LASERS AND HOW THEY'VE BEEN MONUMENTAL DURING THE PANDEMIC.

From fancy crime sequences in sci-fi films to playing stupid pranks on our friends, and not to forget the extremely popular lightsabers, LASER is familiar. It is very compact with intricate physics. LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. That sounds complicated but it's not. A LASER stands out from any other source of light because of its unique properties, the light produced is monochromatic, coherent, highly intense, and collimated. Let me explain. (If you don't want too much theory you can skip a couple of paragraphs)

The electron in the excited state is very unstable and ends up in the ground state instantly, emitting a photon in a process known as spontaneous emission. If a photon interacts with an electron before it jumps down, it will stimulate the release of another photon. This emission is called stimulated emission which is the first step of a reaction chain. The major difference is that in the second case the photons will be in phase. In simpler terms, photons want to be together due to which they will be in phase and can be called coherent. The problem is that most of the electrons are in the ground state, hence we need to go for population inversion which redistributes the energy levels. But the life of electrons in the excited state is short. So we use materials with metastates, where the electron can stay longer giving enough time for stimulated emission. Now this process continues and starts causing a cascading effect resulting in millions of coherent photons.

Next, to amplify the light waves we put our system in a LASER cavity consisting of mirrors, making the photons reflect back and forth creating a tsunami of stimulated photons forming an amplified standing wave. The transparency of one of the mirrors is lessened to allow the beam to pass through. This wave will be collimated and can be focussed on smaller areas. Also, the linewidth is very narrow, or in other words, it almost produces a single frequency of light which can be called monochromatic technically. We can change the frequency of the wave by tweaking the length of the cavity or the material in the cavity.

LASER has been very useful in the medical field, be it surgery, dentistry, or even cancer detection which is now less painful and more precise. LASERs are useful in cutting and welding of metals. It's used in military and security systems. Its used to conduct many science experiments. It is very common in barcode scanners and printers too. We can clearly see how every walk of our life is being influenced by LASERs.

Most importantly, the help that the LASER technology has provided during the pandemic is immense. Say, for example, non-contact thermometers, which is a must in the current situation. This is because as we all know that COVID-19 can spread through surfaces or by touch. Non-contact thermometers are very commonly observed in the post lockdown period. It has even been made a safety norm in various places. It works on the principle that every body emits Electromagnetic radiation which varies with temperature. It uses a couple of laser beams for the safe and precise measurement of temperature.

Lasers can also be used for disinfecting surfaces. The high thermal energy of intense LASER beams can kill the virus thus, disinfecting the surface. There are no chemicals involved or no secondary waste produced. Studies have also shown potential in LASERS based on Raman Spectrometry being useful in fast detection of covid-19. It is also found that LASER light can relieve inflammation and induce cell growth in the lungs. 

Hope to see our future move forward with the speed of LASER beams leaving the virus and the destruction caused by it light years behind, with the LASER technology as lightsabers in our possession. And ya, hope to see you all in the next one, keep reading my friends. Do subscribe for regular jaw-dropping content.