The history of lasers goes back to the early 1900's when Albert Einstein described the process of stimulated emission of energy. Physical matter can be thought of as light in its solid form.
A laser is a device that converts some form of energy (usually electrical) into optical energy.
The energy is generated by an intense beam of light.
This intense beam of light can be any of several different pure colors.
The process of stimulated emission begins the amplification of energy. The resonator does most of the work to get the intensity up to high levels by means of excitation of the electrons.
LASER therefore is the acronym for :
L - Light A - Amplification by the S - Stimulated E - Emission of R - Radiation
It is important to understand that laser radiation is not associated with the hazards of ionizing radiation that is present with an X-ray machine.
Ionization takes place when an electron is knocked completely out of the atom during the excitation phase when it reaches levels lower than 350nm.
All of the knocked electron's energy is then given either to an electron (photo-ionization) or part of the energy is given to the photon, while the remainder goes to a lower energy photon.
Luckily lasers are inherently inefficient. That means energy must be supplied to start the process. An excitation mechanism (energy source) is needed to pump the active medium (solid, gas, liquid or electronic) to achieve population inversion.
The exact nature of light still isn't understood, it exhibits characteristics of both discrete particles (photons) and waves.
The human eye can only see visible light of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is from 385nm (nanometer) in the violet range, to 760nm in the deep red range. Think of a rainbow.
Whenever the motion of an electron is changed, it will emit energy. Two things can happen with this energy.
The energy of matter can be tapped in an uncontrolled manner, such as a nuclear explosion, or its energy can be finessed out as with a laser device.
What is the history of lasers?
Custom Search
Read some more about lasers!
Would you like to know how favouraby or unfavourably laser vs IPL (intense pulsed light) compares?