User:Tmercyngrace/sandbox

Laser stands for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation and the process was first theorized by Albert Einstein in 1917 http://www.credoreference.com.ezproxy.bellevue.edu/entry/conscitech/laser. Before the invention of the Laser there was the MASER, which stands for Microwave Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. This process of Stimulated Emission occurs when atoms, ions, or molecules absorb energy and as a result emit light. The Ruby crystal is used as the gain medium. As the Ruby crystal absorbs the energy from the flash lamp, the atoms in the crystal are repeatedly excited which causes a burst of light. The Laser uses light to stimulate the electrons in a gain medium A Gain medium is a medium which can amplify the power of light. Gain refers to the amount of amplification. Before the invention of the LASER there was the MASER. The MASER used ammonia gas and microwave radiation and in a process very similar to the optical LASER. Another requirement for building a laser is a pump source. The pump source provides energy to excite the atoms into the point where they emit a light source. The resultant light source produced by the excited atoms will stimulate more emission and it amplifies the created light source. The origin of the term LASER comes from this amplified light. LASER amplifiers are turned into oscillators through appropriately phased energy output from the excited atoms and using it as input back into the atoms. This process is known as oscillation and has become the commonly used process o f developing LASERS. LASER power is the measurement of the energy output or the pulse power of the beam. The power of a laser is measured in Watts (and often reported in terms of nW, mW, W, etc.). This is referring to the optical power output of the laser beam, which is the continuous power output of continuous wave (CW) lasers, or the average power of a pulsed or modulated laser. (http://www.coherent.com/downloads/AboutMeasuringLaserPowerndEnergyOutputFinal.pdf)