| Citation | Distinguished for his contributions to the development of new types of gas lasers, to the understanding of their mechanisms and to their exploitation in industrial and medical applications. In particular he has been responsible for the discovery of some thirty charge-transfer-excited laser transitions; he was the first to apply flowing afterglow techniques to study excitation in charge transfer reactions; he has developed new discharge devices for metal ions and rare-gas halide (RGH) lasers and introduced automatic pre-ionization and gas lifetime extension techniques for RGH lasers. Particularly original and significant has been his world-first demonstration of transversely excited copper vapour lasers and their consequent development and extensive use in such fields as isotope separation. Dr Webb has contributed to fundamental theory, to experimental technique and through his founding of the company 'Oxford Lasers' to the practical realisation of lasers having commercial applications. |