Theodore Harold Maiman

American physicist

• Born: July 11, 1927
• Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
• Died: May 5, 2007
• Place of death: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Using a synthetic ruby rod that was silvered at both ends to reflect light, Maiman invented, demonstrated, and patented the world’s first operable laser. He foresaw many of the applications of laser technology in medicine, industry, electronics, communications, and scientific research. Known as the “father of the electro-optics industry,” Maiman was an inventive genius whose work led to the development and manufacture of lasers and video display systems powered by lasers.

Primary fields: Optics; physics

Primary invention: Laser

Early Life

Inspired by his father, who was an electronics engineer and inventor, Theodore Harold Maiman (MAY-muhn) developed a great love for electronics and applied science at an early age. His father was very creative and was totally convinced that science should be used to better the world. He invented what was probably the first electronic stethoscope and did his best to apply electronics in the medical field and instill that same goal in his son. By the age of twelve, the younger Maiman had a job repairing mechanical valve devices. By the time he was fourteen, he ran the company’s shop.

Maiman attended the University of Colorado and earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering physics in 1949. After applying to do graduate work in physics at Stanford University and being rejected, Maiman attended Columbia University, but he was unhappy there. Once again, he applied to Stanford, but he was rejected a second time. Showing his tenacity, he decided to apply to the Electronics Engineering Department at Stanford and was accepted. After earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1951 and taking several physics electives along the way, he was finally admitted into the Stanford physics graduate program.

At Stanford, Maiman pursued his graduate research in spectroscopy under the direction of Nobel laureate Willis Lamb. His work involved making measurements of the fine-structure energy differences between particular energy levels in excited helium atoms, which were caused by the interaction of quantized electromagnetic fields with matter. Maiman built much of the electronic lab equipment necessary for making the measurements. In the process, he learned the makeup and operation of optical and electronic instrumentation that would be critical in his future work on the laser. Maiman received his doctoral degree in physics from Stanford in 1955. In a mutual agreement with Lamb prior to leaving Stanford, Maiman trained another of Lamb’s graduate students, Irwin Weider, in how to use the sophisticated lab equipment to make the very precise scientific measurements that were needed to determine fine-structure energy differences in atoms.

Life’s Work

During the latter part of 1955, Maiman began working at the Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. His initial work involved making improvements to the maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) that was invented by Charles Hard Townes in 1953. After becoming a section leader at Hughes, Maiman carefully studied a paper published by Townes and Arthur L. Schawlow in 1958 that discussed the theoretical possibility of constructing an optical maser, or laser, that amplified visible light. Beginning in 1959, a race ensued to see who would be the first to invent a working laser. Several prominent physicists, including Townes, Schawlow, and Gordon Gould, submitted designs and sought patents for a light amplifier, but a working device was still not available. At least nine very important labs were pursuing the goal, including General Electric, Westinghouse, Siemens, and Bell Laboratories.

At Hughes, Maiman pursued the invention of an operable light amplifier on a shoestring budget. His initial pursuits involved investigating ruby as a lasing material, since it had been used successfully in making masers. Other scientists ridiculed him for his choice, particularly after Weider, whom Maiman had trained at Stanford, reported that the fluorescence quantum efficiency of ruby was a dismal 1 percent. After investigating other materials and finding no alternative prospects, Maiman recalculated the efficiency of ruby and found it to be about 75 percent. He then returned to experimenting with ruby.

Since other laboratories were trying to invent a continuous-emitting laser instead of a pulsed laser, Maiman pursued the possibilities of inventing a continuous-emitting ruby laser, using for optical gain a continuous arc lamp that had a brightness temperature of about 4,000 kelvins. He found that his margin of safety for success was too minimal to take the risk on his small operating budget. Surveying the literature, he located an article on photographic strobe lamps that could generate brightness temperatures between 8,000 and 9,000 kelvins. After numerous calculations, Maiman decided that the strobe lamp could provide the optical gain necessary to make a ruby rod emit amplified pulses of light.

In late 1959, Maiman requested Union Carbide to manufacture for him an optically finished ruby rod. Using techniques learned earlier during his graduate work and lab research, he silvered both ends of the rod so that light would be reflected inside the rod. One end was half-silvered so that light could escape through it when it reached a large enough amplitude. Maiman surrounded the rod with a high-power, helical-shaped xenon strobe lamp. On May 16, 1960, he tested his invention at Hughes Research Laboratories. As he had predicted, energy released from the strobe lamp excited atoms in the ruby rod to higher energy states, initiating a release of energy inside the rod. The resulting internal chain reaction caused light to bounce back and forth within the ruby. Once the light reached a certain level of amplification, it escaped from the partially silvered end of the ruby rod in the form of intense pulses of coherent, monochromatic light. Maiman had succeeded in inventing the first working laser in the world.

