General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

wood, metal, synthetic, plastic,

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

25.0 cm

Width

13.0 cm

Height

22.5 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Physics

Category

Light & electromagnetic radiation

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

NRC

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

City

Ottawa

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

1960

Canada

Inspired by Theodore Maiman's development of the first working laser (May, 1960), the NRC's Dr. Boris Stoicheff and Dr. Alex Szabo successfully operated the first Canadian Laser in January 1961. Quote from Alex Szabo's article in Physics in Canada / La Physique au Canada - 2010 (66.4), Special anniversary issue, 50 Years of the Laser. "On Jan. 12, 1961, Canada’s first laser was operated at NRC’s Sussex Drive spectroscopy labs. This was a joint project by me and Boris Stoicheff. Earlier attempts by us had failed because of poor crystal quality. Dr Schawlow (then at Bell Labs) who was visiting at the time pulled a ruby rod out of his pocket and said “try this”. It lased successfully producing a bright collimated red beam. Later work using more strain free rods also lased and started me on a research path of laser spectroscopy of solids."

Function

Provide a source of coherent light.

Technical

A ruby laser, essentially a rod-shaped ruby crystal surrounded by a helical glass tube (called a "fast-discharge flashtube") encased in a metal cylinder. The flashtube created the energy needed to excite electrons so they could emit photons and the ruby amplified these photons to produce laser light at a specific wavelength.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Plaque: "[Canadian flag]/ National Research Council Canada/ Conseil national de recherches Canada/ First Canadian Laser 1960/ Premier laser canadien 1960/ NRC-CNRC/ [Canada wordmark]"

Missing

Nothing

Finish

The laser is mounted on a clear coated wooden base with a synthetic clear casing which a red line in the center held down onto the wooden base with two screws.

Decoration

N/A