Laser systems, as physical systems, comprise an optical gain medium, an energy pump source, and an optical resonator configured to produce coherent, monochromatic, and highly directional electromagnetic radiation via stimulated emission. The gain medium (solid-state, gas, liquid, or semiconductor) is excited by optical, electrical, or chemical pumping, creating a population inversion between quantized energy levels. The resonator, typically a pair of mirrors or integrated waveguide structures, provides optical feedback and mode selection, defining spatial and spectral properties. System performance is characterized by thresholds, efficiency, beam quality (M²), temporal regime (CW or pulsed), and stability against thermal, mechanical, and nonlinear optical effects.
Physicists at Umeå University, in collaboration with researchers in China, have developed a laser made entirely from biomaterials—birch leaves and peanut kernels. The environmentally friendly laser could become an inexpensive ...
Nanophysics
Nov 3, 2025
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89
Nonlinear optical dynamics—intensity-dependent response of light upon interaction with materials under high-intensity light sources—are of huge significance in modern photonics, finding applications in fields ranging from ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 31, 2025
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44
Researchers have developed a new technology that can shape the spectrum of light emitted from a laser frequency comb across the visible and near-infrared wavelengths with more precision than previously possible. This advance ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 30, 2025
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69
Using ultra-fast laser beams, a team from the Irradiated Solids Laboratory has designed an experiment that allows both the creation of nanometric cavities in metal films and their study using several advanced microscopy techniques. ...
Nanophysics
Oct 29, 2025
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62
During a procedure known as laser lithotripsy, urologists use a small, video-guided laser to blast painful, potentially damaging kidney stones to smithereens. It's better for the patient if urologists can break kidney stones ...
Bio & Medicine
Oct 28, 2025
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60
A team of physicists from the University of Innsbruck and Harvard University has proposed a fundamentally new way to generate laser light: a laser without mirrors. Their study, published in Physical Review Letters, shows ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 28, 2025
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385
According to a recent study published in APL Photonics, a research team led by Prof. Liang Xu from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed an ultra-compact excimer laser roughly ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 24, 2025
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99
Researchers at Umeå University and the Swedish Defense Research Agency, FOI, have developed new laser methods that can quickly detect chemical weapons and harmful bacteria directly on site—without the need to send samples ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 20, 2025
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38
A few years ago, researchers in Michal Lipson's lab noticed something remarkable. They were working on a project to improve LiDAR, a technology that uses lightwaves to measure distance. The lab was designing high-power chips ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 7, 2025
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652
In a recent Nature study, scientists have demonstrated an electrically driven perovskite laser using a dual-cavity design, addressing a challenge that has persisted in the field for over a decade.
