List of laser applications
Wikimedia list article
Many scientific, military, medical and commercial laser applications have been developed since the invention of the laser in 1958. The coherency, high monochromaticity, and ability to reach extremely high powers are all properties which allow for these specialized applications.
Scientific
In science, lasers are used in many ways, including:
A wide variety of interferometric techniques
Raman spectroscopy
Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy
Atmospheric remote sensing
Investigating nonlinear optics phenomena
Holographic techniques employing lasers also contribute to a number of measurement techniques.
Laser based lidar (LIght raDAR) technology applications in geology, seismology, remote sensing and atmospheric physics.
Three-dimensional structural modifications and writing inside technological materials.
Lasers have been used aboard spacecraft such as in the Cassini-Huygens mission.
In astronomy, lasers have been used to create artificial laser guide stars, used as reference objects for adaptive optics telescopes.
Lasers may also be indirectly used in spectroscopy as a micro-sampling system, a technique termed Laser ablation (LA), which is typically applied to ICP-MS apparatus resulting in the powerful LA-ICP-MS.
The principles of laser spectroscopy are discussed by Demtröder.
Spectroscopy
Most types of laser are an inherently pure source of light; they emit near-monochromatic light with a very well defined range of wavelengths. By careful design of the laser components, the purity of the laser light (measured as the "linewidth") can be improved more than the purity of any other light source.
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