Notes:
Originally published: New York : Ticknor & Fields, 1982 under title: Laser, supertool of the 1980s.
C.2 was received with the Mark Pendergrast research collection.
Discusses the application of lasers in weaponry, surgery, manufacturing, fiber optics, and holography, among others.
Crystal and glass lasers (p. 31-34, 41). Fiber optics (p. 81-101, 131). Mirrors (p. 121, 130).
Copy one signed by Jeff Hecht.
Contents:
Introduction: supertool --
Lasers: what they are, how they work --
A laser bestiary: different types of lasers --
The short but tempestuous history of the laser --
Laser medicine: a bright promise --
Laser communication: toward the fibered society --
Death rays...and other weapons --
Making it with a laser: lasers in manufacturing --
The optical ruler: the laser as a measuring stick --
Zapping energy for the twenty-first century --
The laser learns how to read and write --
Holography: a kind of magic --
The laser as artist and entertainer --
Tomorrow or the day after: more frontiers for the laser.
