Lasers: From Scientific Applications to Everyday Life

Lasers are ubiquitous technology that can be found in everything from grocery store scanners and printers, to medical equipment and even ill-tempered sharks to protect their flesh. While some of these applications may seem unrelated, they all share a common thread - the power of lasers. But have you ever wondered where lasers came from? The answer lies in scientific applications that were very much real.

It was all the way back in 1917 when the illustrious Albert Einstein published a paper containing the underlying science that would allow light to be amplified enough to form a laser beam. However, it wasn't until the late 1950s that the idea really took off with the first ever laser being turned on in 1960. This marked the beginning of a new era in technology, where scientists and engineers could harness the power of lasers for various applications.

One of the first practical uses of lasers was in medicine. The laser was used to treat an eye patient just a year after its invention, marking the beginning of a new frontier in medical treatment. Furthermore, by 1969, lasers were being used to estimate the distance to the Moon, showcasing their potential in space exploration.

So, how do lasers generate powerful enough light for these cool uses? The answer lies in the behavior of electrons that spin around the nuclei of atoms. When light hits an electron inside a laser, it energizes or excites the electron, causing it to gain energy and release a photon - an extremely tiny unit of light. This process repeats itself many times, with more and more photons being released until they hit two mirrors on either side of the laser, bouncing back and forth in phase. Eventually, enough in-phase photons shine through one mirror, forming a laser beam that can be used to play with your cat.

One of the most impressive aspects of lasers is their ability to amplify light. Due to the coherence of the photons - meaning they travel at exactly the same angle and phase - laser beams are incredibly powerful and narrow. This property makes lasers ideal for applications such as cutting through materials, sending data over long distances through fiber optic lines, and even identifying fingerprints with precision in crime scenes.

The versatility of lasers has led to a wide range of applications beyond their scientific origins. They can be used to cut through metal or plastic, send high-speed internet signals, or even remove unwanted hair. In recent years, we've seen the development of high-energy lasers that have made it possible to cut through materials with ease and precision.

Advancements in laser technology have also led to the creation of new products, such as optical drives. While these may seem outdated compared to modern digital storage devices, they played an important role in getting people thinking about the benefits of using lasers for storing, accessing, and sending information.

Despite their incredible power and versatility, lasers are not without limitations. One of the main hurdles to creating real-life laser guns like those depicted in science fiction is the lack of energy sources powerful enough to weaponize them. While researchers have made progress in directed energy weapons, it's unlikely that we'll see a practical, handheld laser gun anytime soon.

However, there is hope on the horizon. With advancements in materials science and engineering, it's becoming increasingly possible to miniaturize lasers to a practical size while maintaining their power and efficiency. This has led to the development of various applications, including the ability to cut through materials with light alone, send high-speed data signals over long distances, and even identify fingerprints with precision.

