Ruby laser
Videos
A ruby laser is a solid-state laser that uses a synthetic ruby crystal as its gain medium. The first working laser was a ruby laser made by Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories on May 16
A ruby laser rod. Inset: The view through the rod is crystal clear.
Maiman's original ruby laser
Components of original ruby laser
Ruby laser pistol constructed by Stanford Univ. physics professor in 1964 to demonstrate the laser to his classes. The plastic body recycled from a toy raygun contained a ruby rod between two flashtubes (right). The pulse of coherent red light was strong enough to pop blue balloons (shown at left) but not red balloons which reflected the light.
Solid-state laser
Videos
A solid-state laser is a laser that uses a gain medium that is a solid, usually a crystal or glass. Semiconductor-based lasers such as laser diodes are generally excluded, treated as a separate class
Ruby laser
…A ruby laser is a solid-state laser that uses a synthetic ruby crystal as its gain medium. The first working laser was a ruby laser made by Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories…
Laser rods (from left to right): Ruby, alexandrite, Er:YAG, Nd:YAG