Page 9 - Handbook of Lasers

The Author

Marvin John Weber received his education at the University of California, Berkeley,
and was awarded the A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in physics. After graduation, Dr.
Weber continued as a postdoctoral Research Associate and then joined the Research Division
of the Raytheon Company where he was a Principal Scientist working in the areas of
spectroscopy and quantum electronics. As Manager of Solid State Lasers, his group
developed many new laser materials including rare-earth-doped yttrium orthoaluminate.
While at Raytheon, he also discovered luminescence in bismuth germanate, a scintillator
crystal widely used for the detection of high energy particles and radiation.

During 1966 to 1967, Dr. Weber was a Visiting Research Associate with Professor
Arthur Schawlow's group in the Department of Physics, Stanford University.

In 1973, Dr. Weber joined the Laser Program at the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory. As Head of Basic Materials Research and Assistant Program Leader, he was
responsible for the physics and characterization of optical materials for high-power laser
systems used in inertial confinement fusion research. From 1983 to 1985, he accepted a
transfer assignment with the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of
Energy in Washington, DC, where he was involved with planning for advanced synchrotron
radiation facilities and for atomistic computer simulations of materials. Dr. Weber returned
to the Chemistry and Materials Science Department at LLNL in 1986 and served as
Associate Division Leader for condensed matter research and as spokesperson for the
University of California/National Laboratories research facilities at the Stanford Synchrotron
Radiation Laboratory. He retired from LLNL in 1993 and is presently a scientist in the
Center for Functional Imaging of the Life Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory.

Dr. Weber is Editor-in-Chief of the multi-volume CRC Handbook Series of Laser
Science and Technology. He has also served as Regional Editor for the Journal of Non-
Crystalline Solids, as Associate Editor for the Journal of Luminescence and the Journal of
Optical Materials, and as a member of the International Editorial Advisory Boards of the
Russian journals Fizika i Khimiya Stekla (Glass Physics and Chemistry) and Kvantovaya
Elektronika (Quantum Electronics).

Among several honors he has received are an Industrial Research IR-100 Award for
research and development of fluorophosphate laser glass, the George W. Morey Award of the
American Ceramics Society for his basic studies of fluorescence, stimulated emission and the
atomic structure of glass, and the International Conference on Luminescence Prize for his
research on the dynamic processes affecting luminescence efficiency and the application of this
knowledge to laser and scintillator materials.

Dr. Weber is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America,
and the American Ceramics Society and has been a member of the Materials Research
Society and the American Association for Crystal Growth.

©2001 CRC Press LLC