Following their development in 1960, Laser’s continue to stand as one of the major breakthroughs of the 20th century. Used for a range of uses ranging from eye surgery to reading bar codes and plenty else, lasers serve many purposes in modern day life, as well as providing incredibly exciting opportunities for future developments such as the phasers seen in Star Trek.
Acronym for LASER
| L |
Light |
| A |
Amplification (by) |
| S |
Stimulated |
| E |
Emission (of) |
| R |
Radiation |
What does LASER stand for?
As the avobe acronym for laser implies, LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Lasers work by resonant effect, with the output of a laser being a coherent electromagnetic field. The waves will have the same frequency and phase in a coherent beam of electromagnetic energy.
The development of the laser in 1960 still stands as one of the major breakthroughs of the 20th Century. The groundwork for the laser took place in the early 1950s with the MASER; an AFOSR supported invention by the Nobel prize winning Dr. Charles Townes. Lasers that produce light by itself are technically optical oscillators instead of optical amplifiers, as would be suggested by the acronym for laser ‘Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radition’. With this in mind, the acronym of ‘LOSER’, light oscillation by stimulated emission of radiation might have proven to be more scientifically correct. The verb ‘to lase’ is commonly used within the field of lasers, meaning “to produce laster light”, especially with regard to the gain medium of a laser; the period when a laser is operating is said to be “lasing”.
In this video, meet some of AFOSR’s supported engineers and scientists who continue to push the boundaries of scientific discovery!
Source: Armed with Science
