Laser, What its all about and made of

Essay by syco_toneHigh School, 11th gradeA-, April 2002

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The Laser

Before we can learn about the laser we need to know a little bit about

light (since that is what a laser is made of). Light from our sun, or from an

electric bulb, is called white light. It is really a mixture of all the different

colours of light. The colours range from violet, indigo, and blue, to green,

yellow, orange, and red. These make up the visible part of the

electromagnetic spectrum. Light is made up of particles, called PHOTONS,

which travel in waves. The difference in the colour depends on the

wavelength of the light. Violet light has the shortest wavelength while red has

the longest. There are other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum which

includes infra-red, radar, television radio and micro- waves (past red on the

spectrum), and on the other end of the spectrum are the other invisible

radiations, ultra- violet, X rays, micro waves and gamma rays.

The

wavelength of the light is important to the subject of the laser. A laser is made

up of COHERENT light, a special kind of light in which the wavelengths of

the light are all the same length, and the crests of these waves are all lined up,

or in PHASE. The word Laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by

Stimulated Emission of Radiation. What does that mean? Basically a laser is a

device which produces and then amplifies light waves and concentrates them

into an intense penetrating beam.

The principles of the laser (and it's cousin the maser) were established

long before these devices were successfully developed. In 1916 Albert

Einstein proposed stimulated emission, and other fundamental ideas were

discussed by V.A. Fabrikant in 1940. These ideas, followed by decades of

intensive development of microwave technology set the stage for the first...