Ruby laser weaknesses in the lining. Ruby lasers were used extensively in tattoo and hair removal, but are being replaced by alexandrite and s in this application. The ruby laser was the first laser to be made functional. Built by Theodore Maiman in 1960, the device was created out of the concept of an "optical maser," a maser that could operate in the visual or infrared regions of the spectrum. In 1958, after the inventor of the maser, Charles Townes, and his colleague, Arthur Schawlow, published an article in the "Physical Review" regarding the idea of optical masers, the race to build
Central Laser Facility laser development. DiPOLE is the brainchild of that project. The Vulcan is the first operational laser at the CLF. By 1997, when a new director was appointed, M. H. R. Hutchinson, formerly of Imperial College London, CLF was also operating a second laser, the Titania, at that time said to be the world brightest krypton fluoride laser. The Vulcan is the world's most powerful laser user facility. It emits a light beam in the petawatts. The construction of the core of the Vulcan was carried out by Kvaerner Engineering and Construction to specifications on par with those in the nuclear