1960

Theodore Maiman

Theodore Maiman operates the first working laser

The article filed here describes a helium–neon gas laser built at Bell Labs in December. Maiman's device was ruby, it was pulsed, and it came seven months earlier.

16 May 1960, Malibu

At Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, Theodore H. Maiman and his collaborators operated the first working laser on 16 May 1960.

A coiled xenon flashlamp excited chromium ions in a synthetic-ruby rod, producing a short pulse of coherent red light at about 6943 ångströms — 694.3 nanometres.

Maiman had questioned claims that ruby was unsuitable for an optical maser, and paired the crystal with intense pulsed pumping. Irnee J. D'Haenens helped build and test the apparatus; Charles K. Asawa contributed to the pulsed optical-pumping approach.

Ruby, not neon; pulsed, not continuous

The topic attached to this listing is the helium–neon laser, which is a different device. That one came out of Bell Labs in December 1960, when Ali Javan, William Bennett and Donald Herriott demonstrated the first gas and continuous-wave laser.

Its output was infrared, near 1150 nm. Maiman's was visible red at 694.3 nm.

The first laser did not emit a continuous beam. It emitted a flash.

Fewer than 300 words in Nature

Maiman's report appeared in Nature on 6 August 1960. It ran to under three hundred words and two simple figures — enough for other laboratories to reproduce and extend the result.

May 16 is the experiment date; August 6 is the publication date, and they are frequently confused.

Several experimental heads were built, so the Smithsonian cautions that the surviving Hughes laser head in its collection may not be the exact unit that emitted the first laser light.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date corrected

How this was checked

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Date corrected. The research places this at 1960-05-16.

What the sources leave uncertain

The date and priority are strongly supported. However, the Smithsonian cautions that the surviving Hughes laser head in its collection may not be the exact unit that emitted the first laser light because several experimental units were made.