Laser 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 "coherently". Spatial coherence allows a laser to be focused to a tight spot, enabling applications such as laser cutting and lithography. Spatial
Stimulated emission difference in energies between the two states as a photon. The photon will have frequency "ν" and energy "hν", given by: where "h" is Planck's constant. Alternatively, if the excited-state atom is perturbed by an electric field of frequency "ν", it may emit an additional photon of the same frequency and in phase, thus augmenting the external field, leaving the atom in the lower energy state. This process is known as stimulated emission. In a group of such atoms, if the number of atoms in the excited state is given by "N", the rate at which stimulated emission occurs is