The International Conference on Lasers and Applications, Lasers 'XX was an annual conference organized by the former Society for Optical and Quantum Electronics. The conference, known in short by ''Lasers 'XX'' (where XX refers to the particular year), was held at various locations in The United States from 1978 to 2000. The emphasis of these conferences was laser development and in particular the development of high-power lasers. The papers delivered at these conferences were published in a series of hard-bound volumes known as ''Proceedings of the International Conference on Lasers 'XX'' () by STS Press. In total, more than 20 book proceedings were published. A particular feature of these conferences was the organization of high-power panel discussions on timely topics of interest, such as the role of lasers in

directed energy A directed-energy weapon (DEW) is a ranged weapon that damages its target with highly focused energy without a solid projectile, including lasers, microwaves, particle beams, and sound beams. Potential applications of this technology include ...

and the

Strategic Defense Initiative The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the "''Star Wars'' program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons ( intercontinental ballist ...

(SDI), during the presidency of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

.C. P. Wang, ''Proceedings of the International Conference on Lasers '85'' (STS Press, McLean, VA, 1986).F. J. Duarte, ''Proceedings of the International Conference on Lasers '87'' (STS Press, Mc Lean, VA, 1988). Noted physicists, including

Edward Teller Edward Teller ( hu, Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller–Ulam design), although he did not care for ...

and

Arthur Kantrowitz Arthur Robert Kantrowitz (October 20, 1913 – November 29, 2008) was an American scientist, engineer, and educator. Kantrowitz grew up in The Bronx and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School.Overbye, Dennis"Arthur R. Kantrowitz, Whos ...

, participated in these discussions. Towards the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

this conference enjoyed the participation of numerous Soviet laser physicists, including prominent authors such as

Alexander Prokhorov Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov (born Alexander Michael Prochoroff, russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Про́хоров; 11 July 1916 – 8 January 2002) was an Australian-born Soviet-Russian physicist known ...

and Nikolay Basov.

F. J. Duarte Francisco Javier "Frank" Duarte (born c. 1954) is a laser physicist and author/editor of several books on tunable lasers. His research on physical optics and laser development has won several awards, including an Engineering Excellence Award in ...

''Laser Physicist'' (Optics Journal, New York, 2012).
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A partial list of plenary and invited speakers include (in chronological order): * Amnon Yariv, * John Madey, * Charles K. Rhodes, * Kumar Patel, *

Robert Alfano Robert Alfano is an Italian-American experimental physicist. He is a Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering at the City College and Graduate School of New York of the City University of New York, where he is also the founding Direc ...

, * Marlan Scully, * Colin Webb, * Charles A. Brau, * David C. Hanna,R. C. Sze and F. J. Duarte, ''Proceedings of the International Conference on Lasers '88'' (STS Press, McLean, VA, 1989). *

Serge Haroche Serge Haroche (born 11 September 1944) is a French-Moroccan physicist who was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics jointly with David J. Wineland for "ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual q ...

, * Julian Schwinger, *

William T. Silfvast William Thomas Silfvast is an American physicist well known for his contributions to gas discharge lasers,F. J. Duarte, ''Tunable Laser Optics'' (Elsevier-Academic, New York, 2003). soft x-ray lasers, and as the author of the influential textbo ...

, * S. E. Harris,F. J. Duarte and D. G. Harris, ''Proceedings of the International Conference on Lasers '91'' (STS Press, McLean, VA, 1992). * L. M. Narducci, * Willis Lamb, *

Norman F. Ramsey Norman Foster Ramsey Jr. (August 27, 1915 – November 4, 2011) was an American physicist who was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics, for the invention of the separated oscillatory field method, which had important applications in the const ...

,V. J. Corcoran, ''Proceedings of the International Conference on Lasers '93'' (STS Press, McLean, VA, 1994). *

,V. J. Corcoran, ''Proceedings of the International Conference on Lasers '95'' (STS Press, McLean, VA, 1996). * Theodor W. Hänsch, * Carl E. Wieman, * David J. Wineland, * Anthony E. Siegman, Besides the emphasis on high-power lasers and panel discussions on this subject, many scientific disclosures made at these conferences went on to contribute to, or to inspire, further research in a variety of fields including: * X-ray laser sources * Tunable solid state lasers * Tm:YAG lasers * Rare gas halide lasers * Solid-state organic lasers * Laser dye photostability * Laser crystals * Lasing without population inversion * Electromagnetically induced transparency * Optics communications * Digital imaging * Holography * Faraday filters * Fiber fusesR. Kashyap, The fiber fuse - from a curious effect to a critical issue: a 25th year perspective, ''Optics Express'' 21, 6422-6441 (2013). From ''Lasers '88'' to ''Lasers '96'', the prestigious Einstein Prize for Laser Science was awarded.

References

{{reflist

External links: conference photographs

Edward Teller gives press conference at ''Lasers'87''
including, right to left, Marlan Scully, Willis Lamb,

John L. Hall John Lewis "Jan" Hall (born August 21, 1934) is an American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics. He shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics with Theodor W. Hänsch and Roy Glauber for his work in precision spectroscopy. Biography Born ...

, and

.
Group photograph at ''Lasers'93''
including (right to left)

, Marlan Scully, and

.
Group photograph at ''Lasers'95''
including (right to left) Marlan Scully, Theodor W. Hänsch, Carl E. Wieman, and

. Academic conferences Cold War Lasers Laser awards and associations Missile defense Science events Soviet Union–United States relations