Maser Focusing Assembly
date: label: date made
content: 1954
label: associated date
content: 1953
name: label: maker
content: Townes, Charles H.
notes: label: Description
content: This object, the focusing assembly from the second maser, was made at Columbia University in 1954 by a team led by physicist Charles H. Townes. Maser stands for Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Masers operate on the same principals as lasers, but they amplify microwaves instead of light. In fact, masers came first. Microwaves have lower energy levels than light and so were easier to produce, although the maser was not a simple invention.
label: Description
content: After working on microwave radar and other devices during the Second World War, Townes undertook investigations of microwave spectroscopy at Columbia University. Working with James Gordon and Herbert Zeigler, he successfully demonstrated an ammonia-beam maser in April 1954. The unit was quite large so Townes developed a smaller unit later that year, several pieces of which were donated to the Smithsonian in 1965.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Energy & Power
label: See more items in
content: Lasers
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Charles H. Townes and Columbia University
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.323893
label: catalog number
content: 323893
label: accession number
content: 260038
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Maser, Part of
label: Object Name
content: maser component
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: marble (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/4 in x 10 1/4 in x 4 1/2 in; 26.035 cm x 26.035 cm x 11.43 cm