Timeline of United States inventions (1946–91) of the United States Geological Survey. 1960 Gas laser A gas laser is a laser in which an electric current is discharged through a gas to produce light. The first gas laser, the Helium-neon, was invented by William R. Bennett, Don Herriott, and Ali Javan in 1960. The first continuous visible gas laser, operating at 632.8 nm in the red, was invented by A. D. White and J. D. Rigden in 1962. 1961 Spreadsheet (electronic) 1961 Wearable computer 1961 Frozen carbonated beverage 1961 Biofeedback 1962 Communications satellite 1962 Chimney starter 1962 Light-emitting diode A light-emitting-diode (LED) is a semiconductor diode
Light-emitting diode developed a white LED with luminous efficacy of 150 lm/W at a forward current of 20 mA. Cree's XLamp XM-L LEDs, commercially available in 2011, produce 100 lm/W at their full power of 10 W, and up to 160 lm/W at around 2 W input power. In 2012, Cree announced a white LED giving 254 lm/W, and 303 lm/W in March 2014. Practical general lighting needs high-power LEDs, of one watt or more. Typical operating currents for such devices begin at 350 mA. These efficiencies are for the light-emitting diode only, held at low temperature in a lab. Since LEDs