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一般的教材上,都说世界上第一台激光是梅曼(Maiman)1961年实现的(在红宝石中),也有的干脆说是梅曼发明的。2011年,国际激光和光学界还举行了一个盛大的庆祝,纪念1961年梅曼实现第一台激光的事情。
迄今为止,很多诺贝尔奖都跟激光紧密相关,但是,梅曼没有获得诺贝尔奖。元芳说,背后必有重大隐情。
元芳说对了,的确有重大隐情。
我最少有一篇博文直接谈到这件事情:
现在,对激光的出现有重大贡献的另一位--汤斯去世了。必定引发另一轮激光发明的争论,或许是smoking gun级别的。
相信我以前的博文基本给大家交代清楚了来龙去脉,这里简要提提。
汤斯,在二战期间在贝尔实验室工作,领域是雷达的原理和设计,因此汤斯对微波的产生和分子光谱产生了兴趣(雷达使用微波,现在的手机,wifi等无线通讯都使用微波)。二战结束后,汤斯转到哥伦比亚大学,在那里使用氨气分子制造出了世界上第一台,微波激射器(maser),因此也分享了1964年诺贝尔物理学奖。
下面是最经典的一张照片,在左边是汤斯,右面是他的学生高登(Gordon),二人面前是一台微波激射器。请注意最右边背景中的那位是中国人,后来归国创建了武汉数学物理所波谱学实验室的 王天眷 。
之后,理所当然,汤斯想造出短波长的微波激射器(maser),如果一步一步来就是,毫米波,亚毫米波,远红外,中红外,近红外,可见光,到紫外光。汤斯也在这方向一直努力着。但是,在毫米波和亚毫米波方面遇到了困难,反正很难成功,于是打算暂时放弃,先转向可见光,那样或许容易实现,并且意义重大。
汤斯跟他的连襟肖洛一起,弄出一个理论,就是如何在可见光范围内实现这个微波激射器(maser),这个理论影响很大。可见光微波激射器(maser),就是激光laser。
这时候,半路上杀出来一个年轻人,就是梅曼,他非常感兴趣,也跟汤斯接触过希望造激光,但是没有被汤斯接受进小组成员。于是,梅曼异军突起,个人开了一摊,竟然把激光作出来了。
梅曼属于快手抢得桃子摘得那位,汤斯等当然很不服气,并且汤斯1964年得了一次诺奖,水平是大家认可的。就这么来着,梅曼的诺奖跑了,汤斯也没有捞到。
但是,谁是激光的发明人,争论的种子就买下了。
开头说,梅曼有一批支持者。
但是,汤斯也有一大批支持者。
汤斯现在去世了,纪念他的文章肯定很多,一定会重点议论这件事情,本博重点关注。
汤斯1967年到加州伯克利工作,在此退休和去世,先看看伯克利的英文新闻:
Nobel laureate and laser inventor Charles Townes dies at 99
这题目突出了汤斯的两大贡献:1,1964年诺奖(maser的发明);2,激光的发明人。
看看具体内容:
From maser to laser, 从微波激射器到激光
Four years later, in 1958, he and his brother-in-law and future Nobelist Arthur Schawlow conceived the idea of doing the same thing with optical light, but using mirrors at the ends of a gas tube to amplify the light to get an “optical maser.” Bell Labs patented the laser, while Townes retained the patent on the maser, which he turned over to a nonprofit. Townes’ appointment as director of research for the U.S. government’s Institute of Defense Analysis in 1959 slowed his efforts to build an optical device, opening the door for Theodore Maiman to demonstrate the first laser – light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation – in 1960.
四年以后,1958年,他和连襟(后来得到诺奖)肖洛有了一个实现可见光同样玩意的想法,就是在气体管的两端加上镜片来实现光的放大,从而得到光学的微波激射器(“optical maser.”)。贝尔实验室对此申请了专利,汤斯在专利上说是微波激射器,之后显示他故意把这个变成了不追求商业利润(专利就为了追求商业利润的)。1959年汤斯被任命为美国政府的防卫分析研究所所长职位,因此他在1960年发明激光的工作进展被延缓了。
Townes shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics with two Russians, Aleksandr M. Prokhorov and Nicolai G. Basov, who independently came up with the idea for a maser.
To date, more than a dozen Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work done with lasers. Lasers are incorporated into consumer electronics and optical fibers, surveying equipment and printers, light shows and laser pointers. Lasers are used to cut metal, slice through tissue during surgery, trap atoms, and even initiate nuclear fusion.
Townes himself went on to use masers for radio astronomy, and lasers for infrared astronomy and interferometry, and promoted their use in areas as diverse as precision timekeeping – the atomic clock – and extraterrestrial communication. With the help of lasers, he and colleagues detected the first complex molecules in interstellar space and first measured the mass of the black hole in the center of our galaxy.
He also served on numerous government panels. From 1966 to 1970, at a time when many scientists questioned the value of a manned space program, Townes accepted an appointment as chairman of an ad hoc science advisory committee to NASA’s manned space program, to secure support for the Apollo moon flights from the larger scientific community and ensure that they would yield maximum benefits in scientific research. In 1981 he chaired a panel reviewing President Ronald Reagan’s planned deployment of MX missiles, and he actively advocated controls on nuclear weapons, including a test ban treaty to regulate underground weapons testing.
再看其他英文报道的题目:
大众科学,用了激光之父之一,包含梅曼也是之一。
CHARLES TOWNES, ONE OF THE FATHERS OF THE LASER, DIES
http://www.popsci.com/charles-townes-one-fathers-laser-dies
纽约时报,措辞,有助于激光开发的物理学家,没有提诺奖和微波激射器。
Charles H. Townes, Physicist Who Helped Develop Lasers, Dies at 99
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