Ruby laser weaknesses in the lining. Ruby lasers were used extensively in tattoo and hair removal, but are being replaced by alexandrite and s in this application. The ruby laser was the first laser to be made functional. Built by Theodore Maiman in 1960, the device was created out of the concept of an "optical maser," a maser that could operate in the visual or infrared regions of the spectrum. In 1958, after the inventor of the maser, Charles Townes, and his colleague, Arthur Schawlow, published an article in the "Physical Review" regarding the idea of optical masers, the race to build
Carbon dioxide laser were made out of salt (either sodium chloride or potassium chloride). While the material was inexpensive, the lenses and windows degraded slowly with exposure to atmospheric moisture. The most basic form of a CO laser consists of a gas discharge (with a mix close to that specified above) with a total reflector at one end, and an output coupler (a partially reflecting mirror) at the output end. The CO laser can be constructed to have continuous wave (CW) powers between milliwatts (mW) and hundreds of kilowatts (kW). It is also very easy to actively Q-switch a CO laser by means