Why was a HAM radio license required to operate early lasers?

[Shealen Fairchild]

TL;DR Summary

In a lecture, Gary Starkweather mentions that a HAM radio license was required to use early lasers. Why was this? Which methods are being referenced?

In a lecture (at 10:24) on the birth of the laser printer, Gary Starkweather mentions that a HAM radio license was required to use early lasers (he finished undergrad in '60). Why was this? (All the following questions are just filling out the primary question.) What were the technologies/materials implementing the early lasers he is referring to? Are there any visual demonstrations available online, or perhaps some texts on laser design from the period he is referencing? I can work forward from there, but any reflections on the difference between modern laser technologies and the older methods Starkweather mentions would of course be appreciated!

 

[berkeman]

I'd rather not watch the video. Can you please quote from it with what you are asking?

 

[Baluncore]

Was that in the USA?

HAM radio in the 1960s were well-prepared to work with lasers.

Early lasers required high voltage power supplies, as used by HAM radio operators who built and maintained vacuum tube transmitters.

Laser radiation was often invisible, and dangerous. That is also true of microwave radiation from radar sets, that were operated by many HAMs during WWII.

 

[Shealen Fairchild]

I'd rather not watch the video. Can you please quote from it with what you are asking?

"those of you who ever used early lasers know you had to get a HAM radio license to run them. because you had to peak(?) the plate, dip the grid, and everything else to get these things to light. there was really no on-switch with these things, it was more like a class-A amplifier." this is the only relevant portion to my question.

(later at 14:15 he mentions 'these were the years of [only the] He-Ne laser')

 

[Shealen Fairchild]

Was that in the USA?

HAM radio in the 1960s were well-prepared to work with lasers.

Early lasers required high voltage power supplies, as used by HAM radio operators who built and maintained vacuum tube transmitters.

Laser radiation was often invisible, and dangerous. That is also true of microwave radiation from radar sets, that were operated by many HAMs during WWII.

i see! so it was more of a 'close-by' credential, given the use of the electromagnetic spectrum as well as early high voltage power supplies. (as opposed to there being a specific set of shared technologies between HAM radios and the internals of early lasers.)

 

[Baluncore]

The parallels are in the training and safe operating procedures.
The cautious awareness, that science you cannot see, can injure and kill.

 

[DaveE]

He is probably actually referring to MASERs, which are microwave amplifiers. The first laser in 1960 was a flashlamp pumped ruby laser. This was followed by a DC pumped HeNe laser.

I don't believe HAM frequencies ever included light, or were necessary for working with HV DC power supplies. But, I was 2 years old when lasers were invented, so I could be wrong.

Many decades later I worked at a company that made CO2 lasers pumped with about 10KW, 80MHz. No one had any radio license. But we did have to comply with EMC standards (in an ISM band).

 

[Baluncore]

I don't believe HAM frequencies ever included light, or were necessary for working with HV DC power supplies.

Amateur radio bands are now allocated up to 250 GHz, λ≈1 mm. Some amateur radio operators work at optical wavelengths, but those wavelengths are not specifically allocated, so are used subject to not causing interference with other services.

The use of masers, for communication, or ranging, has always required an amateur or commercial licence.

Anyone could once work with HV supplies in Australia, but now we have AS 3000. To work with HV, I require an electrical contractor's license, or an HV exemption certificate specifically for an amateur radio operator. I also need a different exemption certificate before I am permitted to change the battery or work in any way on an EV. Those exemption certificates each require attending an annual refresher course for up to one week. There is only one minor problem, there is no course available.
Likewise, a combustion stove can only be installed by a state approved contractor, but there has never been an approved contractor in the state. Anyone who installs a combustion stove is deemed "suitably qualified" until it goes wrong.

 

[gleem]

The FCC is very concerned with the generation of RF interference. IIR a ham license emphasizes the importance of being responsible for and not generating spurious RF signals that will interfere with communication frequencies.