Lasers in the Modern World - Essay Example

Lasers Lasers have really changed the way things take place in the current world. There are many issues concerning lasers especially as far as science fiction is concerned. Many objects used in the everyday life are examples of many varieties of products derived from the laser technologies such as the CD players, hair replacement and other gas lasers (helium neon). The theory of lasers was invented by Albert Einstein through stimulated emission. The introduction of lasers has brought a great evolution in science and technological development by introducing different types of machines and systems with great potentials in almost every field. Some great things such as military targets and x-ray in medicine have been boosted greatly. This essay discusses lasers in various aspects including its applications in the daily life operations. Application of lasers is just too amazing especially how its unique features are applied in the everyday life. There are wide range of lasers such as unusual ones used commercially that include remote sensing and the ones used in diagnosing images. There are conventional lasers that include optical gain medium put in between two mirrors and pumped by an external source of light and emits bouncing light. This is very similar in other states such as liquids and solids where emissions of light from atoms are triggered thus forcing light to travel to form laser beam. These lasers always have optical cavities that help them in their function (Svelto & Hanna 80-100). It is obvious that lasers emit light via optical amplification due to emission that is motivated from electromagnetic energy but it should be noted that lasers are different from other sources of light. Light in laser is emitted articulately and makes light to be pointed at a particular spot which is very useful in performing their functions such as cutting and lithography. Laser’s coherence keeps their beams collimated in lengthy place thus making the laser pointers to operate as well as high degree of temporal coherence enabling narrow spectrum and pulses emissions. Lasers serve numerous functions that include measurement of range and speed, widely used in media entertainments and other vital applications in scientific research. What makes laser even more interesting is the output which is the narrow that is as a result of diffraction limited. It is also amazing that the laser beams can be directed to small points while obtaining a great level of irradiance or even powerfully concentrated to a point at a further distance. Time duration of a laser beam and its position depends on the purpose and function of the laser however it is worth noting that some lasers produce a wide spectrum of light (Svelto & Hanna 505-516). Lasers include of a gain media which provides energy due to its ability to magnify light by inspired emission and the other object that act as an optical feedback. The gain medium is so unique and interesting because it increases the power of light after it has gained energy from another source and this process is called pumping. Energy supplied to the gain medium may be through flash light or may be another laser and is supplied as an electrical currents or light with wavelength that differs. Many lasers get their feedback from optical cavity which involves a couple of mirrors where light bounces in between the mirrors as it goes through the gain medium as it gets amplified every other time. The mirrors have different purposes where one of them acts as an output coupler which is somewhat clear making some light to go through although this property depends on design of the cavity. From the explanations, it is important to note that lasers come in different shapes and sizes depending on the functions they are designed to (Steen & Mazumder 25-40). Laser light have so many things that make it different from other types of light which makes it important and very useful. Laser light is considered to be highly monochromatic due to the fact that it has a single definite wavelength of light which can be seen as an intense color. Although laser produces more than a single color, the colors are such that they appear as distinct wavelengths compared to other wide spectrums. The other significant property to take note on is that the laser light is extremely coherent as they can be seen organized and moves in step with each other. The highly coherent property of laser light enables it to convey high quantity of energy in a tiny beam and sometimes very bright and concentrated. Furthermore, laser light has very tiny, constricted, bright and travel in parallel path. The laser light is sharply concentrated and can therefore be focused at a particular point thus producing a lot of energy at a particular small place compared to other types of light (Steen & Mazumder 80-110). Lasers can be said to be working in two different modes which can either be continuous or pulsed mode and the type of mode depends on the type of power output which can either be endless or in beats. A continuous laser can be turned into a pulsed laser by simply turning it off and on creating light bits. If the pulsed rates are very slow compared to the cavity lifetime and the energy storage period hence the laser may be categorized as modulated continuous wave laser which comprises most laser diodes used in communication system. Continuous lasers require steady supply of energy to the laser and this greatly depends on the application of the laser or its adaptation to its function. Other lasers are supplied with pulsed source of energy because they cannot