Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere atmosphere, oceans, soil, rocks, and volcanism. Both carbon cycles are intrinsically interconnected and atmospheric gaseous carbon dioxide facilitates the carbon cycle. Natural sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide include volcanic outgassing, the combustion of organic matter, wildfires and the respiration processes of living aerobic organisms. Man-made sources of carbon dioxide include the burning of fossil fuels for heating, power generation and transport, as well as some industrial processes such as cement making. It is also produced by various microorganisms from fermentation and cellular respiration. Plants, algae and cyanobacteria convert carbon dioxide to carbohydrates by a process called photosynthesis. They gain the
Carbon dioxide laser Carbon dioxide laser The carbon dioxide laser (CO laser) was one of the earliest gas lasers to be developed. It was invented by Kumar Patel of Bell Labs in 1964, and is still one of the most useful. Carbon dioxide lasers are the highest-power continuous wave lasers that are currently available. They are also quite efficient: the ratio of output power to pump power can be as large as 20%. The CO laser produces a beam of infrared light with the principal wavelength bands centering on 9.4 and 10.6 micrometers (μm). The active laser medium (laser gain/amplification medium) is a