Laser Sciences, Inc. - 1973 dated General Stock Certificate - Laser Science

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Laser science, also known as laser physics, is a specialized area within optics that encompasses both the theoretical and practical aspects of lasers. This field primarily focuses on quantum electronics, the construction of lasers, the design of optical cavities, the physics involved in achieving a population inversion in laser media, and the temporal dynamics of the light field within the laser. Additionally, it addresses the physics of laser beam propagation, especially concerning Gaussian beams, as well as various laser applications and related disciplines such as nonlinear optics and quantum optics. The origins of laser science can be traced back to before the actual invention of the laser.

In 1917, Albert Einstein laid the groundwork for both the laser and maser through a paper in which he re-derived Max Planck’s radiation law using a formalism based on probability coefficients (known as Einstein coefficients) related to the processes of absorption, spontaneous emission, and stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The phenomenon of stimulated emission was validated in 1928 by Rudolf W. Ladenburg.

In 1939, Valentin A. Fabrikant proposed the first concept for a laser, outlining the necessary conditions for light amplification through stimulated emission. Subsequently, in 1947, Willis E. Lamb and R. C. Retherford observed apparent stimulated emission in hydrogen spectra and conducted the initial demonstration of stimulated emission; in 1950, Alfred Kastler, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1966, introduced the optical pumping method, which was experimentally verified two years later by Brossel, Kastler, and Winter.