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Lasers
Lasers are used to cut precise patterns
in glass and metal, to reshape corneas to correct poor vision,
and to provide intense heat in controlled fusion experiments.
But we also use lasers as very precise light sources in
supermarket checkout lines, CD players, and to transmit
most telephone signals
Some ways of using lasers
Medical Uses of Lasers
The highly collimated beam of a laser can be further focused
to a microscopic dot of extremely high energy density. This
makes it useful as a cutting and cauterizing instrument. Lasers
are used for photocoagulation of the retina to halt retinal
hemorrhaging and for the tacking of retinal tears. Higher
power lasers are used after cataract surgery if the supportive
membrane surrounding the implanted lens becomes milky. Photodisruption
of the membrane often can cause it to draw back like a shade,
almost instantly restoring vision. A focused laser can act
as an extremely sharp scalpel for delicate surgery, cauterizing
as it cuts. ("Cauterizing" refers to long-standing
medical practices of using a hot instrument or a high frequency
electrical probe to singe the tissue around an incision, sealing
off tiny blood vessels to stop bleeding.) The cauterizing
action is particularly important for surgical procedures in
blood-rich tissue such as the liver.
Lasers have been used to make incisions half a micron wide,
compared to about 80 microns for the diameter of a human hair.
Welding and Cutting
The highly collimated beam of a laser can
be further focused to a microscopic dot of extremely high
energy density for welding and cutting.
The automobile industry makes extensive use of carbon dioxide
lasers with powers up to several kilowatts for computer controlled
welding on auto assembly lines.
Garmire points out an interesting application of CO2 lasers
to the welding of stainless steel handles on copper cooking
pots. A nearly impossible task for conventional welding because
of the great difference in thermal conductivities between
stainless steel and copper, it is done so quickly by the laser
that the thermal conductivities are irrelevant.
Surveying and Ranging
Helium-neonm have become standard parts of
the field surveyor's equipment. A fast laser pulse is sent
to a corner reflector at the point to be measured and the
time of reflection is measured to get the distance.
Some such surveying is long distance! The Apollo 11 and Apollo
14 astronauts put corner reflectors on the surface of the
Moon for determination of the Earth-Moon distance. A powerful
laser pulse from the MacDonald Observatory in Texas had spread
to about a 3 km radius by the time it got to the Moon, but
the reflection was strong enough to be detected. We now know
the range from the Moon to Texas within about 15 cm, a nine
significant digit measurement. A pulsed ruby laser was used
for this measurement.
Heat Treatment
Heat treatments for hardening or annealing
have been long practiced in metallurgy. But lasers offer some
new possibilities for selective heat treatments of metal parts.
For example, lasers can provide localized heat treatments
such as the hardening of the surfaces of automobile camshafts.
These shafts are manufactured to high precision, and if the
entire camshaft is heat treated, some warping will inevitably
occur. But the working surfaces of the cams can be heated
quickly with a carbon dioxide laser and hardened without appreciably
affecting the remainder of the shaft, preserving the precision
of manufacture.
At home lasers are used in the laser
printers and cd drives
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