A public announcement about the working laser was reported to the news media by Hughes Research Laboratories on July 7, 1960. In the meantime, Maiman submitted a short paper describing his invention and results to Physical Review Letters for publication. To his dismay, the paper was rejected. Eager to have this significant work published, he submitted it to Nature, where it was published on August 6, 1960. The rejection by Physical Review Letters indicates the limited understanding at the time of the nature and significance of lasers.

Realizing the important applications for lasers, Maiman joined Quantatron in late 1960 and supervised laser research there. In 1962, he formed his own company, Korad Corporation, for the research and production of lasers. After Korad was purchased by Union Carbide in 1968, Maiman established Maiman and Associates, a company devoted to the development and manufacture of lasers and other optical devices. Four years later, he cofounded Laser Video to develop large-screen, laser-driven video display systems. In 1976, he became the vice president for advanced technology of TRW Electronics. He also served as a director of Control Laser Corporation and a member of the advisory board of Industrial Research Magazine. Maiman died on May 5, 2007, at the age of seventy-nine.

Impact

During the latter part of his Ph.D. studies, Maiman established a goal that he would be the first in the world to invent a working laser. When he began to pursue this goal, he was a junior employee at Hughes Research Laboratories with little experience. Although he was ridiculed by some of the world’s leading scientists for not following their recommendations about how to build a laser, he stuck with his intuition and inventive genius. He believed that too often scientists follow the dictate of the scientific establishment and wind up wasting precious time and effort. Part of his inventive philosophy was to adhere to the principle of Occam’s razor: Keep things as simple as possible. By doing so, he felt that he would avoid many pitfalls and blind alleys in his pursuits. He had confidence in his scientific decisions because he had put in the necessary time and hard work to develop a solid foundation in the understanding of electronics and optics, the keys for a working laser.

As Maiman forged ahead with his laser research, Hughes management grew skeptical about whether he would ever succeed. In addition, intense rivalries existed among individuals and scientific laboratories in the race to build the first working laser. By the time that Maiman became the first to succeed, Hughes management had already told him to quit working on the project. Nevertheless, Maiman endured until he succeeded in achieving his goal. His tenacity and competitive spirit earned him the label of being a maverick scientist. In addition to inventing the first working laser, Maiman applied his inventive philosophy to obtain patents for his inventions associated with masers, laser displays, optical scanning instruments, and laser modulation devices.

The significance of Maiman’s inventive genius and scientific contributions is manifest by the numerous prestigious awards he received. He was presented the Ballantine Medal of the Franklin Institute (1962), the Buckley Solid State Physics Prize of the American Physical Society (1966), the Fanny and John Hertz Foundation Award for Applied Physical Science (1966), the Wood Prize of the American Optical Society (1976), the Wolf Prize in Physics from Israel’s Wolf Foundation (1984), the SPIE (International Society for Optical Engineering) President’s Award (1985), and the Japan Prize (1987), the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize. He was twice nominated for a Nobel Prize in Physics.

Bibliography

Bertolotti, Mario. The History of the Laser. Philadelphia, Pa.: Institute of Physics, 2005. An intriguing story about how the first laser was invented by Maiman. Presents a fascinating account of this remarkable period of scientific investigation, focusing on the people involved and their particular contributions. Provides a readable description of the fundamental nature of light and the operating principles associated with lasers. Suitable for scientists and general readers alike, the book contains many illustrations, bibliographical references, and an index.

Garwin, Laura, and Tim Lincoln, eds. A Century of Nature: Twenty-one Discoveries That Changed Science and the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Contains a discussion of Maiman’s work, insights, and struggles in developing the world’s first working laser. Describes many of the laser applications in science, technology, and medicine that have affected the world.

Hecht, Jeff. Beam: The Race to Make the Laser. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Hecht provides the history associated with Maiman’s invention of a working laser, the culmination of years of theoretical and applied research. He describes the race to get there, the people, the labs, the approaches, the debates, and the battle for recognition. A number of period photographs are included, as well as an index and comprehensive bibliographical references.

Wyckoff, Edwin Brit. Laser Man: Theodore H. Maiman and His Brilliant Invention. Berkeley Heights, N.J.: Enslow, 2007. Written as a tribute to Maiman and his inventive genius in the development of the first operable laser. Gives a clear explanation of laser operation that is suitable for younger readers starting at the fourth-grade level.