Remarkable Evolution and Progress

T his year marks the 50^th anniversary of the creation of the laser. The first working ruby laser was successfully operated by Theodore H. Maiman on May 16, 1960, at Hughes Research Laboratory. The brief article describing his achievement was published in Nature on August 4, 1960 (1), after first having been rejected by the editors of Physical Review Letters because they were receiving too many articles on masers, and Maiman had recently published an article on the excitation of ruby by light in June 1960 (2 –6). Interestingly, Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes were awarded U.S. Patent No. 2,929,222 on March 22, 1960, for Masers and Maser Communication Systems, based on their work at Bell Telephone Laboratories on infrared and optical masers, which was published in Physical Review in 1958 and originally filed on July 30, 1958 (3). Both researchers theorized and published articles about a laser, an invention that would use infrared or visible-spectrum light, or both; however, they did not proceed with any research at the time (4).

Good reason exists to believe that Gordon Gould made the first light laser. He was the first person to use the word “laser.” Gould was intrigued by the idea of the laser (5, 6). He was a doctoral student at Columbia University under Charles Townes. He had his now-famous notebook that contained his initial ideas for the laser notarized in November 1957. Gould was inspired to build his optical laser, starting in 1958. While studying at Columbia University, and later at Technical Research Group (TRG), Gould had the chance to develop and extend his ideas about the laser and its capabilities. He did not file for a patent for his invention until 1959. As a result, Gould's patent was refused, and his technology was exploited by others. It took until 1977 for Gordon Gould to win his patent war and receive his first patent for the laser (6).

Charles Townes had invented the maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) by using ammonia gas and microwave radiation in 1954. He was granted a patent for the maser on March 24, 1959 (7). He asked Arthur Schawlow, his brother-in-law, to help in his progress toward the laser in October of 1957. They both pursued this vision quite ardently, and Townes had engaged a number of graduate students in this attempt (5, 6, 8).

I was privileged to meet Professor Townes, at the time, 95 years of age, at the 30^th Anniversary of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery in Phoenix, Arizona (C.H. Townes, personal communication, 4/16/10). He recounted the history of this tremendous achievement and noted that many of his colleagues and superiors were convinced that he could not succeed. He said that his department chair and the dean had visited his laboratory and asked him to stop wasting his time and the money of the department and the university on something that was “impossible.” Townes quipped that because he was a full professor, he couldn't be fired “just because I was ‘stupid’,” and he continued to pursue his quest. He also indicated that he and Schawlow had a good deal of difficulty in convincing the patent lawyers at Bell Laboratories that the discovery was important, because they were convinced that the laser would never be used in the telecommunications industry (C.H. Townes, personal communication, 4/16/10).

Townes recounted:

“When the first laser appeared, scientists and engineers were not really prepared for it. Many people said to me—partly as a joke but also as a challenge—that the laser was ‘a solution looking for a problem.’ But by bringing together optics and electronics, lasers opened up vast new fields of science and technology. And many different laser types and applications came along quite soon. … [B]efore long, the laser's distinctive qualities—its ability to generate an intense, very narrow beam of light of a single wavelength—were being harnessed for science, technology and medicine. Today, lasers are everywhere: from research laboratories at the cutting edge of quantum physics to medical clinics, supermarket checkouts and the telephone network.” (8; C.H. Townes, personal communication, 4/16/10).

Our science and, indeed, our Journal owe a great debt of gratitude to the pioneering efforts of Maiman, Schawlow, Townes, Gould, and the numerous others who have provided us with the tools for our research and clinical pursuits, as well as other applications that continue to enrich our lives. Photomedicine and Laser Surgery has also served as a vehicle to chronicle advances in clinical and basic research in this burgeoning field. It is my pleasure to serve as the Editor of this Journal and to contribute to the advancement of science and practice.

The Journal has moved into an entirely new growth phase, because of the strong participation and hard work on the part of our authors, reviewers, and the editorial board. Examples of our progress and evolution over the past few years are numerous. Our impact factor has grown from 1.074 to 1.785 in 2008. Submissions are continually increasing and have grown by 32% in the last 2 years. The number of pages in the Journal has increased steadily, from 622 pages in 2008 to 982 pages in 2009. The entire Journal content is now archive accessible online. This includes 28 volumes, 162 issues, 2,170 articles, and 9,606 pages of content, to date. Our accessible content is constantly growing! The volume of downloads increased 26% between 2008 and 2009.

Given the tremendous growth of the journal, I am pleased to announce that we will increase our frequency to monthly publication, effective in 2011. Our success has resulted in a significant number of manuscripts pouring in to Manuscript Central each week. This enormous volume creates a large backlog with which we must deal in the meantime. We are making some necessary changes that will address the manuscript surplus and ensure that only the very best are published in our Journal. We will publish two large theme-based online supplements later this year to clear the backlog of articles. You will also notice ongoing process and quality-improvement initiatives being rolled out in the coming months.

We are implementing a plan that will raise the criteria for peer review and acceptance of manuscripts, increase editorial office efficiency, and clear the backlog of already-accepted manuscripts awaiting publication. Each new manuscript submission will be pre-assessed for overall quality, importance, and novelty and will be moved into peer review or rejected accordingly. The implementation of this prescreening tool will ease the burden on our reviewers and will result in a higher-quality Journal overall. The process for handling those manuscripts that require author revisions based on initial peer review also is being streamlined. Manuscripts will be rejected, rather than going through many rounds of revision and repeated review in those cases in which the first revision does not bring the manuscript to or very near the level of immediate acceptance and further major revisions would be required.

These changes will ensure a higher-quality journal and will result in an improved resource for the members of WALT and NAALT and our readers in more than 140 countries around the world. We are truly fortunate to receive and publish high-quality scientific information. Our continued growth and success are part of the revolution that lasers have brought to mankind. Thank you for your continued support of our Journal and this effort.