APPLICATIONS OF LASER:

Scientific

In science, lasers are used in many ways, including:

 A wide variety of interferometric techniques

 Raman spectroscopy
 Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy
 Atmospheric remote sensing

Spectroscopy

Most types of laser are an inherently pure source of light; they emit near-monochromatic
light with a very well defined range of wavelengths. By careful design of the laser
components, the purity of the laser light (measured as the "linewidth") can be improved
more than the purity of any other light source.

Lunar laser ranging

When the Apollo astronauts visited the moon, they planted retroreflector arrays to make
possible the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment.

Photochemistry

Some laser systems, through the process of modelocking, can produce extremely brief
pulses of light - as short as picoseconds or femtoseconds (10−12 - 10−15 seconds). Such
pulses can be used to initiate and analyse chemical reactions, a technique known as
photochemistry.

Laser cooling

A technique that has had recent success is laser cooling. This involves atom trapping, a
method where a number of atoms are confined in a specially shaped arrangement of
electric and magnetic fields. Shining particular wavelengths of laser light at the ions or
atoms slows them down, thus cooling them.
Nuclear fusion

Some of the world's most powerful and complex arrangements of multiple lasers and
optical amplifiers are used to produce extremely high intensity pulses of light of
extremely short duration. These pulses are arranged such that they impact pellets of
tritium-deuterium simultaneously from all directions, hoping that the squeezing effect of
the impacts will induce atomic fusion in the pellets.

Military

Military uses of lasers include applications such as target designation and ranging,
defensive countermeasures, communications and directed energy weapons. Directed
energy weapons are also in use, such as Boeing’s Airborne Laser which was constructed
inside a Boeing 747. It disrupts the trajectory of shoulder-fired missiles.[5]

Medical

 Cosmetic surgery (removing tattoos, scars, stretch marks, sunspots, wrinkles,

birthmarks, and hairs): see laser hair removal. Laser types used in dermatology
include ruby (694 nm), alexandrite (755 nm), pulsed diode array (810 nm),
Nd:YAG (1064 nm), Ho:YAG (2090 nm), and Er:YAG (2940 nm).
 Eye surgery and refractive surgery

Industrial and commercial

Lasers used for visual effects during a musical performance.

Levelling of ceramic tiles floor with a laser device

 Cutting and peening of metals and other material, welding, marking, etc.
 Guidance systems (e.g., ring laser gyroscopes)
 Rangefinder / surveying,
 LIDAR / pollution monitoring,
 Digital minilabs
 Barcode readers
 Laser engraving of printing plate
 Laser bonding of additive marking materials for decoration and identification,
 Laser pointers
APPLICATIONS OF LASER:

Medical Uses of Lasers

The highly collimated beam of a laser can be further focused to a microscopic dot of
extremely high energy density. This makes it useful as a cutting and cauterizing
instrument. Lasers are used for photocoagulation of the retina to halt retinal
hemorrhaging and for the tacking of retinal tears.

Welding and Cutting

The highly collimated beam of a laser can be further focused to a microscopic dot of
extremely high energy density for welding and cutting.

The automobile industry makes extensive use of carbon dioxide lasers with powers up to
several kilowatts for computer controlled welding on auto assembly lines.

Surveying and Ranging

Helium-neon and semiconductor lasers have become standard parts of the field surveyor's
equipment. A fast laser pulse is sent to a corner reflector at the point to be measured and
the time of reflection is measured to get the distance.

Lasers in the Garment Industry

Laser cutters are credited with keeping the U.S. garment industry competitive in the
world market. Computer controlled laser garment cutters can be programmed to cut out
400 size 6 and then 700 size 9 garments - and that might involve just a few cuts. The
programmed cutter can cut dozens to hundreds of thicknesses of cloth, and can cut out
every piece of the garment in a single run.
 Lasers in Communication

Fiber optic cables are a major mode of communication partly because multiple signals
can be sent with high quality and low loss by light propagating along the fibers. The light
signals can be modulated with the information to be sent by either light emitting diodes
or lasers.

Heat Treatment

Heat treatments for hardening or annealing have been long practiced in metallurgy. But
lasers offer some new possibilities for selective heat treatments of metal parts. For
example, lasers can provide localized heat treatments such as the hardening of the
surfaces of automobile camshafts.

Barcode Scanners

Supermarket scanners typically use helium-neon lasers to scan the universal barcodes to
identify products. The laser beam bounces off a rotating mirror and scans the code,
sending a modulated beam to a light detector and then to a computer which has the
product information stored

Military

Military uses of lasers include applications such as target designation and ranging,
defensive countermeasures, communications and directed energy weapons. Directed
energy weapons are also in use, such as Boeing’s Airborne Laser which was constructed
inside a Boeing 747. It disrupts the trajectory of shoulder-fired missiles.