A laser is a device that causes atoms or molecules to

emit light at specific wavelengths and then amplifies that

light to produce an extremely narrow beam of radiation.
 The emission typically spans a narrow spectrum of
visible, infrared, and ultraviolet wavelengths
using polarization of light.
 Distinct types of lasers with very disparate properties
have been produced.
 The acronym LASER stands for Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
 When electrons in the atoms and nuclei of photonic
materials such as glass, crystal, or gas absorb
energy from an electrical current or light, a laser is
produced.
 The extra energy excites the electrons enough to
move them from a lower-energy orbit around the
nucleus to a higher-energy orbit.
WORKING OF A LASER
 The equipment has all the elements needed to make a
laser work effectively.
 The ruby laser consists of a ruby crystal medium, a
set of mirrors on either end or a flash tube stimulant.
 When a current is run through a ruby crystal,
electrons are excited, and the excited electrons excite
other electrons, resulting in a collective electron
state.
 When an electron reaches its ground state energy, it
emits photons, which are collected to produce a
powerful beam of light known as a laser.
 Initially, an electric current is applied to switch on and
off the flashlight, which excites the electrons in the
ruby crystals.
 When these excited electrons in the high-energy state
return to the ground state, they spontaneously
generate a photon of light.
 These photons bounce off the reflectors and excite
additional electrons into high-energy states as they
pass through the medium. By increasing emission,
this mechanism produces additional photons.
 Because there are now more excited electrons than
ground electrons, a population inversion occurs.
 The photons continue to bounce back and forth
between the medium’s two mirrors, but one of the
mirrors is less reflective and lets some light through.
  Photons emitted by the mirror are condensed into a
laser beam.

LASER WAVELENGTH
 The laser wavelength is an essential factor for energy
transfer efficiency, damage impact, and fractionation
effects.
 Laser ultraviolet light has wavelengths ranging from
180 to 400 nm.
 The visible zone contains light with wavelengths
ranging from 400 to 700 nm.
 This is what we call visible light.
 The infrared part of the spectrum contains photons
with wavelengths ranging from 700 nm to 1 mm.
PROPERTIES OF A LASERS
 When compared to regular light, laser light has
various distinct qualities that distinguish it.
 Those properties are,

has only one color or wavelength.

Ordinary light sources emit light with varying energy,
frequencies, wavelengths, or colors. Laser light, on the
other hand, has a single wavelength or color.
The usual monochromatic light source has a bandwidth of
1000Hz. However, the bandwidth of a typical light source
is 10Hz. The bandwidth is 10 to 8Hz for a sensitive laser
source.


If two or more waves of the same frequency are in
the same phase or have a consistent phase
difference, they are said to be coherent.

A light ray from a normal light source goes in all
directions, while laser light only travels in one. Even
though it travels less than a kilometer, a laser light
spreads across a few millimeters.

Laser light is much brighter than regular light. A 1 mW
He-Ne laser is more powerful than the sun.

TYPES OF LASERS
There are five basic types of lasers:
GAS LASERS
 A gas laser is a laser that generates light by passing
an electric current through a gas via a process called
population inversion.
 Carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers, helium-neon lasers,
argon lasers, krypton lasers, and excimer lasers are
examples of gas lasers.
 Gas lasers are utilized in a broad range of
applications, including holography, spectroscopy,
barcode scanning, measuring air pollution, material
processing, and laser surgery.
 CO2 lasers are the most well-known gas lasers, and
they are mostly used for laser marking, cutting, and
welding.
 Gas lasers use a low-pressure gas mixture as an
active medium.
 Most gas lasers are excited by passing an electric
current through the gas, delivered by electrodes
placed at opposite ends of the tube.
 The helium-neon laser (or HeNe laser) is a common
gas laser that produces light in the visible spectrum
at a wavelength of 632.8 nm.
 HeNe laser cavities contain a mixture of helium and
neon gas.
 The helium atoms are excited by an applied current
and then collide with neon atoms to excite them to the
state that causes the 632.8 nm radiation.
 Other examples of gas lasers include the carbon
dioxide (CO2 ) laser, which is a high-efficiency laser
that operates in the infrared band.
 Carbon dioxide lasers are commonly used for
industrial applications such as welding & cutting.
 Excimer lasers are a type of gas laser that rely on the
excitation of “dimer” molecules, such as argon
fluoride, that are stable only in the excited state.
 Excimer lasers were first demonstrated in mid-1970s
and are capable of removing extremely fine layers of
surface material by breaking molecular bonds
without burning or heating the surrounding area.
  For this reason, excimer lasers are well suited for
precision etching of plastics or semiconductor
circuits, as well as delicate eye surgery such as
LASIK.

