Arthur Maitland was born on 7 December 1928 in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He gained his BSc Physics degree in 1956 as a part-time student studying for a

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

External Degree. In 1972

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, whom he was employed as a researcher and lecturer in 1963, awarded him a DSc degree on the basis of his published papers on ionised gases. At the time he was also working for several electrical engineering companies. He was an influential figure, founding the laser research department at St Andrews University in 1964. He led a group of 14 physicists there working in the areas of lasers and their applications, gas discharge tubes, ionised gases, optical methods of

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as sound, images, and scientific measurements. Signal processing techniques are used to optimize transmissions, ...

, and applications of ionised gases to fast switching (see

Thyratron A thyratron is a type of gas-filled tube used as a high-power electrical switch and controlled rectifier. Thyratrons can handle much greater currents than similar hard-vacuum tubes. Electron multiplication occurs when the gas becomes ionized, p ...

s). He became Professor of Physics at St Andrews in 1993. Professor Maitland was a fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physic ...

, and published over 40 research papers on

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...

s, ionised gases and fast switching, and was co-author of ''Laser Physics'' (North Holland), ''Vacuum as an Insulator'' (Chapman and Hall) and posthumously contributing a chapter to ''High Voltage Vacuum Insulation'' (Academic Press). He also held 40 patents and was a consultant for the gas tubes division of EEV Co., Chelmsford, England and Nobel's Explosives Company Ltd. He died of cancer on 30 June 1994, aged 65. At St Andrews University he very quickly established a group working on

gas laser A gas laser is a laser in which an electric current is discharged through a gas to produce coherent light. The gas laser was the first continuous-light laser and the first laser to operate on the principle of converting electrical energy to a lase ...

s. Professor Maitland recognised that the gas-discharge laser had enormous potential for practical use. Through his ground breaking research into the physics of gas-discharge lasers, Professor Maitland invented several methods for generating gas-discharge based lasers. Professor Arthur Maitland is credited with the invention of apparatus capable of forming a beam of electrons.The link for this patent is attached to this article.

Footnotes and references

References

Plasma state devices
University of St Andrews

English physicists Laser science 1928 births 1994 deaths Academics of the University of St Andrews People from Blackburn {{UK-physicist-stub