Laser technology is very important
in the modern world because it is used in many fields.
The incredible uses of laser technology include: barcode
scanners, laser printers, optical disk drives, cutting and welding materials,
semiconducting chip manufacturing, law enforcement devices, and free-space
optical communication.
Lasers are also used in DNA sequencing
instruments, surgery hair removal products and skin treatments.
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| Importance of laser technology in the modern world. What are lasers used for in everyday life? |
The Importance
of Laser Technology - What are Lasers Used for Today?
Laser Technology
Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation (LASER) is defined as electromagnetic radiation that
sends equal amounts of light in terms of frequency and wavelength, which fuses
together into a high-energy, highly coherent light pulse. Its angle is
somewhat obtuse, and radiation stimulation relies upon to be generated.
History
of Laser Technology
Although basic laser technology was
invented in 1960, the laser has undergone great development ever since.
Originally the laser used sapphire
crystals and was not very powerful.
Over time, many types of lasers were
developed using different materials that produce laser light.
However, whether they are sapphire
lasers, gas lasers, liquid lasers or semiconductor lasers, the basic principle
is the same: the catalytic emission produced by a photon that faces an atom in
the excited state and forces it to emit another photon with the same frequency
in the same direction. These two photons drive more photons and catalytic
emission occurs.
Semiconductors that are at the heart
of new lasers have made possible tools such as Compact disc (CD).
The former diode laser produced
light by sending current through the gallium arsenide (GaAs).
Recent
Developments in Laser Technology
Scientists have recently found
lasers using gallium arsenide with thin layers of gallium aluminum arsenide
creating an area called the quantum wells between layers.
In this region, the electrons are
tightly packed so that the device uses less energy to emit light.
The quantum well laser is highly
effective in converting electricity into light, thus generating less heat.
This, in turn, can operate battery-powered drive systems.
In communication systems, it can
double the number of long-distance calls that can be connected to a single
fiber.
A monochromatic laser light, for
example, a red laser beam has only red light; it is very coherent, that
is, the light from a laser is very directional; this can travel over great
distances without spreading.
The high brightness of the laser is
the result of spatial cohesion.
Importance
of Laser Technology
Laser technology is very important
in the modern world because it is used in many fields, most notably
measurement, where it is used to give high accuracy results in measuring small
and large distances.
Laser technology is also used for
the purposes of generating heat in industrial cutting processes.
The medical field uses it in
surgical procedures. The laser is used effectively in the treatment of
gallbladder and kidney stones.
The laser light intensity at focus
is too high and the material response becomes non-linear.
The laser produces short pulses of
light and it is possible to obtain nanosecond electric pulses (nsEPs) from
several lasers.
By using the mode-locking technique,
it can display the width of shorter pulses - for a few hundred femtoseconds.
Characteristics
of Lasers
Spectral purity: Laser is intended that all light wavelengths in the beam are
equal which increases the laser power.
Uniform color: Due to the uniformity of its wavelengths appears in one color.
Over
illumination: laser
light is stronger than ordinary light because it is a combination of radiation.
Highly Coherent: it does not spread in the surrounding environment, such as a
light bulb, for example.
It can travel long distances without
being affected or without being less intense.
Applications
of Laser Technology
Because of the laser's unique
characteristics, lasers are used in various fields.
Some important applications of
lasers are discussed here.
Laser
Technology in Basic Science:
The revolution in laser spectroscopy
was performed due to the availability of narrow linewidth radiation. In
measuring, the atomic absorption spectrometers are useful in detecting weak
spectral lines.
There are many techniques for
detecting weak spectral lines, such as audiovisual spectroscopy, multiphoton
ionization spectroscopy, etc.
There are also nonlinear spectral
techniques such as photon absorption spectroscopy. The laser reduced the time
required to record Raman Spectrum from an hour to minutes. The most commonly
used laser is the argon-ion laser for Raman spectroscopy.
In chemistry, lasers are used as a
diagnostic tool and as a means of inducing chemical reactions. They also help
in separating isotopes of an element.
Lasers commonly used in chemical
applications are dye lasers, excimer lasers, carbon dioxide lasers, and Nd: YAG
lasers.
Laser
Technology in the Industry:
There are many benefits of using
laser technology in industry. At present laser is routinely used for scanning,
for processing materials such as welding, cutting, glazing, alloying, cladding,
non-destructive testing, etc.
