laser

A laser is a source of light that emits the light ;a electromagnetic radiation through a process called stimulated emission. Lasers are highly useful sources in analytical instrumentation because of their high intensities, their narrow bandwidths, and the coherent nature of their outputs. The first laser was described in 1960. Since that thime chemists have found numerous useful application for these sources in high resolution spectroscopy .READ MORE
The word laser originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The word light in this phrase is used in the broader sense, referring to electromagnetic radiation of any frequency, not just that in the visible spectrum. Hence there are infrared lasers, ultraviolet lasers, X-ray lasers, etc. Because the microwave equivalent of the laser, the maser, was developed first, devices that emit microwave and radio frequencies are usually called masers. In early literature, particularly from researchers at Bell Telephone Laboratories, the laser was often called the optical maser. This usage has since become uncommon, and as of 1998 even Bell Labs uses the term laser.
The back-formed verb to lase means "to produce laser light" or "to apply laser light to". The word "laser" is sometimes used to describe other non-light technologies. For example, a source of atoms in a coherent state is called an "atom laser".
Chemical lasers

Chemical lasers are powered by a chemical reaction, and can achieve high powers in continuous operation. For example, in the Hydrogen fluoride laser (2700-2900 nm) and the Deuterium fluoride laser (3800 nm) the reaction is the combination of hydrogen or deuterium gas with combustion products of ethylene in nitrogen trifluoride. They were invented by George C. Pimentel.