James P. Gordon: Difference between revisions

 

===Lasers and resonators===

During his doctoral training period with C.H. Townes at Columbia University, Gordon worked on the design, analysis and construction of the maser.<ref name="ref4"/> This work produced the first prototype of what later evolved into the [[laser]] (originally called "optical maser") and became one of the most important workhorses in 20th-century technology.<ref name="ref5"/> Gordon's later contribution to lasers included the analysis of the confocal, or curved mirror laser resonator. He joined with G. Boyd, to introduce the concept of Hermite-Gaussian modes into resonator study,<ref name="ref6"/> influencing all subsequent research conducted on laser resonators. In his work with R.L. Fork and O.E. Martinez in 1994, a mechanism for generating tunable negative dispersion using pairs of prisms was proposed. This invention was instrumental in achieving ultra-short laser pulses, critical in many applications using laser technology.<ref name="ref7"/>