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Back to the future
The first laser was demonstrated on 16 May 1960 - Theodore Maiman was responsible for this feat at the time. What he did was shine a high-power flash lamp on a ruby rod with silver-coated surfaces. This was considered to be the first successful optical or light laser.
Today, whether you’re shopping at the local grocery store or listening to music on your CD player at home, lasers form an integral part of our daily lives. They are also used for industrial purposes, in consumer electronics, information and communications technology, entertainment, the medical field and in defence mechanisms. In fact, lasers are used in thousands of applications in every section of modern society.
As such, it is unquestionable that lasers and optics will in future be present in some form or other in all areas of civilisation. In fact, many have even dubbed this the “century of the photon” following on from the 20th century as the so-called “century of the electron”; illustrating more and more the direction we are moving in and the significant place that lasers will take far into the future.
The name ‘LASER’ is an acronym for ‘Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation’. Before we begin to explore what this means, we need to understand the nature and laws of light.
What is a laser and how does it work?
The CSIR is involved in the research, development and implementation of laser-based technologies and applications in Africa. Laser research aims to develop truly novel laser sources; to improve laser technology in manufacturing; use laser technology to remotely sense and study our atmosphere; apply laser technology to study and control chemical processes; and to improve various therapeutic and diagnostic medical applications of lasers.
Marrying the splendour of light with the exquisiteness of diamonds
Diamonds are the hardest known natural substance. There are many types of diamonds such as industrial, commercial and synthetic ones. Laser scientist Bathusile Masina is involved in studies whereby industrial diamonds are heated by a laser beam and the resulting temperature is optically measured on the surface of the diamond in order to study temperature driven defects. Let’s meet her.
Pushing lasers well beyond the limits - novel laser sources
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Laser sources are just what they imply, it is the actual laser. There are many different types of lasers. The laser medium can be a solid, gas, liquid or semiconductor. Lasers are commonly categorised by the type of lasing material employed. |
Advanced manufacturing techniques using laser materials processing
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Laser-based manufacturing ranks among the most important of the new generation of knowledge intensive advanced manufacturing techniques. As such, laser-based advanced manufacturing has become an indispensable tool for global competitiveness in the manufacturing industries. CSIR researchers involved in this research focus on the development of laser-based manufacturing solutions and also provide access to highly specialised laser machining systems and expertise. |
Working towards a cleaner environment - atmospheric remote sensing
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Lidar (light detection and ranging) is one of the most powerful techniques for active remote sensing of the earth’s atmosphere. Lasers offer great advantages over conventional light sources in terms of peak power, narrow spectral width and narrow beam width. The CSIR National Laser Centre has designed one of only two mobile lidar systems in South Africa. |
Why go under the knife?
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What happens when you shine laser light on your hand? Will it harm you or can we use it to find out if you have a specific disease or even use it to treat you? The term biophotonics denotes a combination of biology and photonics (light); it refers to all techniques that deal with the interaction of laser light and human tissue. With biophotonics, treatments and diagnostic procedures can be done non-invasively. This means that surgery is not required. |
Femtosecond science : The next frontier
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Femtosecond laser science is one of the fastest growing research fields in laser science. One femtosecond (fs) is equal to one millionth of a billionth of a second! This is an extremely short unit of time since small molecules typically take a few hundred femtoseconds to complete one vibration. Working at the cutting edge of this new technology, researchers are working towards solving real-world problems. |
Taking modern optics to the next level - mathematical optics
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In mathematical optics, the various aspects of modern optics are studied; using mathematics and physics as the basis. But it doesn’t stop there, what makes this unique is that it can be used for manipulating biological objects, high energy laser delivery through a turbulent atmosphere, vortex beams carrying angular momentum for quantum entanglement and novel laser resonators for high brightness lasers. Want to know more? Read on |
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