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 given by where the proportionality constant "B" is known as the "Einstein B coefficient" for that particular transition, and "ρ"("ν") is the radiation density of the incident field at frequency "ν". The rate of emission is thus proportional to the number of atoms in the excited state "N", and to the density of incident photons. At the same time, there will be a process of atomic absorption which "removes" energy from the field while raising electrons from the lower state to the upper state. Its rate is given by an essentially identical equation, The rate of absorption is thus proportional