Charles H. Townes of coherent radiation, for which he invented the acronym "maser" (for Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation). When the same principle was applied to higher frequencies, the term "laser" was used (the word "light" substituting for the word "microwave"). During 1953, Townes, James P. Gordon, and H. J. Zeiger built the first ammonia maser at Columbia University. This device used stimulated emission in a stream of energized ammonia molecules to produce amplification of microwaves at a frequency of about 24.0 gigahertz. From 1959 to 1961, he was on leave of absence from Columbia University to serve as Vice President
Stimulated emission an atomic or molecular resonance, the spectral line shape function is described as a Lorentzian distribution where formula_12 is the full width at half maximum or FWHM bandwidth. The peak value of the Lorentzian line shape occurs at the line center, formula_13. A line shape function can be normalized so that its value at formula_9 is unity; in the case of a Lorentzian we obtain Thus stimulated emission at frequencies away from formula_9 is reduced by this factor. In practice there may also be broadening of the line shape due to inhomogeneous broadening, most notably due to the Doppler effect