laser

[ ley-zer ]

noun

, Physics.

1. a device that produces a nearly parallel, nearly monochromatic, and coherent beam of light by exciting atoms to a higher energy level and causing them to radiate their energy in phase.

Laser

¹

/ ˈleɪzə /

noun

1. a type of dinghy, designed to be sailed by one person

laser

²

/ ˈleɪzə /

noun

1. a source of high-intensity optical, infrared, or ultraviolet radiation produced as a result of stimulated emission maintained within a solid, liquid, or gaseous medium. The photons involved in the emission process all have the same energy and phase so that the laser beam is monochromatic and coherent, allowing it to be brought to a fine focus
2. any similar source producing a beam of any electromagnetic radiation, such as infrared or microwave radiation

verb

1. to use a laser on (something), esp as part of medical treatment
2. often foll by off to remove (a tattoo, fat, etc) with laser treatment

laser

/ lā′zər /

1. Short for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. A device that creates and amplifies electromagnetic radiation of a specific frequency through the process of stimulated emission . The radiation emitted by a laser consists of a coherent beam of photons, all in phase and having the same polarization. Lasers have many uses, such as cutting hard or delicate substances, reading data from compact disks and other storage devices, and establishing straight lines in geographical surveying.

laser

1. A device that produces a very narrow, highly concentrated beam of light . Lasers have a variety of uses in such areas as surgery, welding and metal cutting, and sound and video recording and reproduction. The name is an acronym for l ight a mplification by s timulated e mission of r adiation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of laser¹

1955–60; l(ightwave) a(mplification by) s(timulated) e(mission of ) r(adiation)

Word History and Origins

Origin of laser¹

C20: from l ight a mplification by s timulated e mission of r adiation

A Closer Look

A laser emits a thin, intense beam of nearly monochromatic visible or infrared light that can travel long distances without diffusing. Most light beams consist of many waves traveling in roughly the same direction, but the phases and polarizations of each individual wave (or photon) are randomly distributed. In laser light, the waves are all precisely in step, or in phase, with each other, and have the same polarization. Such light is called coherent. All of the photons that make up a laser beam are in the same quantum state. Lasers produce coherent light through a process called stimulated emission. The laser contains a chamber in which atoms of a medium such as a synthetic ruby rod or a gas are excited, bringing their electrons into higher orbits with higher energy states. When one of these electrons jumps down to a lower energy state (which can happen spontaneously), it gives off its extra energy as a photon with a specific frequency. But this photon, upon encountering another atom with an excited electron, will stimulate that electron to jump down as well, emitting another photon with the same frequency as the first and in phase with it. This effect cascades through the chamber, constantly stimulating other atoms to emit yet more coherent photons. Mirrors at both ends of the chamber cause the light to bounce back and forth in the chamber, sweeping across the entire medium. If a sufficient number of atoms in the medium are maintained by some external energy source in the higher energy state—a condition called population inversion —then emission is continuously stimulated, and a stream of coherent photons develops. One of the mirrors is partially transparent, allowing the laser beam to exit from that end of the chamber. Lasers have many industrial, military, and scientific uses, including welding, target detection, microscopic photography, fiber optics, surgery, and optical instrumentation for surveying.

Example Sentences

You can use powerful lasers to measure the distance of these objects, like radar or sonar.

From MIT Technology Review

This Raman spectroscopy shines laser light on a sample, then measures how the light bounces off.

From Science News For Students

SHERLOC, or Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals, will take similar measurements using an ultraviolet laser.

From Science News

In one incident, a man is accused of aiming a laser pointer at a police helicopter.

From Voice of San Diego

Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and other more complex substances must be available for life to both evolve and build radio transmitters or lasers to send signals through space.

From Science News

Initially, it will be able to carry 1,000-pound satellite-guided bombs or 500-pound laser-guided weapons.

From The Daily Beast

Where these laser-like missiles are falling out of the sky onto a city and you have to stop each of them from hitting the targets?

From The Daily Beast

“The laser-wielding robot is a real threat,” Hetflaisz says.

From The Daily Beast

Obama is widely believed to tap an ex-physicist who cuts military waste like a laser to become the next secretary of defense.

From The Daily Beast

Green laser pointers shined in the faces of men in uniforms looking down from the roof of the National Palace.

From The Daily Beast

Then, as though finding an error, he halted its operation and swung the laser-head back away from the work piece.

From Project Gutenberg

Casually, without even looking at the Security man, he had somehow centered the laser directly on him.

From Project Gutenberg

The theory behind the heat projector was simply an extension of the laser theory, plus a few refinements.

From Project Gutenberg

Or, I should say, the thing that is supposed to look like a laser component.

From Project Gutenberg

It looked like a keychain laser-pointer, or maybe a novelty light-saber.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bar
• glow
• laser
• radiation
• ray
• shaft