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Frank DeFreitas Holography | Allentown, PA | Phone: 610-770-0341

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What Are Lasers Used For?

Publishing Notes
Updated 29 September 2011

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Mission Statement:
The Holography Reading Room collects, preserves, and displays memorabilia associated with the history of light, optics, lasers, holograms, and 3D.

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Hello. My name is Frank DeFreitas and I saw my first laser beam in 1968 (I was in the 8th grade). If you'd like to learn all about how we use lasers today, you've come to the right web page! Since there is plenty of information elsewhere on the history of the laser and how they work, I will not duplicate that info. here on this page.

So, let's get right to the l-o-n-g list of what lasers are used for. You have my permission to print out this list for reports and homework.

If you're an educator, you may wish to assign several of the listed uses to students, and have them report on how lasers are used with them.

Note: I'm certain that this list is not complete, and it will always continue to grow. If you know of yet another use of lasers (to add to the list), please contact me and I'll make sure it gets posted in a future update.


-- Theodore H. Maiman's First Ruby Laser --
(as a 3D laser hologram in my collection)

What Lasers are Used For:

Repairing detached retinas

Reading product codes on groceries

Recording and playing CDs & DVDs

Cutting fabric for clothes

Drilling holes in metal

Inspecting bottles

Transmitting telephone calls and data

Surveying roads

Sounding the atmosphere

Dazzling concertgoers

Annealing microcircuits

Welding metal

Characterizing surface roughness

Measuring air pollution

Fingerprinting diamonds

Defining the meter

Slowing atomic beams

Printing computer data

Measuring the earth-moon distance

Cutting airplane parts

Transmitting news wirephotos

Aligning precision machinery

Making Holograms

Controlling tunnel machinery

Configuring massive telescopes

Designating military targets

Diagnosing flames

Leveling land

Controlling inventory

Analyzing compounds

Finding impurities

Aligning sawmill cuts

Monitoring polar ice caps

Measuring airplane velocity

Cleaning teeth

Looking for gravitational radiation

Installing acoustical ceilings

Read / write data storage

Identifying molecules

Aiding robotic vision

Inspecting tires

Positioning medical patients

Probing genetic material

Inspecting textiles

Removing birthmarks

Illuminating fluid flow

Communicating underwater

Enlarging color photographs

Teaching optics

Identifying viruses

Creating laser light art

Sensing rotation

Performing microsurgery

Erasing ink

Powering optical computers

Trimming resistors

Altering interconnects

Analyzing materials

Cleaning diamonds

Analyzing auto exhaust

Orienting crystals

Aligning jigs

Ranging targets

Watching continents drift

Sizing atmospheric dust particles

Cleaning art relics

Tracing air currents

Measuring molecular density

Imploding microfusion pellets

Sensing cloud altitude

Monitoring earthquakes

Gauging fine wines

Testing optical components

Analyzing thin film compositions

Drilling holes in diamond dies

Testing relativity

Separating isotopes

Sensing liquid level

Sensing magnetic fields

Programming read-only memory

Counting blood cells

Guiding missiles

Gauging film thickness

Monitoring crystal growth

Aligning large optics

Shaping jewel bearings

Measuring the speed of light

Securing perimeters

Positioning x-y stages

Computing in parallel

Pumping hard-to-pump lasers

Astonishing moviegoers (special effects)

Creating highly excited atoms

Amplifying images

Cauterizing blood vessels

Diagnosing fusion plasmas

Enhancing chemical reactions

Engraving identification marks

Hardening surfaces

Perforating computer paper

Producing advertisements

If you would like to view lasers and holograms, and learn about their history, you can make an appointment to visit my Holography Reading Room, located in Allentown, PA (near Philly).

-- Frank DeFreitas