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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enlasers they can be found in everything from grocery store scanners and printers to lethal alien blasting weapons and ill-tempered sharks to protect your freaking evil layer okay the last two are science fiction but lasers were originally developed for scientific applications that were very much real it was all the way back in 1917 that the illustrious Albert Einstein published a paper containing the underlying science that would allow light to be Amplified enough to form a laser beam but it wasn't until the late 1950s that the idea really took off with the first ever laser being turned on in 1960 it didn't take long then for people to find real applications for lasers as the laser was used to treat an eye patient the very next year and then by 1969 we were using lasers to estimate the distance to the Moon but how do lasers generate powerful enough light for these cool uses the idea basically boils down to the way electrons that spin around the nuclei of atoms behave you see electrons can gain or lose energy in a number of ways which can happen if light hits them inside of a laser a powered lamp flashes and the light from this flash energizes or excites electrons in a material called a gain medium some of these excited electrons spontaneously lose their energy and in the process give off a photon an extremely tiny unit of light the photons then hit other excited electrons causing more and more photons to be released which travel at exactly the same angle and phase as the original Photon eventually enough inphase photons will bounce back and forth off of two mirrors on either side of the laser and shine through one mirror which is semi-transparent forming a laser beam that you can use to play with your cat laser beams are powerful due to the way the internals amplify the light and they're narrow due to the fact that the photons are coherent or in phase and although the first laser was that familiar red col these days we can produce many different colors of laser light by using different gain media different materials will emit different wave lengths of light and also need different amounts of energy to excite their electrons both the costs of these various materials and their different energy requirements contribute to the fact that some colors of laser are more expensive than others with red typically being the most readily available and cheapest and with advancements in laser design it's become one of the most versatile pieces of Technology invented in the last 100 years high energy lasers have made it possible to cut things with light alone send data over very long distances through fiber optic lines identify fingerprints with Precision at crime scenes and even remove embarrassing body hair we're seeing other cool stuff too like Facebook Aquilla an experimental drone that transmits data at very high bandwidth using laser light and of course we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the humble optical drive which while it might be on its way out really got people thinking about the benefits of using lasers to store access and send information but if lasers have been around for over half a century why then don't we have cool weapons like the phasers from Star Trek well the main hurdles to a real life laser guns are power we just haven't gotten energy sources powerful enough to weaponize lasers shrunk down to any kind of practical size and efficiency as lasers strong enough to cause physical damage are susceptible to overheat heating however active Research into directed energy weapons has made some progress in recent years just don't hold your breath waiting for someone to turn the moon into oh I don't know a space station speaking of directed things what if there was a way for people to easily direct their online payments to you how about brain tree if you're building a mobile app and searching for a simple payment solution their brain tree v.0 SDK is one amazingly simple integration that gives you every way to pay developers around the world have embraced the brain tree v.0 SDK as the easiest way to add secure mobile payments to their apps and websites brain tree allows you to accept Apple pay Android pay PayPal venmo credit cards and even Bitcoin and if something new pops up brain tree will support that too it's used by Uber Airbnb and GitHub so yeah it's pretty darn scalable but let's say you're not looking to take on Uber tomorrow but you want to try out brain free no worries you can even get your first $50,000 in transactions fee free at brain Tre payments.com tequ Linked In the video description go check it out so thanks for watching guys if you like this video do that thing if you disliked it do the other thing if you want to check out our other channels we got some great content up on channel super fun right now we're talking we're talking jousting in armor on swag ways go check that out and also leave a comment with the video comment thing below comments if you have suggestions for future videos and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't alreadylasers they can be found in everything from grocery store scanners and printers to lethal alien blasting weapons and ill-tempered sharks to protect your freaking evil layer okay the last two are science fiction but lasers were originally developed for scientific applications that were very much real it was all the way back in 1917 that the illustrious Albert Einstein published a paper containing the underlying science that would allow light to be Amplified enough to form a laser beam but it wasn't until the late 1950s that the idea really took off with the first ever laser being turned on in 1960 it didn't take long then for people to find real applications for lasers as the laser was used to treat an eye patient the very next year and then by 1969 we were using lasers to estimate the distance to the Moon but how do lasers generate powerful enough light for these cool uses the idea basically boils down to the way electrons that spin around the nuclei of atoms behave you see electrons can gain or lose energy in a number of ways which can happen if light hits them inside of a laser a powered lamp flashes and the light from this flash energizes or excites electrons in a material called a gain medium some of these excited electrons spontaneously lose their energy and in the process give off a photon an extremely tiny unit of light the photons then hit other excited electrons causing more and more photons to be released which travel at exactly the same angle and phase as the original Photon eventually enough inphase photons will bounce back and forth off of two mirrors on either side of the laser and shine through one mirror which is semi-transparent forming a laser beam that you can use to play with your cat laser beams are powerful due to the way the internals amplify the light and they're narrow due to the fact that the photons are coherent or in phase and although the first laser was that familiar red col these days we can produce many different colors of laser light by using different gain media different materials will emit different wave lengths of light and also need different amounts of energy to excite their electrons both the costs of these various materials and their different energy requirements contribute to the fact that some colors of laser are more expensive than others with red typically being the most readily available and cheapest and with advancements in laser design it's become one of the most versatile pieces of Technology invented in the last 100 years high energy lasers have made it possible to cut things with light alone send data over very long distances through fiber optic lines identify fingerprints with Precision at crime scenes and even remove embarrassing body hair we're seeing other cool stuff too like Facebook Aquilla an experimental drone that transmits data at very high bandwidth using laser light and of course we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the humble optical drive which while it might be on its way out really got people thinking about the benefits of using lasers to store access and send information but if lasers have been around for over half a century why then don't we have cool weapons like the phasers from Star Trek well the main hurdles to a real life laser guns are power we just haven't gotten energy sources powerful enough to weaponize lasers shrunk down to any kind of practical size and efficiency as lasers strong enough to cause physical damage are susceptible to overheat heating however active Research into directed energy weapons has made some progress in recent years just don't hold your breath waiting for someone to turn the moon into oh I don't know a space station speaking of directed things what if there was a way for people to easily direct their online payments to you how about brain tree if you're building a mobile app and searching for a simple payment solution their brain tree v.0 SDK is one amazingly simple integration that gives you every way to pay developers around the world have embraced the brain tree v.0 SDK as the easiest way to add secure mobile payments to their apps and websites brain tree allows you to accept Apple pay Android pay PayPal venmo credit cards and even Bitcoin and if something new pops up brain tree will support that too it's used by Uber Airbnb and GitHub so yeah it's pretty darn scalable but let's say you're not looking to take on Uber tomorrow but you want to try out brain free no worries you can even get your first $50,000 in transactions fee free at brain Tre payments.com tequ Linked In the video description go check it out so thanks for watching guys if you like this video do that thing if you disliked it do the other thing if you want to check out our other channels we got some great content up on channel super fun right now we're talking we're talking jousting in armor on swag ways go check that out and also leave a comment with the video comment thing below comments if you have suggestions for future videos and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already\n"