Helium-Neon Laser Discharge Apparatus
date: label: date made
content: 1960
name: label: maker
content: Javan, Ali
notes: label: Description
content: This is the discharge unit for the third type of laser invented. Dr. Ali Javan and his colleagues William Bennett and Donald Herriott demonstrated this laser at Bell Labs in December 1960. Using a mixture of helium and neon gasses, this laser emitted a continuous beam of light at 1.153 nano-meters, in the near-infrared part of the spectrum. Their successful demonstration proved crucial for many applications. The first supermarket scanners, made by Spectra Physics, used a helium-neon laser, as have many other commercial devices.
label: Description
content: Ali Javan came to the U.S. from Iran in 1948 and trained in the laboratory of maser inventor Charles H. Townes at Columbia University. When he received his Ph.D. in 1954, Javan went to work at Bell Labs where began investigating the possibility of making a laser using a gaseous medium. His laser was the first gas laser as well as the first laser to produce a continuous beam of radiation.
topic: label: Subject
content: Laser
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
label: Exhibition
content: Inventing In America
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Ali Javan
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2008.0153.01
label: accession number
content: 2008.0153
label: catalog number
content: 2008.0153.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: laser
label: Object Name
content: gas-filled laser
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: helium (fill gas material)
label: Physical Description
content: neon (fill gas material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: quartz (tube material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 7/8 in x 42 1/2 in x 8 1/4 in; 17.4625 cm x 107.95 cm x 20.955 cm