Using Laser Technology in Today's World

HOBOKEN, N.J. - Albert Einstein first conceptualized lasers in 1917. Forty-one years later, Gordon Gould would invent the first laser. Today, lasers are used in CD players, for defense and military systems, and even communications. But not many consumers realize the importance of laser technology in their everyday life.

On the next edition of Technogenesis, Rainer Martini, professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, and Federico Capasso, professor at Harvard University and co-inventor of the Quantum Cascade Laser, join Stevens President Dr. Harold Raveche in a foray into the exciting world of laser technology, and its modern applications.

Technogenesis is a weekly TV program produced by Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens), in cooperation with cn8, the Comcast Network. This week's program will examine the new developments in laser technology, as well as the advancements in laser application.

The Technogenesis program, "The Multifaceted Uses of Laser Technology," airs at 7:00 p.m., on cn8, the Comcast Network, each of the following Sundays throughout New Jersey, Westchester County, New York, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston: December 21, January 4, and January 18. The program will also appear at various times throughout the week on the local Comcast outlets in Prince William and Fairfax counties, Va., as well as Prince George's County, Md. Please check for local listings.

Hosted by Stevens President Dr. Harold J. Raveche and veteran TV journalist Steve Taylor, each program includes special guests from the areas of science, technology, government, education, business or industry.

Rainer Martini studied Physics at the University in Bonn before completing his PhD at The Technical University in Aachen. It was here that he studied terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, a new and growing research field with many promising applications. In 1999 he joined Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ on a grant from Lucent technologies, where he studied the communication applications of the Quantum Cascade Laser. He is currently an assistant professor at Stevens, leading the newly formed laboratory for ultra-fast laser spectroscopy and communication.

Federico Capasso is the Robert Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University. After completing his PhD in physics at the University in Rome, Italy, he migrated to America where he began his 26-year-long career at Bell Laboratories. Dr. Capasso is most famous for his designs of man-made, artificial semiconductor materials, and most recently, his co-invention of the Quantum Cascade Laser. He has received multiple awards for his work, including: the Franklin Institute's Physics Medal, the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics (UK), the Leonardo da Vinci Prize of Excellence (France), the Welker Gold Medal from Siemens Inc, (Germany), the Materials Research Medal, the Woods Prize of the Optical Society of America, The Willis Lamb Medal for Laser Physics, the New York Academy of Sciences Award, the IEEE David Sarnoff Award in Electronics, the IEEE Streifer Award of the Laser and Electroptics Society, and the Newcomb Clevelan Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Co-produced by Stevens and Comcast, the half-hour Technogenesis programs feature government, research and industry leaders discussing some of the most challenging real-world issues facing science and technology today.

The cn8 Comcast Network is one of the nation's largest regional cable networks reaching more than 8 million households in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Boston.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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