Prototype Excimer Laser
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1976
name: label: maker
content: Naval Research Laboratory
notes: label: Description
content: Ralph Burnham and Nick Djeu made this prototype excimer laser in mid-1975 while at the Naval Research Laboratory. A modified carbon-dioxide laser known as a TEA laser (Transversely Excited, Atmospheric pressure), this laser used a mixture of xenon and fluoride gasses to produce a pulse of ultraviolet laser light. Ultraviolet light has a shorter wavelength than visible light and thus a higher energy level.
label: Description
content: The term "excimer" refers to a molecule of two identical atoms that remains stable when in an excited state. The first laser to use such molecules was made in Moscow in 1970 and used molecules consisting of two xenon atoms. Lasers using molecules of differing atoms (technically called an exciplex-laser) were made by several teams of researchers in the US early in 1975. Burnham and Djeu's breakthrough lay in using a commercially available TEA laser to generate the excimer laser pulse. Their apparatus was much smaller and used less energy than prior excimer lasers that were energized by electron-beams.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Laser
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 Nicholas Djeu
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1996.0343.01
label: accession number
content: 1996.0343
label: catalog number
content: 1996.0343.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: laser
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 48 cm x 100 cm x 10 cm; 18 7/8 in x 39 3/8 in x 3 15/16 in