What is laser? Learn about the technology and its practical applications – Globo.com

If you’re into technology or is a fan of science fiction stories (or both) is certainly familiar with the concept of lasers. But as the technology works, where did and what their current applications? In this article, the TechTudo will answer these questions and more. Come

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The meaning of the word laser

The word laser is actually an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, which in Portuguese means Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. This explains very well what makes a laser. It is nothing more than a device that emits electromagnetic radiation and thereby generates a cascading action in the light particles, called photons.

Because of this stimulation, the photons They start to behave the same way and propagate in the same direction. To be considered a laser, the device must emit visible light that meets the following criteria: the beam must be narrow, highly concentrated, monochromatic and rather intense. The technical name for this is coherent beam because the light particles adopt the same behavior and direction.

The emergence of laser

The first laser was produced in 1960 by Theodore Maiman Harold. He developed a three-level laser that produced pulsed light, but often in the order of milliseconds. Therefore, the human being discerned as a continuous light source. Its wave frequency was 694.3 nm, which is interpreted by our brain as being red.

But before Theodore produce the first laser 55 years ago, many others scientists contributed to its emergence through various research and discoveries. The first was the German physicist Albert Einstein who in 1905 published a study explaining the concept of photons, or particles of light. It is worth noting that this term was not created by him but by another scientist, Gilbert name. N. Lewis.

Eight years later, in 1913, the Danish Niels Bohr presented his model of the atom. Here, the physical explained that the electrons orbiting the nucleus of the atom can move through the atom of levels depending on their interaction with photons, or whether they receive or emit light particles they would move differently the periphery the atom.

However, only in 1925, Schrödinger and Heisenberg were able to demonstrate, by means of the wave functions of the electrons as was the level of change and the exact energy needed for this happen. Thus, it became clear that atoms can be excited by different types of photons with different wavelengths. Nearly a quarter century later, Charles Hard along with other researchers created the maser, the laser precursor. It stands for “microwave amplification through stimulated emission of radiation.” The difference to current laser is that the microwave maser produced rather than visible light. Moreover, he had not the ability to emit continuous waves.

The laser term appeared in 1959 in a scientific paper published by Gordon Gould, entitled The LASER, Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The following year, the first laser, in fact, was created by Theodore.

Applications

Since then, Laser has developed a lot and today it is used in various functions. For example, you know the CD / DVD this reader on your notebook or computer? Then, it uses laser to read the media from the files. Blu-Ray and DVD players idem. You know those readers bar codes used in supermarket checkouts? So there we also see the presence of lasers.

In addition, they are widely used in medicine. It has important therapeutic properties, such as tróficoregenerativas, anti-inflammatory and analgesic. He even has the ability to increase local microcirculation, lymphatic circulation, proliferation of epithelial cells and fibroblasts, as increased collagen synthesis. It is no wonder, it is widely used in some treatments for skin cancer.

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The laser is also very present in dental offices and most trivial uses. Remember those laser pointers that many teachers use? So is another example of application of this technology. Ah! And let our pets crazy pet chasing a speck of light in the house.

unusual Applications

But Lasers are also used for purposes that neither imagined. The smartphone LG G3, for example, uses laser in your camera. One of the big news is its laser autofocus, where the cell is able to focus on the subject and identify his property through a laser beam.

This technology allows the focus happen much faster. The time it takes the laser to measure distance and then focus is only 0.236 seconds. Faster than a blink of an eye, it takes 0.300 seconds.

Some scientists led to use of the laser at other levels and started to make popcorn with them. Exactly, popcorn! We talk about it here. Better than reading is to see. So put down the video that demonstrates this madness.

The future of lasers

Like any other technology, Laser is also evolving. Several researches are already under way and promise to improve the use of laser beams in various skin treatments and also against cancer. Moreover, in the future, we see tanks or anti-aircraft batteries equipped with such powerful lasers capable of intercepting and destroying missiles.

In the household, lasers can make the lighting of our homes and in the field of robotics they are used to calculate the depth of objects and thus allow the robot perfectly calculate their movements can walk normally for any environment.

No matter what type of use they adopt in the future, the important thing is that this technology will continue developing and helping to make our most productive and enjoyable life. After all, if not for the use of this technology many doctors and orthodontic treatments even exist. Outside the convenience of being able to watch a film without using a huge VHS tape.