The global laser market was valued at about 15.5 billion dollars in 2019.
Laser technology pervades all parts of life, from the smallest particles to the stars in our galaxy and everything in between, including the computers and appliances you use every day.
With a few resources, you can learn more about how lasers work, the history of their development, and the latest technology.
Cutting Edge Laser Technology
The use of silicon in technological advancements has been increasing for decades with the inventions of the computer chip and the microprocessor. Now, silicon is being used in the world of lasers.
A laser that uses only silicon was made by a team of researchers at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Normally, silicon isn’t able to produce a sustained beam, but the team was able to increase the density of the silicon crystals and produce a laser.
Another area where silicon is important for laser technology is using lasers to build very small electronic circuits on silicon chips. Computer chips have continually gotten smaller over the last few decades, especially with the innovation to use lasers on them.
The size, however, is limited by the wavelength of the light produced by the laser. Recently, a team from MIT developed a Holmium-doped laser that was able to build circuits on a silicon chip below 2 micrometers.
Lasers are also able to make designs in metals. From placing designs on the surface of a metal to a deeper engraving in the metal, there are many uses for a laser marking metal.
Lasers have also found a use in the medical field. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute have used optical fiber to target a specific position within the human body with light from a laser.
This is very useful for delivering medicine to a very precise location. The idea is to keep the medicine dormant until it is activated by light, so when it reaches the right location within the body, it can be activated by the laser.
Another innovation that comes in computing is the use of quantum computers which use the principles of quantum mechanics to achieve the operations of computers with higher speed and efficiency.
Lasers come into play in quantum computing with the use of CPA or chirped-pulse amplification. In CPA, a laser pulse is produced then stretched to decrease its power. Next, it is amplified and compressed to drastically increase its intensity.
Another recent breakthrough in laser technology was the use of lasers to clean debris off of train tracks. When leaves and other debris are left on tracks, they get run over by the trains and break apart, which leaves the tracks slippery.
There is now a laser that targets a specific point on the track and heats it enough to burn off the debris without damaging the track itself.
Lasers are now being used to cool small atoms and molecules. Normally, these atoms are constantly moving around, but since the temperature is a measure of how much something is moving, slowing it down would decrease the temperature of the atom.
When an atom or molecule absorbs a photon of light, it loses momentum and kinetic energy, so it slows down. Lasers are used to cool atoms to temperatures just above absolute zero, the lowest temperature anything can be.
Lasers are also being used in experiments on the brains of mice. Researchers can target and stimulate specific neurons in the brain to affect specific behaviors in the mice and even use them to curb addictions.
Currently, lasers are used to read and store data on disks, but research is currently being done on holographic storage using lasers.
Holographic techniques would be able to store information in three dimensions, making it more efficient than the standard disk storage which only uses two dimensions.
Lasers can also be attached to contact lenses using very thin films embedded in the lens. These would not be very powerful but could be used for secure identification purposes.
Lasers also have many uses in the military. They can disable enemy drones without the need to resort to traditional firearms.
In addition to using lasers on the smallest atoms and molecules, lasers are useful with some of the largest parts of the universe, like space-time itself. Lasers are being used to detect gravitational waves, which are ripples in space-time.
When black holes and neutron stars collapse into each other, they distort the space around them, and this can be measured with an object called an interferometer which uses lasers in a very precise way.
Lasers have another application in the realm of biomedicine. Researchers can use them to build artificial organs out of stem cells similar to how a 3D printer slowly builds up structures layer by layer.
Lasers are also being used to manipulate incredibly small objects using a technique called optical tweezing. Much like a tweezer presses around a small object to move it, the light from lasers can squeeze an object and move it around.
Lasers have also found a use in fashion. They are used to quickly and precisely cut pieces of fabric without damaging it. They can also engrave patterns onto materials like leather and denim.
Agriculture too has seen the benefits of lasers. Farmers can determine the gender of chickens before they are even hatched using lasers. This is beneficial because female chickens are in greater need of further egg production.
Lasers also provide a more efficient, brighter alternative to LED and incandescent light bulbs. BMW recently relieved a line of vehicles using laser-based headlights.
Lasers can also help to improve household appliances. Dishwashers can use lasers to determine how much soap remains on dishes and whether they need another rinse while ovens can check the temperature of food to improve cooking.
History of Laser Technology
In the early 1900s, the physicist Max Planck theorized that energy came in discrete amounts. This meant that energy couldn’t just be any value; it had to be one of a particular set of values.
In 1905, the same year he wrote the theory of special relativity, Albert Einstein wrote a paper on the photoelectric effect, which said that the energy of light also comes in discrete amounts and that they could be used to release matter.
Einstein later had the idea that the reverse process could take place that matter could be used to release light.
For many years, researchers were able to produce light in this way, but it was always in very small amounts. It would be decades before the light could be amplified and produced consistently.
Originally called a maser, the idea behind the laser was first conceived in 1951 by Charles Townes. Maser is an acronym that stands for microwave amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation.
In 1954, a group working under Townes built the first working maser which utilized ammonia and only produced about 10 nW of power. This is compared to today’s most powerful lasers at about 500 trillion Watts.
In 1957, graduate student Gordon Gould coined the term laser, which replaces the word microwave in the acronym with light. This generalized the idea to using any wavelength of light rather than just microwaves.
Since microwaves are a low energy form of light, it makes sense that the first lasers, which had very low energies, would use microwaves.
A year later, in 1958, Townes’s group proved that a laser could be made in the visible and infrared portion of the light spectrum. This would pave the way for the invention of the type of lasers we use today.
In 1960, physicist Theodore Maiman built the first laser using light in the visible range, and a group at Bell Labs developed the helium-neon laser, one of the most common types of lasers used today.
In 1961, doctors started using lasers to destroy tumors in the body.
In 1963, researchers developed a technique called mode-locking, which is the basis for communication using lasers and very short laser pulses.
In 1964, the Hughes Research Lab demonstrated the first laser in the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum.
In 1966, researchers in the UK discovered how to use lasers in a fiber optic cable, which would become one of the most important breakthroughs in the communication and transmission of information.
In 1970, Bell Labs demonstrated the first use of optical trapping and tweezing using a laser.
In 1974, grocery stores began to use lasers to read barcodes on products. The first item to have its barcode scanned by a laser was a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, lasers were used to store information on discs, starting with the Laserdisc and continuing with the compact disc.
This would become the most popular method of storing information, including how we store data on hard drives today.
In 1994, the first quantum dot laser is produced, and in 1996, the first laser to use matter instead of light is created.
In 2003, NASA demonstrated the first laser-powered aircraft which used light as a means of propulsion.
In 2009, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory created the largest and most powerful laser at about 500 trillion Watts of power.
In 2017, researchers in Switzerland created the shorted laser pulse ever made at only 43 attoseconds, less than one quadrillionth of a second.
Next Steps
Now that you know all about the history of lasers and the cutting edge laser technology, feel free to explore more about lasers and check out some of our other articles.
