What in the world is laser? (Part 1 of 3)
[Disclaimer: The author does not own Figures 1-4, nor does he own Yoda, although he certainly wishes that he does.]
We use them to point at things in a slide presentation; snipers use them to point at heads ready to be shot. They make cool technologies possible, from CDs and grocery store barcode scanners to metal cutters. We often hear that they can cause blindness, but we also know that they are used in surgical methods to correct many vision problems. In science fiction movies they shoot out of space ships, one can engage in duels using swords made of them, and there are ships which can destroy entire planets using them. Laser beams – they are both boon and bane. But what in the world are they?
Laser, what in the world is, hmm?
What in the world is laser?
The word laser stands for Light Amplification through the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Originally, ‘laser’ is a term for the light emission mechanism that produces a beam of laser light, or a laser beam. Today, however, ‘laser’ is used to denote devices that use the said mechanism to amplify light via stimulated emission of radiation.
Now, a laser beam is a beam of highly coherent, often monochromatic electromagnetic waves. And these beams are produced when stimulation emission of electromagnetic waves amplifies light. If you think that these are quite a mouthful, then grieve not, for in this series we will explain what they mean.