Sixty Years of Laser Focus

In today’s modern world, laser technology is something we probably all take for granted. The ability to scan and pay for your items in a shop, or scan your returns label is something you won’t even think twice about. But over sixty years ago, this sort of technology was pure science-fiction. The recent sixty year anniversary of the invention of laser technology gives me the opportunity to reflect on a subject I’ve always found fascinating.??

I have always found lasers interesting. In 1975 when I was in sixth form at school, I bought a helium neon laser tube and built my own power supply to make it run.?My aim was to make holograms which proved trickier than I thought.?That said it was great to experiment with lasers at a time when it wasn’t common to see them in everyday use.

With the recent 60th anniversary of the invention of the laser, I was surprised to learn quite how instrumental Thales had been in developing this ground-breaking technology. It’s an amazing story, worth telling in full:

The birth of lasers

To start, we need to go back to May 1960, when American engineer Theodore Maiman created a new kind of light source. Unlike all other light sources – like, say, the sun, or electric lights or candles – which emit molecules ‘spontaneously’, Maiman’s device used radiation to stimulate molecules in a co-ordinated way. This created an intense and focused beam of light that could be controlled in entirely new ways. The process became known as Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation: the LASER.?

Theodore H. Maiman with the main components of the ruby laser. (Photo courtesy of HRL Laboratories, USA).

An answer in search of a question’

Lasers are now everywhere in our modern life – from surgery and medical imaging to manufacturing and precision engineering to barcode scanners in supermarkets, DVD players (if you still use one!) and thousands of other uses. But at first, it wasn’t obvious what the new laser technology might be useful for. In fact, many scientists regarded it as an ‘answer in search of a question’.

Thales saw the light

But not the engineers at Thales Optronics in Glasgow. The company had its roots in the Scottish firm Barr & Stroud, who were optical pioneers who’d made range-finders during the First World War, before turning to radar because it was a superior range-finding technology. Likewise, Thales engineers were primed to see laser’s ground-breaking potential for range-finding.

And they moved quickly: Within months of the first laser demonstrations in America, Thales was at work in Scotland on the LF2, a laser range-finder. By 1969 it was in service on the British Chieftain tanks, where the world’s first laser range finder instantly gave them greater accuracy and speed than any other tank in the world.

Thales LF2 laser Range Finder (1969)

Decades of innovation

Innovations through the 1970s and 80s saw range-finders get ever more powerful, with Thales producing lasers that were smaller and more cost-effective than any in the world. Additionally the development of laser ‘designators’ was instrumental in making guided munitions ever more accurate and reducing collateral damage.?

In then in the 1990s and 2000s, Thales was at the forefront of more developments – from completely eye-safe laser range finders, to solid state (instead of fluid cooled) lasers, to the use of ‘diode-pumped’ lasers, which used just 10% of the power of traditional units. This made lasers ever smaller, more robust, and more reliable.?

The future is science fiction

Ten years ago, we started work on a concept that ‘seemed like science fiction’ even just a few years ago. The advancement in technology today means we are creating constellations of satellites, capable of delivering multiple terabits of data per second using optical laser links between satellites to create a true global mesh coverage of the world. The levels of accuracy required are almost unbelievable.

And speaking of science fiction, Thales is still leading the way today: our most recent contract is a ￡35 million investment in the development of a revolutionary Laser Directed Energy Weapon system for a Royal Navy T23 frigate – a laser powerful enough to shoot down hostile air threats such as drones. The UK’s defence minister, Jeremy Quin said recently that the project ‘will accelerate the UK’s understanding of novel weapons technology… maintaining our position as a world leader in emerging weapon technology’.

Innovation: it’s imagination plus application

It's an inspiring story for me in so many ways: Maiman’s invention was extraordinary – but those Thales engineers in the 60s remind us that seeing the real-world potential in technology is also an essential part of innovation.

And then to stay at the forefront of that innovation decade after decade, and still be leading the way is really something special. That, too, demonstrates a commitment to making technology that’s consistently, ground-breakingly, useful.

It makes me incredibly proud to work for Thales, helping to build a future we can all trust.