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Abstract

It was in 1960 in Professor Maiman’s laboratory in Pasadena in California that a thin beam of red light, laser radiation, shined for the first time, the fruit of both Einstein’s hypothesis regarding stimulated emission and also more than 40 years of theoretical and experimental work. From that date, laser applications quickly extended beyond the confines of the laboratory. More and more and increasingly diverse types of lasers are now used in industry and for military and space applications, telecommunications, medicine, show business, not to mention products for domestic use. CD and DVD readers used in personal stereos, hi-fi systems and personal computers are probably, along with bar code readers at supermarket check-outs, the most common examples of the daily use of laser radiation.

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag France

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Courant, D. (2012). Lasers. In: Perrin, A., Souques, M. (eds) Electromagnetic Fields, Environment and Health. Springer, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-2-8178-0363-0_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-2-8178-0363-0_11

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