Research on the laser tools are beings completed

View films on DVD, listen to a CD, browse the Web, read barcodes, remove tattoos, see clearly without glasses... None of these now practices of everyday life would be possible without the invention of the laser. Since its discovery by the American Theodore Maiman, who made the first laser operate on 16 May 1960 at Hughes Research Laboratory of Malibu, California, this technique based on light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation ("Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation") has shown an enormous innovation potential that scientists have not finished exploring. "Research on the laser tools are beings completed." "We are always seeking greater powers, even shorter pulse and possible small dimensions of the order of the nanometer", explains Michèle Leduc, President of the society of Physics (SFP) and Director of the Council of Ile-de-France Research Institute for cold atoms (Ifraf), whose current research are based on the work of Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for the downturn and trapping of atoms with laser light. It is one of the nine international scientists to have been distinguished by a Nobel Prize in physics or chemistry for their discoveries in the field of lasers, between 1964 and 2009.

"The 20th century was that of electronics and microelectronics." The 21st century will be that of Photonics and laser. "The use of light penetrate all areas of daily life, the optical computer to the optical system of medical diagnostics," said Costel Subran, President and CEO of Opton Laser International, who chairs the national organizing Committee for the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the laser, which the official kickoff is given this afternoon at the Palais de la découverte in Paris. "This event will give rise to numerous national events in most of the countries of the world." "The France decided to organize throughout the year 2010", announces Costel Subran, which also ensures the Vice-Presidency of the French society of optical (SFO) and the national Committee of optics and Photonics (CNOP), consisting of all French industrial and academic actors.

The most accurate of the scalpels

Even if the laser has not yet delivered all its secrets, he already scored its footprint in the industrial field. This technique of welding, mark, drilling, cutting or scraping without mechanical contact, is omnipresent in automotive, aeronautics, defence, space, military, electronics, manufacturing of microprocessors or flat screens, cleaning surfaces, watchmaking, metrology, control of air pollution, etc. Today appear to fibre lasers, easier to use, because all components are engraved in the optical fiber of tens of microns. "This new application of lasers, derived products used for telecommunications, is used in particular to the micro-machining, such as solar panels, and especially marking", says Alain de Salaberry, CEO of the Quantel group, the French specialist of the laser making 50 of its net annual sales (52 million) in industrial and scientific applications.

In the medical community, the first therapeutic application which is also the most well known, under the ophthalmolgical to correct the vision (myopia, astigmatism, etc.), before treating macular degeneration or glaucoma. Dermatology and aesthetics are also used for hair removal or treatment of skin conditions. The laser also showed the fine and precise scalpel in surgery, including allowing interventions without pain in dentistry. At present, new applications appear in the diagnosis in vivo (optical biopsy) and medical imaging.