Lasers By: Rebecca Bryant

In my research paper, I will talk about my project over lasers. My two objectives will be to describe the properties of lasers and explain the advantages of laser light in different applications. The acronym LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emissions of Radiation. This is how a laser works it starts out in a non-lasing stage or relaxed state. The flash tube fires and injects light into the ruby rod. The light rod excites the atoms in the tube. Its kind of like a group of kids, who have just ate a lot of sugar and are on a sugar high. If you give them sugar, they get really excited and bounce all over the place like the atoms inside the flash tube. Then some of the atoms emit photons. Now as some of the kids come down from their sugar high, they go and collapse on the couch. Their energy has been released or emitted. Next, some of these photons run in a direction parallel to the ruby's axis, so they bounce back and forth off the mirrors. As they pass through the crystal, they stimulate emission in other atoms. Now imagine all the kids jumping and going crazy in unison like a focused laser beam. The sugar kids are infectious and pretty soon, the kids around them are joining in and sharing in the excited energy. Finally a monochromatic, single phase, collimated light leaves through the laser the halfsilvered mirror. There is now a cat-flap that lets out a limited number of kids at a time, while the rest are bouncing around inside, charging up everyone. That cat-flap exit is the laser beam exiting the laser. The atoms remaining inside the laser bounce off mirrors as they charge each other up. There are three properties of laser light they are Monochromatic, Directional or collimated, and Coherent. Monochromatic means that the laser light is made of one specific

wavelength or one specific color (not white). Other light is a combination of many wavelengths or colors. The length of the wavelength is determined by the energy released Coherent is organized Photon Emission, Laser light is in phase with space and time. Unidirectional - all together, Each photon moves in step with the others. All of the photons have wavefronts that launch in unison. Directional or Collimated is a tight, narrow beam of light in a certain direction from the source. Parallel light waves, other lights come from multiple direction from the source. There are many applications laser light has advantages in such as: barcode scanner, communication, surveying, welding and cutting, LASIK eye surgery, medical, and dentistry. Barcode Scanner: supermarkets and stores use lasers to scan the barcode to identify the universal product. The advantage of the laser is that you dont have to look each individual item up. Communication: A significant advantage of lasers is that it is monochromatic, which allows the pulse shape to be maintained over a large distance. with the better pulse, the communication can be sent at a fast rate without a disruption in the pulses, this is the advantage. Surveying: When surveying an area, a fast laser pulse is sent to a corner reflector at the point to be measured to get the distance.Since the laser is directional and monochromatic, it is an advantage for surveying. Welding and Cutting: On auto assembly lines, a carbon dioxide laser helps with computer controlled welding. Lasers also make the impossible task of welding stainless steel handles to copper cooking pots. LASIK Eye Surgery: The Surgery is performed by using a laser, and LASIK surgery corrects vision problems.

Medical: Lasers are more precise than scalpels. Tissue near an incision is protected, since there is little contact with surrounding skin or other tissue. The heat produced by lasers sterilizes the surgery site, thus reducing the risk of infection. Less operating time may be needed because the precision of the laser allows for a smaller incision. Healing time is often shortened; since laser heat seals blood vessels, there is less bleeding, swelling, or scarring. More procedures may be done on an outpatient basis. Lasers can be used in two ways to treat cancer: by shrinking or destroying a tumor with heat, or by activating a chemical. Lasers may be used with endoscopes, tubes that allow physicians to see into certain areas of the body, such as the bladder. Dentistry: Sensitivity is detected on time: With the help of laser dentistry, a dentist can easily detect the sensitivity of teeth towards both hot and cold food items. Cavities filling became simple. After the advent of laser technology, the hard tissue based laser devices are utilized for filling cavities. In comparison to the traditional drills, the laser cut the tissue with higher precision and more accuracy. Also, in most of the cases, dentists need not to give the anesthesia to the patients. Tooth whitening: a process which a person undergoes at least once in a year. With the help of laser based tooth whitening, the shades of the teeth become lighter, even five to six shades. Less and sometimes no blood loss: in laser dentistry, the laser beam helps the blood to clot, and most of the times eradicate the need of stitches over the muscle tissue of the gums. Effective treatment of TMJ dental disorder: Laser dentistry is beneficial in curing TMJ. It is a chronic degenerative disease that can take years to develop inside a persons mouth.

WORKS CITED

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