Jeff Hecht has been writing about lasers and optical technology for since the 1970s. He is contributing editor to Laser Focus World, and a correspondent for New Scientist magazine. His other books include Understanding Lasers, Beam: The Race to Make the Laser, City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics, Understanding Fiber Optics, Optics: Light for a New Age, The Laser Guidebook, and Laser: Supertool of the 1980s. He graduated from Caltech in electrical engineering.