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Dr Andrew Forbes
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A CSIR chief scientist, Dr Andrew Forbes, painted a glowing picture on the future of laser applications at a public lecture held at the CSIR in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of this phenomenon in May 2010.
The theme of his presentation was, 'Let there be light: 50 years of the laser'.
He said that lasers were used in almost every field, from laser sciences to medical, manufacturing and in customer goods.
"Laser is becoming ubiquitous. Almost everybody owns a laser through a CD player," he said.
With its endless list of applications, lasers are also used in the military.
"With lasers, we can guide missiles into a target but we can also shoot them down with the same laser. This is what we call directional infrared countermeasure systems found in the modern military aircrafts," he said.
Lasers are used in paint stripping when cleaning the missiles while the CSIR also performs work in this area to weld rocket motors of these missiles.
Forbes also revealed that with lasers, scientists are now able to go to the stars and back. "Scientists around the world are using lasers for tracking and ranging of satellites and the moon," he said. "They [lasers] are also used to excite the atmosphere to provide a guide for astronomers."
According to Forbes, it is envisaged that in future spaceships will be fired into orbit using the power of laser instead of using chemicals "that are not environmental friendly".
He added that lasers might lead the way towards a nuclear future.
Looking ahead, Forbes said that the combination of nanotechnology and photonics that resulted to nanophotonics promises a bright future. "Nanophotonics is gradually replacing electronic devices," he said, adding that this is a century of the photon.
"It's fast, accurate and contact-free. The photon is the electron of the 21st century," he said.
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