Laser miliatary aviation, due to the potential to temporarily distract or blind pilots. See Lasers and aviation safety for more on this topic. Laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The first laser was built in 1960 by Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories, based on theoretical work by Charles Hard Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow. A laser differs from other sources of light in that it emits light
Trident laser Back-scatter (FABS) diagnostic at the National Ignition Facility. A new front-end for the laser employs a 2nd order cleaning technique, dubbed SPOPA (for Short-Pulse Optical Parametric Amplification) cleaning, which reduces the contrast to better than 10 ASE intensity ratio, making it one of the cleanest ultra high-intensity high-power laser in the world. The laser is currently being used for Fast Ignition ICF research, warm dense matter experiments, materials dynamics studies, and laser-matter interaction research, including particle acceleration, x-ray backlighting and laser-plasma instabilities (LPI). For more information see the Trident User Facility Website: Trident User Facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory, see