What is Laser and what areits uses in various fields?

The name ‘Laser’ is an acronym for Light Amplification by stimulated Emission of Radiation.

A laser is an electric apparatus producing unified for light waves that can be exactly controlled, precisely focused and when desired can be made extremely powerful.

A Laser light has certain remarkable properties. Such as: –

i. It is very coherent and can be transmitted over great distances without the beam spreading.

ii. It also has the advantage that a lot of power is concentrated in a very small area.

iii. It has also remarkable property of chromatic. For example – a red laser beam has only red light.

Uses and Applications of Lasers:

The Laser beams, which are a coherent beam of light and intense enough to vaporize the hardest material ever known, are being used. Some of the major uses-

(i) In the consumer electronics:

In the consumer electronics industry, compact discs (CDS) have revolutionized the audio industry. Because lasers are an essential part of the recording and reading of Compact Discs.

(ii) In Computer Technology:

Computer memories are another area where lasers have tremendous impact on ROMs (Read Only Memories). These optical discs allow a far more storage data, which are extremely durable and have advantage in having much faster access times for retrieval of data.

(iii) In Industries:

In machine shops, lasers cut through steel much faster than saws or other wedge tools. In a car factory, high-power laser beams spot- welds the parts of a car body together.

(iv) Medicine and Health Care:

Laser surgery is becoming increasingly safe and cheap. One of the earnest medical uses of lasers was in retinal surgery. With the development of fiber optics, lasers are being used to ‘burn’ arterial clots thus, preventing risky and expensive open-heart surgery. Lasers are also used to destroy malignant brain tumors located inside the brain or in the spinal cord. Laser light is also used as “heat knife” which are used by the surgeons to produce self- cauterizing cuts.

(v) In Defense:

Lasers are being used to generate the immense temperatures required to standby thermonuclear fusion. Lasers are also used to find the target and to measure the range of targets accurately. Thus, enable first heat capability. They are also used for illuminating target for missiles equipped with electro-optic sensors.

(vi) In Aviation:

The new hand-held laser scanner security system keeps track of passengers and their luggage as they progress through airport check-in-systems.

(Vii)In Holography:

Holography is a techniques that allows a three dimensional picture to be taken of a given object. This technique practically demonstrated its potential only after the invention of lasers.

(viii)In Telecommunication:

In a telephone system employing fibre optics, voice vibrations converting into pulses of laser light, thousands per second. Consequently, hair-thin glass fibre can carry several thousand-telephone messages at once.