The year 2010 marks the 50th birthday of the laser and 40th year since the discovery of the supercontinuum, a light having both high spatial coherence and broad spectral bandwidth. These anniversaries will be observed at CUNY Laser Intellectual Property Day, an open house event for laser companies and scientists, to be held Wednesday, April 21, by the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL) at The City College of New York (CCNY). "In the 40 years since the discovery of the supercontinuum, IUSL has conducted extensive research and development of supercontinuum laser sources as well as tunable lasers for a wide range of applications," said Dr. Robert R. Alfano, Director of IUSL and CUNY Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering. "We are holding this special day to highlight laser technology available for licensing by laser companies." The event, which is supported by the Office of CCNY Provost Zeev Dagan, will include: presentations from CUNY Vice Chancellor for Research Gillian Small, the CUNY technology transfer office, faculty members, companies and inventors; a tour of City College’s laser and crystal-growing facilities, and discussions with inventors and the technology transfer officer.More on this story.