How Did Kumar Patel Make a Breakthrough in Lasers?

Inventors often provide us with great examples of the importance of creativity and persistence. Kumar Patel is one such inventor. An Inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame^®, Patel developed the carbon dioxide laser, or CO2 laser, which is one of the world’s most versatile, efficient and widely used lasers.

Learning and Exploring

Patel was born in Baramati, India, in 1938. His family moved several times during his childhood, and he received his education from tutors who visited his home. When he entered a formal school for the first time at age 11, his advanced test scores placed in grade 10.

In an interview with the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Patel described an early experience that shaped his way of thinking. When he was just 4, he tried using a car jack and found that it could lift his father’s desk off the ground. Intrigued, he spent time exploring how the jack worked. “If you see something and you don't know how it works, figure it out. There may be something there that'll teach you how to look at new problems and new situations in a different light,” Patel said. “That way of looking at the world has stuck with me all my life.”

In 1958, when Patel was 19, he earned his bachelor’s degree in telecommunications from the University of Poona and then moved to the U.S. for graduate school. At Stanford University, he studied electrical engineering, earning his master’s degree in 1959 and his doctorate in 1961.

Creating Unique Solutions

Patel joined Bell Labs in 1961. Here, he began conducting fundamental research in laser action and in the pure rare gases. “Everybody was extolling the virtues of lasers, but the stumbling block was that the lasers at that time did not produce enough power,” Patel recalled. While everyone else was working on a sold-state laser system, he said, “I was the only individual who was an outlier working on gas lasers.” It was his unique research that would lead him toward his invention.

In 1963, Patel discovered laser action on the vibrational-rotational transitions of carbon dioxide. Building on this discovery in 1964, he invented an efficient vibrational energy transfer between molecules, which then led to his invention of the nitrogen CO2 laser. This was the first gas laser to produce high-power radiation continuously.

Patel’s drive to innovate did not stop with the CO2 laser. His pioneering research also led to the creation of a new field of infrared nonlinear optics. In 1969, he invented the spin-flip Raman laser, the first tunable infrared laser, and in 1970, he developed a tunable laser opto-acoustic measurement technique for extremely small concentrations of pollutant gases. In 1973, Patel’s system was used to carry out the first measurement of the temporal variation of concentration of nitric oxide in the stratosphere, producing crucial data regarding ozone depletion by man-made nitrogen oxide emissions.

Today, the CO2 laser has more practical applications than any other kind of laser. It has made possible a broad range of scientific advances, and it also is widely used in industrial applications including cutting, welding, engraving and drilling a variety of materials, from metal to ceramics to plastic. Medical applications include laser surgery, enabling a high degree of precision for many noninvasive procedures. The CO2 laser also has environmental uses including pollution detection, as well as many military and communications applications. Uses for this groundbreaking laser continue to expand.

Making a Lasting Impact

Throughout his career, Patel has built a reputation for opening the door to new areas of innovation and for enthusiastically supporting others’ work. He was named director of Bell Labs’ Electronics Research Lab in the early 1980s. After 32 years at Bell Labs, he then served as vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1993 to 1999. In 2000, he started his own company, Pranalytica Inc., to manufacture mid-infrared quantum cascade laser systems and gas-sensing instruments.

Patel has received many honors for his work, including the IEEE Medal of Honor in 1989 and the National Medal of Science in 1996. His current research interests include spectroscopy of highly transparent liquids and solids, and surgical and medical applications of carbon dioxide lasers.

“Advances in science come not necessarily from solving problems, but from finding the right problems to go after,” Patel said. “The question is, how are you going to spend your time most meaningfully?”

Watch Patel’s Story

For an inspiring look into this groundbreaking inventor’s life and work, watch Patel tell his story in his own words. This exclusive new video was created by the National Inventors Hall of Fame in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

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