Speaker
Dr
Michael Gaylard
(HartRAO)
Description
The laser was invented 50 years ago, but it was preceded six years earlier by the maser - stimulated emission at microwave frequencies - invented by Charles Townes and colleagues. Although it was not known at the time, nature had beaten them to it. Naturally produced masers are found in space, the first being discovered in 1965 by Weaver and colleagues. These masers occur in clouds of gas and dust in which stars are forming, in clouds around some evolved stars, and near the nuclei of certain galaxies. I shall briefly review natural masers and describe some of the current research that makes use of their properties.
Primary author
Dr
Michael Gaylard
(HartRAO)
