilogue

Abstract

Abstract THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED would bring many more types of lasers, but ruby and helium–neon soon became the mainstays of laser research and applications. The two nicely complemented each other. Maiman’s elegant design made ruby simple and robust; its short, powerful pulses were valuable in research and industry. Bennett, Javan, and Herriott’s helium–neon laser was also a winner, generating a few milliwatts of light in a continuous and highly-coherent beam that was useful in a variety of research situations and alluring for communications. Helium–neon lasers took off rapidly after two other Bell physicists, Alan D. White and J. Dane Rigden, in 1962, made a version that emitted a visible red beam. Red helium–neon lasers became the standard for laboratory demonstrations and were the first type mass-produced for use in supermarket checkout scanners. Both helium–neon and ruby lasers have passed their prime after more than forty years, but remain in use.