SCIENCE PANEL BLOG

Applied Science

Introduction

•to fulfill the aspiration of technical and vocational education to produce K-economy work-force of a developed nation.

erminology

From left to right: gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet rays, visible spectrum, infrared, microwaves, radio waves.

The word laser originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The word light in this phrase is used in the broader sense, referring to electromagnetic radiation of any frequency, not just that in the visible spectrum. Hence there are infrared lasers, ultraviolet lasers, X-ray lasers, etc. Because the microwave equivalent of the laser, the maser, was developed first, devices that emit microwave and radio frequencies are usually called masers. In early literature, particularly from researchers at Bell Telephone Laboratories, the laser was often called the optical maser. This usage has since become uncommon, and as of 1998 even Bell Labs uses the term laser.^[3]

The back-formed verb to lase means "to produce laser light" or "to apply laser light to."^[4] The word "laser" is sometimes used to describe other non-light technologies. For example, a source of atoms in a coherent state is called an "atom laser."

In fiction and popular culture, the variant spelling "lazer" is sometimes seen.^[c