Ruby Crystal from Maiman Laser
date: label: Date made
content: 1960
label: associated date
content: 1960-07
name: label: associated institution
content: Hughes Research Laboratories
label: maker
content: Maiman, Theodore H.
label: maker
content: Hughes Aircraft Company
notes: label: Description
content: This is a ruby crystal from Theodore Maiman's experiments of May 1960, and may be the first crystal to generate laser light. The synthetic crystal was mounted in a small holder that also contained a spiral flashlamp of the type photographers used. When the lamp flashed, the light pulse stimulated the atoms within the crystal. The atoms released that energy in the form of a laser light pulse.
label: Description
content: Maiman earned a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford in 1955 and went to work at Hughes Research Laboratories the following year where he worked on masers. After attending a conference in September 1959, Maiman ran experiments investigating the possibility that a ruby crystal might be capable of emitting laser light. The experiments proved successful when, on 16 May 1960, he and assistant Irnee D’Haenes demonstrated the first operating laser. Rather than producing a continuous beam, their ruby laser operated in pulses. Their success caught the scientific community by surprise and was a pivotal moment in the history of lasers.
label: Description
content: This crystal was one of several in the laboratory at the time of the experiments. No one knows with certainly which crystal actually generated the first laser light, though when the crystal was donated to the Smithsonian in 1967, officials at Hughes reported that this crystal was indeed the first.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Invention
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
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content: Energy & Power
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content: Lasers
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content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Hughes Aircraft Company, thru Dr. George F. Smith
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.330048
label: catalog number
content: 330048
label: accession number
content: 288813
objectType: label: Object Name
content: crystal
label: Object Name
content: laser crystal
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ruby (crystal material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (holder material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 in x 3/8 in; 5.08 cm x .9525 cm
label: Measurements
content: crystal only: 11/16 in x 3/8 in; 1.74625 cm x .9525 cm