Theodore H. Maiman. The worlds first functioning Laser

Happy Birthday, Laser! On May 16, 1960, the laser was born. The device that Theodore Maiman built, still exists. Together with Ted Maiman’s lab book, the historic laser is on display at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics. We are honored to have the laser in house. We took the occasion of its birthday to present the small device in a video. Dr. Matthew Weidman, group leader of the attosecond metrology 2.0 team in attoworld, explains the individual components and the principle of how a laser works.