“Star Wars” creator George Lucas wants to force a laser company to stop making a new, high-powered product he says looks too much like the famous lightsaber from his classic sci-fi series.
Lucasfilm Ltd. has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Hong Kong-based Wicked Lasers, threatening legal action if it doesn’t change its Pro Arctic Laser series or stop selling it altogether.
“It is apparent from the design of the Pro Arctic Laser that it was intended to resemble the hilts of our lightsaber swords, which are protected by copyright … ,” said the letter, dated last month and provided to CNN by Wicked Lasers.
The Laser Institute of America LIA will present its first Lifetime Achievement Award to laser pioneer Dr. Charles Townes at the 29th International Congress on Applications of Lasers and Electro-Optics ICALEO to be held September 26-30, 2010 in Anaheim, CA.Townes, 94, won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1964 “for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle,” according to the Nobel committee. The then-provost and professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT www.mit.edu shared the award with Nicolay Basov and Aleksandr Prokhorov of the USSR. Their work was among the critical early steps in the development of the laser, which is 50 years old this year.
Today President Barack Obama sent a “Presidential Message” to the founding partners of LaserFest commemorating the 50th anniversary of the laser. The message commends those who have made possible this important technological milestone. President Obama stated that he “looks forward to future advances in this field and new applications as yet undreamed of today.”
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Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives passed House Resolution 130, which also commemorates the laser anniversary. The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Vernon Ehlers, who holds a PhD in nuclear physics from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. According to Ehlers, “Fifty years ago, when the laser was invented using funds from the Department of Defense, the technology was referred to as a ‘solution looking for a problem.’ Today, this technology contributes billions of dollars to the US economy and is a shining example of the importance of long-term, sustainable federal funding for scientific research and development.” A congressional resolution is meaningful because the US Congress formally recognizes the importance of this invention.
Physicist Dr. Theodore Maiman created the first-working laser in 1960 while at what was then Hughes Research Laboratories. Now called HRL Laboratories, LLC, it has been named a Physics Historical Site.
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US say that they have developed the world’s most efficient single photon detector. The device is said to be able to count individual photons travelling through fibre optic cables with roughly 99% efficiency. The team's efforts could bring improvements to secure electronic communication, advanced quantum computation and the measurement of optical power.
As an activity for celebrating 50 year anniversary of laser, IOP filmed a video exclusive, a vox pop with faculty and students at the Stanford Photonics Research Center (SPRC).
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the laser, an invention that has changed everything from surgery to grocery-store checkout lines.
The world's first laser — which emitted a coherent energy beam for the first time on May 16, 1960 — is right here in Vancouver, locked away in a safe-deposit box downtown.
In May, it will be brought out of storage to be the star attraction at a conference at Simon Fraser University marking its anniversary.
Hundreds of laser pointers have been seized by customs officials after a Sydney man allegedly tried to bring them into the country with him on a flight from China. – smh.com.au.
