Medical, Industrial and Scientific Applications of laser

Applications of laser

Due to high coherence, high intensity, laser beams have wide applications in various branches of science and engineering.

Industrial applications

1.     The laser beam is used to drill extremely fine holes in diamonds, hard sheets etc.,

2.     They are also used for cutting thick sheets of hard metals and welding.

3.     The laser beam is used to vapourize the unwanted material during the manufacture of electronic circuit on semiconductor chips.

4.     They can be used to test the quality of the materials.

Medical applications

1.     In medicine, micro surgery has become possible due to narrow angular spread of the laser beam.

2.     It can be used in the treatment of kidney stone, tumour, in cutting and sealing the small blood vessels in brain surgery and retina detachment.

3.     The laser beams are used in endoscopy.

4.     It can also be used for the treatment of human and animalcancer.

Scientific and Engineering applications

1.     Since the laser beam can stay on at a single frequency, it can be modulated to transmit large number of messages at a time in radio, television and telephone.

2.     The semiconductor laser is the best light source for optical fiber communication.

3.     Narrow angular spread of the laser beam makes it a very useful tool for microwave communication. Communication with earth satellites and in rocketry. Laser is also used in accurate range finders for detecting the targets.

4.     The earth-moon distance has been measured with the help of

5.     lasers.

6.     It is used in laser Raman Spectroscopy.

7.     Laser is also used in holography (three dimensional lensless photography)

8.     Laser beam can determine precisely the distance, velocity and direction as well as the size and form of the objects by means of the reflected signal as in radar.

Holography

When an object is photographed by a camera, a two dimensional image of three dimensional object is obtained. A three dimensional image of an object can be formed by holography. In ordinary photography, the amplitude of the light wave is recorded on the photographic film. In holography, both the phase and amplitude of the light waves are recorded on the film. The resulting photograph is called hologram.