Kinds of Lasers.
The chief types of lasers are solid state lasers, gas lasers and liquid lasers. A solid, liquid, gas or semiconductor can act because the laser medium.
Solid state lasers are produced with hard materials like garnet or ruby. Solid state lasers are used for detecting ecological pollution, in scientific researches and a great many other applications. Solid state lasers have laser emitting materials arranged in solid matrix. Examples for solid state lasers would be the ruby or neodymium-Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) lasers. The lasing materials are pumped with flashlights, making the laser give either pulsed or continuous beam of light.
Gas lasers are lasers by which an household current is passed via a gas to make light. In the early days gas lasers used a mix of helium and neon with carbon dioxide. At present gas lasers may use more strong and volatile mediums like hydrogen and fluorine. Gas lasers have great military applications. The cutting of hard materials becomes easy through gas lasers.
Liquid lasers or dye lasers utilize liquid organic dyes. These emit a wide, continuous array of colors, mainly in the visible part of the spectrum. Dye lasers are excellent for applications by which a particular color is required Certified Lasers. Another laser source such as for example copper vapor laser can be used to excite the dye. Liquid lasers may be tuned over a wide array of wavelengths.
Excimer lasers are generated by using gases like fluorine and chlorine in conjunction with other gases such as for example krypton, argon or xenon. Excimer lasers are very helpful for the medical profession. To regulate the wavelength of the lasers compound natural dyes are employed extensively.
Semiconductor lasers are often tiny devices and use only low power. Semiconductor lasers are also known as diode lasers. The writing sources in certain CD players and in certain laser printers are examples for this. Semiconductor lasers are very helpful for electronics like CD players, laser printers etc.