Gas lasers use an electric current to produce a coherent light source. The first gas laser was the helium-neon laser, which was later used in barcode scanners. Carbon dioxide gas lasers are the most powerful continuous wave laser and are used in industry and manufacturing. Ion gas lasers, such as argon or krypton, are the least efficient and least powerful, but are used in medical and scientific fields and for laser light shows.
A gas laser is created by a process in which an electric current of varying power is applied to a body of gas contained in a sealed cavity to produce a coherent light source. The gas laser was the first laser to be made with continuous light and it was also the first laser to operate by converting electrical energy into light output. Gas lasers have several advantages over other forms of lasers; the gain medium used to stimulate the power of the beam can be made using a relatively cheap and attainable combination of helium and neon, as was used in the first gas laser. Also, the gas is non-volatile, so damaging the medium is not a significant problem.
The first gas laser was made by using the combination of helium and neon gas to pass current and was later dubbed the helium-neon laser. It was invented by in 1960 and further developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1962. The gain medium used in laser produced a coherent light beam in the infrared region of the spectrum, creating the archetypal red laser beam. This gas laser was, until the invention of inexpensive diode lasers, used in barcode scanners. Since then, the laser has been used in optical research and educational laboratories due to its relatively small power and low cost.
A carbon dioxide gas laser, being capable of delivering hundreds of kilowatts of power, is the most powerful continuous wave laser available as of 2010. Carbon dioxide gas lasers are also quite efficient, with a power-to- pump by potentially 20 percent. At higher powers, this gas laser is used in industry and manufacturing as a cutting and welding tool. The beam can also be modified to provide a less intense beam which, when coupled with a favorable atmosphere, is used to provide rangefinder sights for long-range weapons.
An ion gas laser is a laser made with an ionized gas, such as argon or krypton. These lasers require a large amount of current to excite the ion transitions needed to create a focused beam, so they are among the least efficient and least powerful lasers. Ion lasers, due to the amount of current they require, must be water-cooled to dissipate the intense heat produced by producing the beam. The uses of this particular gas laser are mostly medical and scientific, but it is also used to create beams of white light for laser light shows.
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