be used continuously without stopping (Svelto & Hanna 255-260). Development of laser has been a great achievement throughout history. Deep and commitment in research has contributed to better-quality and highly specialized laser types created for variety but specific goals. Some of the results and characteristic of highly developed laser include the maximum peak pulse energy, maximum peak pulse power, maximum average output power and lower cost lasers. The other characteristics of advanced lasers are newly modified wavelength bands, maximum output pulse duration and maximum power efficiency. Some of the lasers include the commonly used gas lasers which were prompted by invention of Helium-Neon gases laser and other gases believed to amplify light coherently. These kinds of lasers are used in various ways for instance; the helium neon laser gas can work at different wavelengths and is mostly used in optical research and educational laboratories since they are cheap. There are also the carbon dioxide lasers producing large amount of watts within a single line and can be focused or intensified at one particular point thus making them suitable for cutting or widely used in welding. The efficiency of carbon dioxide is very high and they emit thermal infrared at a very high intensity. There are other gas lasers that include argon-ion lasers, helium silver and neon copper lasers (Svelto & Hanna 430-450). There are also chemical lasers that are stimulated through chemical reactions that enable the release of a huge amount of energy to be let out very fast. These kinds of lasers are of great powers and are mostly used in the military but continuous chemical lasers backed by streams of gases are widely used in industries such as hydrogen fluoride laser and deuterium fluoride laser. Additionally, there are excimer lasers which are unique type of gas lasers fed by electric discharge where the lasing medium used is excimer. Excimers are strange molecules existing only with a single atom such that after it has transferred its excitation energy, its atoms are disintegrated thus promoting population inversion. Some of the excimers that are applicable are the noble gas compounds since they are chemically inert and these lasers can work at ultraviolet wavelengths. Some of the applications of excimer lasers are LASIK eye surgery (Svelto & Hanna 380-410). Furthermore there are solid state lasers that use crystalline or doped glass rod combined with ions where the materials are pumped optically with the use of tinier wavelength compared to the lasing one. There are also fiber lasers where light is led due to the total internal reflection in a single mode optical fiber which results into nice cooling conditions and tend to reduce thermal distortion of the beam. Other more examples of lasers include semiconductor lasers, dye lasers, free electron lasers, bio laser and exotic laser media (Svelto & Hanna 375-400). Lasers have got many users in different fields since their invention which was also targeted to solve challenges. The use of lasers is vast in the current society ranging from information technology, medicine, commercial industry and entertainment where the initial application amongst the larger population was the supermarket barcode scanner. Lasers are widely used in medicine in numerous ways to save the lives of patients such as bloodless surgery, kidney stone treatment, dentistry and surgical treatment. Lasers are also very useful in cosmetic skin treatments such as acne treatment and hair removal as well as in military such as military target, missile defense and blinding troops. In law and prevention of crime, the lasers are used in fingerprint detection when it comes to forensic identification as well as in research where laser is used in laser scattering, laser ablation and fluorescence microscopy. In product development the lasers are very useful in holograms, bubble grams, optical discs and thermometers while in industrial sector they are used in cutting, welding and in marking parts (Steen & Mazumder 260-310). However as much as lasers are very important in the current society, they are very harmful to the human health. Overexposure to the lasers can lead to many health problems such as destruction of human eyes. The direct light which is highly intensified can harm the eye when someone looks at it directly. There are therefore protective measures that should be taken care of to avoid the dangers of lasers. Every laser has a label showing how dangerous they are. These machines can act as weapons and be used in causing blindness and therefore their user must be very careful. There are also goggles used by welders to avoid direct eye contact with lasers while working (Steen & Mazumder 519-525). Generally, lasers are very important inventions which have revolutionized the way current society performs everyday duty. Lasers have totally transformed every field in different ways. It has made everyone see things differently and ease the way of doing things. Laser invention is perhaps one of the greatest inventions that touch every field starting from the most complicated medicine and engineering field to the entertainment fields. Advancement in lasers will therefore bring even much more help to the ever growing and advancing global society. Unless someone is not very keen, lasers’ applications and use will always be found around us be it at home, school or any other place. Works Cited Steen, W M, and J Mazumder. Laser Material Processing. London: Springer, 2010. Print. Svelto, Orazio, and D C. Hanna. Principles of Lasers. New York: Springer, 2010. Print. Read More