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IEEE Membership & Staff
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From GHN
| Milestone Buildings Exist
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Yes
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| Milestone Distinguishing Features
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Other early solid-state lasers, such as th … Other early solid-state lasers, such as the ruby laser demonstrated by Theodore Maiman in 1960, another IEEE Milestone, were made of bulk materials. The fiber laser uniquely transmitted the light it generated along a light-guiding core, concentrating its energy in a small area inside the glass, and making it easy to transfer light from a fiber laser into a passive optical fiber for transmission. This became important when fiber-optic communications emerged in the 1970s, because optical signals needed to be amplified after passing through tens of kilometers of glass. Initially that required converting the signals into electronic form for amplification, but building upon Snitzer's work, David Payne and others developed optical fiber amplifiers that could directly boost signal strength across a wide range of wavelengths, allowing high-speed transmission across continents and under oceans. That technology is today the backbone of the global telecommunication technology.
Fiber lasers also have proved exceptionally well suited for efficiently generating high-quality beams with powers reaching many kilowatts in strength, greatly expanding the applications of lasers in cutting, welding and other machining of materials from plastics to metals. ning of materials from plastics to metals.
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| Milestone Obstacles Overcome
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Maiman's demonstration of the ruby laser l … Maiman's demonstration of the ruby laser led to the development of lasers based on many other solids, as well as gas and semiconductor diode lasers. Solid-state lasers were particularly valued because they had higher gain than gases, and could be made larger in size than semiconductor diodes. However, that required growing large blocks of crystal, a time-consuming and expensive task. Snitzer drew on American Optical's expertise to make lasers from a much less costly material, glass doped with small amounts of neodymium. He then extended that work to make fiber lasers and amplifiers, which concentrated light in small volumes, enhancing their oscillation and amplification properties. Snitzer realized that potential, although at the time it was not obvious how fiber lasers or amplifiers would be used. fiber lasers or amplifiers would be used.
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| Milestone Present Site Owner
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Town of Southbridge, MA
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| Milestone Site Access Details
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The site is open to the public.
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| Milestone Site Description
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The proposed site is in the Southbridge MA … The proposed site is in the Southbridge MA Town Common on Main Street directly across from the old American Optical main plant where the work took place. The Common is public land owned by Southbridge. On Jan 23, 2012 the Southbridge Town Council granted permission to place the Milestone plaque in the Common. place the Milestone plaque in the Common.
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| Milestone Site Owner Approval
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Yes +
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| Milestone proposal submitted
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false +
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| Proposed Milestone IEEE Section
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IEEE Worcester County Section +
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| Proposed Milestone Location
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Town Common Southbridge Massachusetts
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| Proposed Milestone Name
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First Optical Fiber Laser and Amplifier +
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| Proposed Milestone Year
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1961-1964 +
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| Modification dateThis property is a special property in this wiki.
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16 July 2012 20:01:37 +
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