 An advantage of gas lasers over other laser types is

that the gas medium tends to be both relatively
inexpensive and largely resistant to damage.
 However, gas lasers are also typically larger than
other types due to the low density of the medium.

SOLID-STATE LASERS

 The source of optical gain in solid-state lasers is a

solid combined with a rare earth element.
 Typically, the combined element is neodymium,
chromium, erbium, thulium, or yttrium.
 The ruby laser is the most well-known solid-state
laser since it was the first laser ever built. The Nd:
YAG laser is also widely used in material processing.
 Solid-state lasers are also employed in LIDAR
technology and a variety of medical applications such
as tattoo and hair removal, tissue ablation, and kidney
stone treatment.
 Solid-state lasers use an active medium consisting of
a solid crystalline or glass rod (known as the host)
containing light-emitting atoms (the active species).
 The first laser ever built was a solid-state laser using
synthetic ruby, which is corundum (aluminum oxide
crystal) with chromium as an active species.
 In most solid-state laser materials, the active species
is identified first (typically by its chemical symbol),
followed by the host material. For example, the
Ti:sapphire laser consists of titanium atoms in
sapphire crystal.
 Both the active species and the host are important in
solid-state lasers.
 The active species determines the laser transition,
but its interactions with the host may shift the
wavelength slightly.
 Neodymium (Nd) is commonly used as an active
species in solid-state laser crystals. For example, the
Nd:YAG (neodymium-yttrium aluminum garnet) is one
of the most common types of laser, with applications
in research, medicine, manufacturing, and other
fields.
FIBER LASERS

 A fiber laser is a form of solid-state laser that is

distinct from others. The gain medium in fiber lasers
is an optical fiber combined with a rare-earth
element.
 The optical fiber’s light guiding capabilities are what
distinguishes this form of laser: the laser beam is
straighter and narrower than with other types of
lasers, making it more accurate.
 Fiber lasers are also well-known for their tiny size,
high electrical efficiency, cheap maintenance, and low
operating costs.
 Fiber lasers are utilized in a variety of applications
such as material processing, medical, and directed
 energy weaponry. Fiber lasers with ytterbium and
erbium doping are examples of these uses.

LIQUID LASERS

 The medium of liquid lasers is an organic dye in liquid

form. Dye lasers are also utilized in laser treatment,
spectroscopy, birthmark removal, and isotope
separation.
 One advantage of dye lasers is that they can create a
significantly larger variety of wavelengths, making
them suitable candidates for tunable lasers, which
can adjust the wavelength while in operation.
 Lasers, for example, are adjusted to precise atomic
resonances in laser isotope separation.
 They are then set to a certain isotope to ionize the
atoms, converting them to neutral rather than
negatively or positively charged states. They are then
separated using an electric field, a process known as
isotope separation.

