• Question: do you create lasers for optical or physical reasons

    Asked by ChazTheGamer11 to Ian on 13 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Ian Sandal

      Ian Sandal answered on 13 Mar 2015:


      I’m not sure I really understand your question can you clarify it a bit for me.

      The lasers I work on are used in a number of different applications. Some of these have a physical application (for example to kill a cancer cell, or to cut metal).

      Others I think you would describe as optical reasons. Here the light produced by the laser interacts with other objects and from this interaction we can find things out about the object. An example of this I am working on is using a laser to measure Carbon Dioxide levels in the atmosphere. If the laser light is of the right color (an infrared color) it is absorbed by Carbon Dioxide and the amount absorbed will depend on how much Carbon Dioxide there is. So by shining this light through the air (in say a balloon or plane) and measuring how much is absorbed we can tell how much Carbon dioxide is in the air at any particular place,

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