Lasers are also used in aligning
structures such as bridges, large buildings, tunnels, pipes, mines, etc.
The laser has completely replaced
the traditional drilling techniques for drilling holes in diamonds, so as to
make bow molds, gems, turbine blades for jet engines; widely used for cutting
metal, ceramic, plastic, cardboard, cloth, etc.
Laser annealing of solar cells
improves their performance. Lasers can be used to write directly on silicon
wafers, and patterns for making integrated circuits.
The laser is widely used for marking
on plastic, metal products, etc. Laser scanners are used to read bar codes on
consumer goods in shops, to check precision components in workshops, to
identify goods carts in a moving train and to read texts and other documents.
Laser
Technology in Nuclear Energy:
Nuclear power plants are a type of
steam thermal power plant, where they generate heat steam in the reactor
furnace.
There is an atomic furnace that
needs an insulating wall and an atomic radiation shield.
Laser technology helps workers
perform tasks easily and protect themselves in the plant and the surrounding
environment from contamination of atomic radiation.
Laser isotope separation is the most
economical way to enrich natural uranium.
Lasers also play a crucial role in
the search for a viable way to hunt the power of fusion.
Laser
Technology in Medical Field:
Laser technologies are used in
almost all areas of medical science. The high-intensity high-power laser beam
is suitable for tissue cutting and thus a large surgical instrument can replace
the traditional scalpel.
The advantages are that the use of
lasers: (1) prevents bleeding, (2) reduces the likelihood of injury, and (c) less
damage to neighboring cells.
The laser is routinely used for
forging the detached retina into the choroid.
Other serious eye conditions that
are treated are diabetic rehabilitation, macular degeneration, and bleeding.
Argon laser or krypton ion laser is
used for the treatment of these diseases.
Glaucoma is an eye disease where the
pressure inside the eyeball increases, damaging the retina and eventually
leading to blindness.
To overcome this pressure and save
sight, a small hole in the eye is drilled using the Nd: YAG laser.
The laser is used to correct the
shape of the lens, for example, in myopia through a procedure called radial
keratotomy (RK).
The accuracy of the laser surgery
has been a key feature of precision operations such as cardiac surgery and
neurological intervention.
Using a fiber-optic endoscope with a
laser, it is now possible to quell hemorrhagic ulcers without making any
opening in the body.
Another example is the treatment of
clogged arteries supplying blood to the heart, a condition that leads to
myocardial infarction.
The treatment so far has been a
blocked artery shunt with another taken from another part of the body, a
procedure known as bypass surgery.
Image radiation therapy is used to
treat cancer. The hematoporphyrin derivative (HPD), a dye, has the property to
selectively attack cancer cells.
When intense lasers from the gold
laser are irradiated by gold, the Hpd molecule decays, and oxygen releases an
anti-cancer agent that kills cancer cells and tissues.
Laser
Technology in Communication, Information Processing, and Data Storage:
The main drawback of visible light
communication (VLC) technology was its weatherability.
In 1974s, Corning scientists
produced low-loss optical fibers from high-purity materials.
Now there is remarkable progress in
fiber optic and semiconductor laser technologies.
In addition to data transmission,
optical information processing and optical computers are relevant issues.
Visual information processing is
used for fingerprint identification, image processing by satellites,
high-flying aircraft, etc.
Optical computers based on a
dual-stabilized device provide multiple computing speeds as well as parallel
computing power.
Data storage is another area in
which storage density can be increased using optical methods.
The storage medium is usually a thin
layer of metal whose optical properties, such as reflectivity, are modified
when illuminated by a powerful "WRITE" laser.
The low-power "READ" laser
reads the change in the optical property as the required information.
Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) is
widely used as a source of entertainment.
Although the optical data storage
disk or laser Disc has high storage capacity on the magnetic disk, written
information cannot be erased from the optical data disk.
In the light of a Compact disc (CD),
a laser is used for reading instead of a needle, so grooves can be made
accurate.
High precision is achieved because
the amount of information stored can be very large.
The semiconductor laser reads the CD
by turning off the light from the disc and electronically processing it. CDs
enable us to store their encyclopedias on single discs.
Traditional PC memory devices
operate on the basis of magnetic recording and data reading, but optical discs
have greater storage durability and faster access to retrieve data.