SEMICONDUCTOR LASER

 Laser diodes, also known as diode lasers and

semiconductor lasers, share a positively-negatively
(PN) charged junction with normal diodes.
 The distinction is that laser diodes feature an inherent
layer at the PN junction composed of materials that
produce spontaneous emission.
 The intrinsic layer is polished, which amplifies the
produced photons, transforming the electric current
into laser light.
 A laser diode that emits light and is intended to be fed
into a fiber laser.
 Laser diodes are quite prevalent. They are found in
barcode readers, laser pointers, laser printers.
 Commonly known as laser diodes, operate using the
same basic principles as light emitting diodes, but
with some important differences. Like an LED, a laser
diode consists of two semiconductor layers, an n-type
with an excess of electrons and a p-type with
electron “holes” to be filled.
 The semiconductor layers are separated by a
microscopic region called the active layer that serves
as the optical resonator. Laser diodes operate at
much higher currents than LEDs, typically around ten
times greater.
 Whereas an LED emits photons in all directions from
its junction layer, a laser diode is configured with
reflective ends to form an optical resonator in the
region between the semiconductor layers. In a laser
diode, stimulated emission occurs when a photon
 emitted by one electron transition triggers another
electron to fill a hole, and so on, resulting in a
coherent beam of light that emerges from one side of
the diode.
 Laser diodes are compact and easy to mass-produce.
In terms of sheer numbers, they are the most
common type of laser.
 Their small size makes them well suited for use in
low-power applications such as laser pointers, laser
printers, and CD/DVD players.
 Laser diodes can also be operated at lower voltages
than other types of lasers.

 While gas and solid-state lasers require input

voltages on the order of kilovolts, laser diodes can be
operated at only a few volts.
 Laser diodes are typically not as collimated as beams
from other types of lasers.

 In many cases, an external lens is used to correct the

shape of the beam, which contributes to the overall
 fragility of the laser since damage to the lens could
render it non-functional.
 Furthermore, the delicate nature of the
semiconductors makes laser diodes more sensitive to
static discharges and currents.
 Excess electrical current can cause the diode to
become inoperable.
 Laser diodes can also degrade in power efficiency
over time, gradually requiring more power to output
the same beam intensity.

APPLICATIONS OF A LASER
 Lasers are used for a variety of applications in
scientific, medical, industrial, and commercial field.
 The output power and wavelength of a laser
determines the kind of applications for which it is
most appropriate.
SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS LASER SPECTROSCOPY
 Laser spectroscopy is a branch of spectroscopy in
which a laser is used to illuminate the sample being
studied in order to determine a precise absorption
spectrum.
 The 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in part
to Nicolaas Bloembergen and Arthur Schawlow for
the development of laser spectroscopy.
 Due to their high degree of monochromaticity, lasers
output a much narrower band of wavelengths than
conventional light sources, allowing researchers
greater precision in identifying the precise
wavelengths that have been absorbed.

