Application of technology in the study of laser
An important aspect to highlight of the laser beam is that it belongs to the family of electromagnetic radiation, that is, where our visible or white light is located, through the use of technology has been able to create devices that generate this concentration of light and this is done by exciting a certain standing wave which is located in the middle of two mirrors, where, one is translucent and the other is opaque, all this within a totally homogeneous medium, therefore, the light wave will bounce back and forth as it is reflected in the mirrors until it exits through a space in the translucent mirror.
In order to make the behavior of a laser beam more friendly, it is important that we relate it to our visible or white light, and in this way you can then observe one of the most outstanding characteristics of the laser beam in relation to visible light, for this, you can observe the behavior of both electromagnetic radiation in the following figure 1.
Figure 1. Laser directionality vs. visible light
They could easily notice how the laser beam is monodirectional, monochromatic and coherent, while white light is the opposite, that is, its light waves could have either the same or different directionality, and in this way we can see how the visible light generated by our bulb emits light in an omnidirectional way, that is, in all directions, in the same way occurs with the characteristic of monochromatism.
The generation of white light from our bulb, its light waves are not in phase, therefore, this aspect allows that an important energy fraction of this visible light is wasted, since in many occasions there are waves that cancel each other, the opposite happens with the laser beam device, where the waves generated all have the same phase, this makes the energy emitted becomes the maximum possible, this feature is what we know as sense of coherence in the emission of a laser beam.
As for its use we can say that there are several applications, such as in surgical procedures, domestic electromagnetic devices, metal cutting, scanning bar codes, among many other applications, therefore, the laser beam can be observed in our environment at any time, since this type of technological application has become a fundamental tool for our modernity.
It is important to be cautious when using the laser on our skin and eyes, as it can cause us some injuries, especially that located in the mid and far infrared of our electromagnetic spectrum, many are the characteristics of laser care but as we know have been very useful in important activities of ours, then observe a type of ruby laser device in the following figure 2.
Figure 2. Ruby laser
We say goodbye expressing that the word LASER originates from the English acronym, Light Amplification Emission Emission of Radiaton, and that thanks to the field of technology we have managed to take advantage of its great utility, until another opportunity my dear friends.
Note: All images are my own created in Power Point and the animated gifs in PhotoScape.