special issue

Image credits (top to bottom): American Institute of Physics/Science Photo Library; Emilio Segrè Visual Archives/American Institute of Physics/Science Photo Library; General Electric Research and Development Center, Emilio SThe first commercial laser-disc player, made by Philips, goes on sale.High costs mean the 12-inch disc format never really takes off. Philips hasbetter luck with the audio compact-disc player, which hits the market in 1982Nicolaas Bloembergen and Arthur Schawlow share the Nobel Prize for Physicsfor their “contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy”US President Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” speech reignites interest inweapons-related lasersSteve Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William Phillips develop techniquesfor cooling and trapping atoms using laser light. The trio share the 1997Nobel Prize for PhysicsTAT-8, the first transatlantic fibre-optic cable, is completed, linkingNorth America and Europe. The first fibre-optic cable for inter-officecommunications had appeared 13 years earlier, when police in Dorset, UK,turned to Standard Telephones and Cables after a lightning strike knockedout their radio-transmitting equipmentSlow down! Lasers are used in the UK to inform drivers of excessive speedShuji Nakamura demonstrates the first blue laser diodeResearchers led by Wolfgang Ketterle create the first “atom laser” using aBose--Einstein condensate (BEC). In 2001 he shares the Nobel Prize forPhysics with Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman, who in 1995 had been the firstto observe a BEC in a dilute gas of atomsThe first laser “guide star” is used at the KeckII telescope in HawaiiBlu-ray discs introducedCharles Kao shares the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on fibre opticsExperiments aimed at achieving “ignition” – the break-even point for nuclearfusion – begin at the US National Ignition Facility. The world’s largest laseris expected to reach this milestone within the next two years197819801981198319851988199019941996199720002002200620092010