 Infrared absorption spectroscopy, involving

wavelengths of a few micrometers, is a reliable
technique for identifying organic compounds.
CONFOCAL LASER SCANNING MICROSCOPY
 Lasers can also be used as part of microscopes,
 Confocal laser scanning microscopy, or CLSM, is a
technique that reconstructs a three-dimensional
rendition of the specimen. First, a laser beam is
 focused onto a single point on a two-dimensional
“slice” of the sample to be imaged. Mirrors are then
used to scan the laser back and forth everywhere
along that two-dimensional plane.
 As the laser scans, molecules illuminated by the
laser light undergo fluorescence and emit light that is
refocused through a pinhole aperture to be collected
by a sensor. An amplifier is then used to convert the
intensity of the emitted light into an electrical signal .
 The information collected about each section of the
object is then used to create the three-dimensional
model of the specimen.
 The basic principle of confocal scanning microscopy
was first developed by Marvin Minsky, a Harvard
postdoctoral Northwest Pa. Collegiate Academy.
 Today, CLSM is used to conduct routine investigations
on molecules, cells, and living tissues that were not
possible even a few years ago.
MANIPULATING TINY OBJECTS
 Optical Tweezers Laser light is not only useful for
probing matter at microscopic length scales, it can
also be used to confine matter for experimental
purposes.
 A confocal laser scanning microscope. forces on
microscopic particles.
  This discovery led to the development of optical
tweezers, which are scientific instruments that use a
tightly focused beam of laser light to hold
microscopic particles stable in three dimensions.
 The beam can then be used to move these particles
around, similar to the way a pair of tweezers can be
used to manipulate small objects.
 The optical tweezing effect was demonstrated by
Ashkin and other colleagues in 1986.
 A primary application of optical tweezers is studying
the properties of DNA.
 Scientists have measured the elasticity of DNA as
well as the amount of force needed to break bonds
within a DNA molecule. DNA molecules within cells
are wrapped around proteins but are unwound during
the process of replication.
 The researchers concluded that enzymes within the
cell must act as “molecular motors” that are capable
of exerting forces on the DNA strand.
LASER COOLING
 Lasers can also be used to control and slow down a
collection of atoms in a technique known as laser
cooling, for which Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bill
Phillips, and Steven Chu were awarded the 1997 Nobel
Prize in Physics.
  The basics of laser cooling can be understood through
a combination of quantum and classical principles.
 In order to “cool” the atoms, physicists use a
technique called Doppler cooling to selectively slow
atoms moving.
NUCLEAR FUSION
 Extremely high-power lasers are being used to
initiate nuclear fusion reactions as part of research
efforts into fusion .
 Nuclear fusion is a type of nuclear reaction in which
two smaller atomic nuclei combine to form a larger
nucleus.
 Fusion reactions involving light nuclei, such as
hydrogen, release energy.
 Nuclear fusion is often considered the ultimate power
source because it relies on an abundant fuel source
(hydrogen), does not produce radioactive waste, and
does not present a risk of the catastrophic
“meltdown” associated with nuclear fission.
MEDICAL APPLICATIONS LASER SURGERY
 Lasers have had a tremendous impact on medicine.
 Laser surgery techniques are based upon an
understanding of how laser light interacts with
biological tissue, which entirely depends on the
 wavelength of light being used and the nature of the
tissue.
 The most important component of biological tissue is
water, which absorbs strongly in the infrared range of
the electromagnetic spectrum.
 Carbon dioxide lasers are a common choice for laser
surgery because they are readily available and emit
10.6- µm wavelength light that is easily absorbed by
tissue.
 A CO2 laser beam focused on tissue at a sufficiently
high intensity will cause cells to be vaporized due to
energy absorption.
 This cauterization effect makes the CO2 laser
especially valuable for surgery in regions rich in
blood vessels, such as the gums and the female
reproductive tract, by giving the surgeon a tool to
remove thin layers of blood-rich tissue.
 Carbon dioxide lasers also are used in a type of heart
surgery that creates new paths for blood vessels in
the heart, called transmyocardial revascularization.
 In fact, certain types of surgeries were only made
possible with the introduction of the laser because
they involved incisions that resulted in a high degree
of bleeding with a conventional scalpel.
 Surgeons generally use other tools for cutting bone
and for many other types of surgery, particularly
 general surgery on internal organs, where lasers
have no particular advantages over conventional
scalpels.

