OVERVIEW

Revolutions in optics are infrequent. Most of this discipline's history has involved slow evolution in understanding and technological improvements. Lasers, however, have caused a revolution in several applications. First, they have provided impetus for advancements in many areas of EO. They provide unique diagnostic capabilities essential for producing high-quality systems, evaluating effluents from exhausts and aerosols, diagnosing optical defects in the human eye, and thousands of other applications. EO systems provide a high-quality, stable alignment reference source and allow lens and mirror quality testing using laser interferometry. They have led to the development of several applications that would be unthinkable using conventional light sources. Fields such as optical communications and active tracking would be impossible without the unique features of lasers. The spectral purity and compactness of lasers have allowed a number of medical advancements, including those used in eye surgery, elimination of damaged tissue (e.g., gall bladders), and cleaning of clogged arteries.

Finally, lasers, along with television, have been one of the few EO advances to become a part of the lexicon of the average citizen. The invention of lasers in the early 1960s led immediately to the idea of "death ray beams" such as Buck Rogers would have used. Their enormous brightness and spectral purity have changed many parts of the electro-optics environment and have provided, after about 30 years of development, new advancements in consumer electronics such as CDs, laser printers, and high-performance semiconductors that can be created only with high-performance laser lithography.

As a result...