The first published report of using a pulsed laser to simulate the effects of ionizing radiation on microelectronic devices dates back to 1965. In that study, nanosecond pulses (10–9 seconds) from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser were used to simulate dose-rate effects (the type of effect that would be encountered from a nuclear detonation) on integrated circuits.
Although the potential for focusing a laser beam onto individual transistors in more complex devices was also realized at this time, no one thought about applying this technique to the study of cosmic-ray-induced single-event effects because no one had yet witnessed single-event effects in microelectronic devices.
In fact, the first confirmed on-orbit upsets from heavy ions were not reported until 1975. These upsets were attributed to galactic cosmic rays triggering J-K flip-flops on a communications satellite (a J-K flip-flop is a basic two-state memory component).
A limited amount of work was performed in this area in the late 1970s and early 1980s; however, by the mid-1980s, researchers from a number of different laboratories had opened the investigation into the potential of picosecond laser pulses for simulating cosmic-ray-induced single-event effects in microelectronic devices. By the latter part of the 1980s, picosecond laser pulses were being used to simulate transient radiation effects at the Naval Weapons Center, Naval Research Laboratory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and at various defense contractors and laboratories around the world.