REFRACTIVE EYE SURGERY

 The most commonly advertised type of laser surgery
today uses an argon-fluoride excimer laser to
reshape the lens of the eye to correct refractive
defects that otherwise would require people to wear
corrective eyeglasses or contact lenses.
 Refractive surgery procedures are used to correct
both myopia (near-sightedness) and hyperopia
(farsightedness) as well as astigmatism, which is
blurred vision due to uneven focusing of light by the
eye.
  Concern over the effects of removing the epithelium
led to the development of LASIK (laser-assisted in-
situ keratomileusis), in which the epithelium is peeled
back before the excimer laser ablates tissue from the
underlying layer, then put back in place afterward .
LASER DERMATOLOGY
 Laser dermatology procedures achieved early
success in treating dark-red birthmarks called “port
wine stains,” which often appear on the face or neck.
 Lasers also are used for treating other skin
blemishes, such as acne scars.
 Tattoo removal is another familiar medical application
of lasers.
 Laser skin resurfacing is another cosmetic procedure
in which a carbon dioxide laser is scanned across
aged areas, particularly the face, neck, and hands, to
remove the surface layer
 This process removes surface wrinkles and
blemishes, thereby exposing a fresh layer of skin.
 Lasers can also be used for the purpose of hair
removal, which is accomplished by directing near-
infrared laser light at hair follicles.
 LASER DENTISTRY
 There are three primary applications of laser dentistry.
Lasers can be used to “drill” teeth, using solid-state
erbium lasers that emit 3-µm wavelength light.
 As mentioned earlier, carbon dioxide lasers can also
be used to treat gum disease by removing swollen
tissue.
 Laser teeth whitening is another popular cosmetic
dental treatment that uses visible argon and
neodymium lasers to activate a special gel solution
that has been applied to the patient’s teeth.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS
 Many industrial and manufacturing applications rely
on high-power lasers to cut, shape, and join
materials. Energy transfer to the object by the laser
depends on absorption at the laser wavelength, which
varies considerably among materials.
 Laser pulses can even be made powerful enough to
drill holes in diamond, which is among the hardest
materials on Earth.
LASER CUTTING
 Laser cutting can be thought of as drilling a series of
overlapping holes in a material.
 Lasers can cut readily through sheets of wood, paper,
and plastic, but thick materials are more difficult.
 Laser cutting of metals works slightly differently and
uses a different type of jet.
LASER BEAM WELDING
 Laser beam welding is commonly employed in
highvolume applications that involve automation, such
as in the automotive industry.
 Both CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers are commonly used for
welding purposes.
LASER MARKING, ENGRAVING, AND ETCHING
 In addition to drilling or cutting completely through
materials, lasers can be used to leave a permanent
mark on a material, either by oxidizing the surface,
carving out a shallow indentation, or melting the
outer layer.
 Wood, plastics, metals, stone, and glass can all be
etched using lasers.
PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
 Digital devices we use every day, including smart
phones, computers, and tablets, all rely on integrated
circuits, or microchips, in order to function.
 These integrated circuits are made up of patterned
layers of semiconductor material and are fabricated
in a laser process known as photolithography..
STEREOLITHOGRAPHY
 Lasers can also be used to “build” three-dimensional
objects, using techniques very different from other
types of laser materials working.
BARCODE READERS, OPTICAL DISCS: CDs, DVDs, AND
OTHERS HOLOGRAPHY
 Barcode readers, also known as barcode scanners,
are a familiar application of laser technology. Barcode
readers work by scanning light across a pattern of
dark lines of varying thickness.
LASER POINTERS
 Laser pointers are small, battery-powered handheld
devices capable of emitting a low-power beam of
laser light in the visible spectrum robot toward a
target.
 Laser light shows at entertainment venues use laser
pointers to provide an impressive spectacle.
LASER PRINTERS

 Laser printers use a laser beam to guide ink to be

placed on the paper. When you click “Print,” your
computer sends a stream of data to the laser printer,
typically made up of millions of bytes, or single
characters that encode the information you want
printed. Inside the printer, an electronic circuit
interprets this data.

