1. Take us through your background involving lasers — you worked with military contractors first. What did you do that was exciting to share?

My job at Martin company was to design Nd glass and then Nd:YAG laser rangefinders and designators for military aircraft infantry, ground-based vehicles. Many of these advance state-of-art laser systems were used in Vietnam. After Martin and I went to International Laser Systems (ILS) and became the Deputy Program Manager / Chief Laser Engineer for the company's largest production program (Pave Tack) for the US Air Force. I advanced to Program Manager and the Pave Tack program became the first airborne laser designator / rangefinder program that passed all governments testing requirements. This program went into volume production and was extremely successful.

This success launched my career quickly as Vice President of Air Force Programs and Army Programs, then all government programs. Litton, a large government contractor company, was buying technologies and purchased ILS. Litton built a new modern laser manufacturing facility, which I helped design and became the Vice President of Military Programs.

Later, I connected with my previous CEO & President from ILS, Bill Schwartz, who founded Schwartz Electro-Optics, Inc. (SEO). I joined him as Senior Vice President & General Manager to start a new Solid State Laser Division. I worked closely with his new research laser division in Boston. The Boston research group was comprised of talented PhDs who were developing new laser ideas, crystals, and lasers for the scientific and medical arenas, but the group did not have the engineering backgrounds and resources to turn these ideas and prototypes into products.

2. When you went to Schwartz Electro-Optics, Inc. (SEO) you managed the Solid-State Laser Division for their global markets. While there, you invented several new technologies of lasers. Would you describe these?

The research division was working with Wellman Labs and Mass General. The key new laser crystals being investigated for future lasers were the Er:YSGG, CTH:YAG, Er:YAG, Ti Sapphire, Ce:YAG, and others. Our first scientific laser developed as a laboratory laser was called Laser 1-2-3 (1, 2, & 3um wavelengths).

Many units were sold to government research centers, colleges, government contract companies, medical and scientific centers, and worldwide companies. The Laser 1-2-3 ignited the marketplace and made new medical and scientific lasers available. Our first FDA approved medical laser, Trilase, was the first tri-color laser for tattoo removal.

From the success of laser 1-2-3 my team and I developed the Er:YAG CrystaLase CLR 2940, the first FDA approved skin resurfacing laser to enter the market and became known as the "Gold Standard" for dermatology.

The Holmium CTH:YAG, CrystaLase 2100 for angioplasty, orthopedics, and the CrystaLase 755 DP for pigmented and vascular lesions, tattoos, and epidermal was also FDA approved.

3. While at SEO, one of the advanced medical laser systems was called the CrystaLase 2940 CLR. Please describe this laser system now known as the ER:Yag - the gold standard for skin rejuvenation. It was also used for art restoration. Tell us about your experiences with the development of the erbium laser crystal and its use in art restoration.

The erbium crystal formula idea was born out of a discussion with a Russian scientist at an international laser conference. This crystal showed promise to me based upon its medical use characteristics, particularly with its aggressive affinity for water. I worked with this information and discussed making a laser rod out of this material with Bill Schwartz. Bill agreed and I contacted our crystal manufacturer to fabricate an Er:YAG laser rod with our formula and specifications. They would not quote on this rod formula but agreed to grow a boule and fabricate a rod out of it, with no guarantees. When we finally received a rod, we installed it into our standard flashlamp pump cavity, and the erbium laser was created and first introduced in Laser 1-2-3! My division built and sold these products worldwide.

As to art restoration, I worked with a PhD at Duke University and with an art conservator to develop an easily transportable suitcase erbium laser, MonaLaser Light Scalpel, for easy use to work in museums, labs, on scaffoldings, and hard to access areas especially in Europe. I noticed that many of the art pieces the conservators were working on needed much more energy than the Light Scalpel could deliver and this is when I introduced the CrystaLase 2940 CLR which has greater energy per pulse to the art restoration business. The conservator and I worked and trained other world-renown conservators throughout the world. Museums like Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, the J Paul Getty Museum in LA, the New York Metropolitan, and various great museums throughout the US. European places including the Sistine Chapel, various cathedrals, frescos in Pisa, the Bronze Doors of the Duomo in Florence, Da Vinci's paintings, Monet's painting as well as works of art in the Louvre. We patented the actual procedure removing various contaminations using the erbium laser wavelength which can be used on many types of art works (paintings, stone, coins, metals, feathers, paper, statues, plaster). Now this laser wavelength is used for art restoration saving many of the world's art treasures.

4. How do you see the invention of the Er:YAG impacting skin rejuvenation today? Did the Er:YAG lead the market in skin rejuvenation devices?

Bringing the 2940nm Er:YAG laser into the marketplace worldwide started a laser skin rejuvenation frenzy. It's extreme affinity for the OH molecule, hence skin and other materials, is why it is so desired versus the CO2 and other laser wavelengths.

I believe it will continue to be one of the key wavelengths for use in dermatology. As the old flashlamp driven systems expire and the new efficient diode pumped erbium lasers come into being, they will provide a much broader arsenal of products for dermatology and other medical uses.

As a side note: the 2940 erbium wavelength has found many new uses such as glass cutting and diamond etching (Serial Numbering).

Ed is the Chief Operating Officer for BellaMia. He is an innovator in laser devices.