It took thirty years from the early demonstration of optical pumping of semiconductor lasers in the 1960’s to the first modern Vertical-External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser, VECSEL, in the 1990’s. It took another thirty years to today’s flourishing of these lasers, with their multitude of operating characteristics and applications. This talk reviews this history, with the emphasis on our work in a small startup company Micracor in the 1990’s, that brought these lasers from scientific curiosity to the powerful tool of science and technology today.
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