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It has been 50 years since the first lasers were fired.  The initial event, which took place in the Hughes Research Laboratory in California, ended a race that involved many of the world’s foremost spectroscopists, including key contributors in Canada.

This special issue of Physics in Canada commemorates the birth of the laser.  We begin with an article by Professor Charles Townes, who shared the Nobel Prize for the laser with Russian physicists N. Basov and A. Prokhrov. Still a very active scientist, Professor Townes’ reminiscences about those exciting times makes for gripping reading.

Theodore Maiman was the first researcher to correctly understand the most likely path towards achieving net inversion. When the news broke that Dr. Maiman had successfully fired off the world’s first laser, the event electrified the world. 

Dr. Maiman and his wife moved to Canada during the final 10 years of his life.  Did you know that that first laser now resides in Canada? A photo of the first laser currently displayed in the lobby of the VanCity Credit Union in Vancouver, which was borrowed from Dr. Andrew Rawicz’s article “Theodore Maiman in Vancouver”, illustrates the front cover of this issue.

Not surprisingly, those who participated in the race for the laser quickly followed the path opened by Dr. Maiman. Dr. Alex Szabo’s article on Ruby lasers is also a celebration of the first Canadian laser which he and Boris Stoicheff fired only a few months after Maiman’s. Their laser will soon reside in the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa.

Once the first laser – a ruby laser – was developed, many new laser media were quickly tested. It turned out that that almost everything would lase – even air. Perhaps the most important of the new media was the Transverse Excited Atmospheric CO2 (TEA CO2 ) laser, the development of which is described by Dr. Jacques Beaulieu, its discoverer.  The dominance of the TEA CO2 grew rapidly because the CO2 is so very efficient and because of the infrared wavelength of the lasing transition.  For a decade or two the world’s biggest lasers were CO2 lasers.

Any important new technology should unleash new applications: lasers fulfilled their promise rapidly. Of these many new applications, the one that has transformed our world was in communication, which capitalized on the “perfect fit” between the fibre optic and the laser. The result: Canada became the centre of optical communications. If you have ever wondered how the process unfolded, the article by Dr. Rudolph Kriegler will fill in the exciting details, while also demonstrating how successful applications make the transition from the laboratory to worldwide product distribution.

But the applications of the laser were not limited to communications. Having the inside track on big lasers, Canada made many important contributions to laser plasma and laser fusion research.  These underlying Canadian dreams and contributions are highlighted by Professor Allen Offenberger, while the story of how companies subsequently formed and prospered from laser applications is highlighted by the articles of Dr. Morrel Bachynski and Dr. Allan Carswell.
 
After discovering the laser, Theodore Maiman concentrated much of his energy on its potential medical applications. As we look to the future, many people expect breakthroughs in biophotonics. Dr. Maiman would find it fitting that we include an article by Dr. Brian Wilson describing this rapidly evolving research forefront.

One might rightly ask “50 years later, is there anything more to discover”?  The answer is surely “yes”!  Check out, for example, the April 2009 issue of Physics in Canada for some examples in the sub-field of Ultrafast Science.  There are even technologies with the potential to match the laser’s ultimate impact.  One such candidate is quantum cryptography (where Canada’s Gilles Brassard made a major breakthrough).  Short-pulse generation could be another.  While Physics in Canada tried, but was unable to obtain an article on quantum cryptography, we include an article by Dr. André Staudte and Paul Corkum describing attosecond science.

I hope that our readers will enjoy this quick look at the 50 year history of the laser in Canada.

Paul Corkum, Guest Editor

Comments of readers on this editorial are more than welcome.