Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation, the process the word laser abbreviates. The first laser was built in 1960 by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories, drawing on theoretical work by Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow and on the optical amplifier patented by Gordon Gould. A laser's light is coherent, meaning it can be focused to a tight spot for uses such as cutting and lithography, or kept narrow over long distances for uses such as laser pointers and lidar, and some lasers hold enough temporal coherence to emit a very narrow range of frequencies or, conversely, ultrashort pulses. Lasers are used in fiber optic and free space communication, optical disc drives, laser printers, barcode scanners, semiconductor chip manufacturing, surgery and skin treatment, and cutting and welding, among other uses. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/