MILITARY LASERS

 Laser range finders are used to calculate the distance

between two points and high-precision hidden
illuminators for nighttime surveillance. The ring laser
gyroscope detects and measures small angles of
rotation of moving objects.
HISTORY OF THE LASER
 The origins of the laser can be traced back to an idea
from Albert Einstein in the formative years of
quantum theory.
 Having emerged as an early visionary in twentieth-
century physics with his 1905 explanation of the
photoelectric effect, Einstein continued to make
contributions to the theory of light emission .
 In 1917, Einstein published a paper entitled Zur
Quantentheorie der Strahlung (“On the Quantum
Theory of Radiation”) in which he proposed the
concept of stimulated emission.A laser diode, with a
penny for scale.
 In 1950, French physicist Alfred Kastler proposed the
technique of optical pumping, whereby a collection of
 atoms could be excited to a higher energy state
through absorption of incident light.
 This idea would later have tremendous implications
for laser operation, and Kastler was awarded the 1966
Nobel Prize in Physics for this contribution.
 By 1950, stimulated emission seemed to be an
interesting phenomenon with few practical
applications due to the difficulty of achieving the
necessary population inversion.
 That would change following a breakthrough from
Charles H. Townes. During World War II, Townes had
worked to develop radar systems that operated at
microwave frequencies.
 Townes dubbed his device the “maser,” which stood
for “Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission
of Radiation.”
 In 1955, Basov and Prokhorov suggested that optical
pumping could be used to create a population
inversion in a three-level quantum system.
 Basov and Prokhorov’s three-level model correctly
anticipated the configuration that would ultimately be
used in the first laser.
 The development of the laser, which was a product of
many theoretical and experimental breakthroughs
over the course of several decades, serves as an
 example of how difficult it can be to assign credit for
scientific innovations.
 At Columbia, Townes began work on a potassium gas
laser, since its energy levels were well understood.
Arthur Schawlow explored the use of ruby crystals at
Bell Laboratories, since they were in ample supply.
Irwin Wieder at Westinghouse Research Laboratories
also tried using ruby, but faced challenges with
generating enough energy to achieve population
inversion. Ali Javan, a former doctoral student of
Townes at Columbia, attempted a gas laser using a
helium-neon mixture.
 On May 16, 1960, Theodore Maiman succeeded in
demonstrating the first functional laser at Hughes
Research Laboratories in California.
 Maiman’s laser used a synthetic ruby crystal the size
of a fingertip to produce 694 nm red laser light.
 Although Maiman’s laser could only operate in brief,
intense pulses, it was the first demonstration of laser
operation.
 Shortly after Maiman’s demonstration, Arthur
Schawlow succeeded in producing laser light using a
different kind of ruby crystal.
 In December 1960, Ali Javan, and William R. Bennett,
Jr., and Donald R. Herriott succeeded in
 demonstrating the first gas laser, the HeNe, at Bell
Labs.
 In 1962, Robert Hall demonstrated the first diode laser
using gallium arsenide (GaAs) as the semiconductor
material.
 Other laser types would debut in the 1960s, including
the CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers in 1964; and the tunable
dye laser in 1967.
 The 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly
to Charles Townes, Nikolay Basov, and Aleksandr
Prokhorov “for fundamental work in the field of
quantum electronics, which has led to the
construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on
the maser-laser principle.”
 1970s+PRESENT During the 1970s, laser technology
began to enter our daily lives with a steady stream of
practical applications.
 On June 26, 1974, a pack of chewing gum became the
first product ever scanned by a laser barcode reader.
 In 1978, LaserDisc technology, which used HeNe
lasers to read optical discs, became commercially
available for the first time.
 Although LaserDiscs did not succeed commercially in
the long-run, the same technology led to the
introduction of audio CD players in 1982.
  The first commercial laser printer was released by
IBM in 1976, and in 1984 laser printing entered
mainstream.
TIMELINE
 1676 + Ole Römer makes the first qualitative
measurement of the speed of light.
 1690 + Christiaan Huygens publishes his wave theory
of light.
 1862 + Leon Foucault makes an improved
measurement of the speed of light.
 1865 + James Maxwell publishes a set of equations
describing electric and magnetic fields.
