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
Sound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation of direct semiconductors. The reasoning behind that comes from the fact that, due to the k-selection rule in semiconductors, interband transitions with the production of only one phonon can be only those that produce an optical phonon. However, optical phonons have a short life-time (they split into two due to anharmonicity) and therefore they add some important complications. Here we can note that even in the case of multi-stage process of acoustic phonon creation it is possible to create SASER. Examples of narrow-gap indirect semiconductors that can be used are chalcogenides PbTe, PbSe and PbS with energy gap 0.15 –