 1868 + Helium is discovered as a new element using
evidence from solar spectral lines.
 1887 + Heinrich Hertz produces radio waves in a
laboratory.
 1887 + Heinrich Hertz discovers the photoelectric
effect.
 1896 + Guglielmo Marconi demonstrates the use of
radio waves for communication.
 1900 + Max Planck suggests energy is quantized in
discrete units, marking the beginning of quantum
theory.
 1902 + Philipp Lenard makes observations of the
photoelectric effect that contradict classical theory.
 1905 + Albert Einstein explains the photoelectric
effect by theorizing that light is quantized.
 1913 + Niels Bohr proposes a quantized model of the
atom.
 1917 + Albert Einstein proposes the concept of
stimulated emission.
 1938 + E. H. Land invents the Polaroid.
 1950 + Alfred Kastler proposes the technique of
optical pumping 1951 + Charles Townes devises the
idea for the ammonia maser
 1955 + The first cesium atomic clock is constructed.
 1957 + Gordon Gould coins the term “laser” in a
scientific notebook entry. Northwest Pa. Collegiate
Academy - Erie, PA
 1960 + Theodore Maiman demonstrates the first
functional laser, using ruby crystal.
 1960 + The first gas laser, the helium-neon, is
demonstrated. 1962 + Robert Hall demonstrates the
first semiconductor diode laser.
 1964 + The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to
Charles Townes, Nikolay Basov, and Aleksandr
Prokhorov.
 1969 + Gary Starkweather develops the idea for laser
printing at Xerox.
 1969 + Confocal laser scanning microscopy is first
demonstrated.
 1970 + Arthur Ashkin first reports on the ability of
laser light to exert forces on microscopic particles.
1974 + The first product is scanned using a laser
barcode reader.
 1977 + Xerox introduces the first commercial laser
printer, the Xerox 9700.
 1978 + LaserDisc media format is introduced. 1982 +
Compact discs (CDs) become commercially available.
 1984 + Hewlett-Packard introduces the first desktop
laser printer, the HP LaserJet.
 1986 + Arthur Ashkin and colleagues publish an
article on the optical tweezing effect.
 1995 + DVD (Digital video disc) format is introduced.
 1997 + Construction begins on the National Ignition
Facility (NIF).
 1999 + The LASIK refractive surgery procedure is
approved in the United States
 2009 + The National Ignition Facility is completed.
 2013 + The National Ignition Facility achieves the
milestone of extracting more energy from a fusion
reaction than was used to trigger it.
Lasers rely on the quantum nature of light and matter
 Lasers use stimulated emission of atoms to produce
light that is monochromatic, directional, and coherent.
In order to sustain a chain of stimulated emission
events, a population inversion must be maintained
between a metastable state and a lower-energy state.
 Although they all rely on stimulated emission and
optical resonators, gas lasers, solid-state lasers, and
laser diodes all use different types of materials as
active media.
 Consequently, each type of laser has advantages and
disadvantages that make it suitable for a different set
of applications.
 Lasers are used for a variety of applications in
scientific, medical, industrial, and commercial fields.
The output power and wavelength of a laser
determines the kind of applications for which it is
most appropriate.
 Laser spectroscopy is an analysis technique in which
a laser is used to illuminate the sample being studied
in order to determine a precise absorption spectrum.
 We saw how science’s understanding of light and
other electromagnetic waves has evolved over the
course of several centuries, to the point that we are
now able to harness and amplify light emitted by
individual atoms into powerful beams of radiation for
our own purposes
 Although there are many different categories of
lasers*gas, solidstate, semiconductor diode, and
excimer*they all rely on the principle of stimulated
emission.
 The wavelength and output power of a laser
determine the types of applications for which that
laser is most suitable.
 Our understanding of how lasers interact with matter
has continuously grown in the half century since they
were originally invented, leading to new applications
with each passing year.
 We found that lasers can be modeled using a
combination of these emission mechanisms.
 While lasers have served as an important research
tool since their invention, they have also come into
their own as powerful medical tools and versatile
instruments for precision machining.
 Dennis F. Vanderwerf,
 The Story of Light Science: From Early Theories to
Today’s Extraordinary Applications. (Springer
International Publishing, 2017)
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 Vanderwerf 10.
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