---
title: "List of laser applications"
chunk: 2/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_laser_applications"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:27:56.948990+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Powerful lasers producing ultra-short (in the tens of femtoseconds) and ultra-intense (up to 1023 W/cm2) laser pulses offer much greater acceleration gradients than that of conventional accelerators. This fact is exploited in several plasma acceleration techniques used for accelerating both electrons and charged ions to high energies.

=== Microscopy ===
Confocal laser scanning microscopy and Two-photon excitation microscopy make use of lasers to obtain blur-free images of thick specimens at various depths.  Laser capture microdissection use lasers to procure specific cell populations from a tissue section under microscopic visualization.
Additional laser microscopy techniques include harmonic microscopy, four-wave mixing microscopy and interferometric microscopy.

== Military ==

=== Directly as an energy weapon ===
A laser weapon is directed-energy weapon based on lasers.

=== Defensive countermeasures ===
Defensive countermeasure applications can range from compact, low power infrared countermeasures to high power, airborne laser systems.  IR countermeasure systems use lasers to confuse the seeker heads on infrared homing missiles.

=== Disorientation ===
Some weapons simply use a laser to disorient a person. One such weapon is the Thales Green Laser Optical Warner.

=== Guidance ===
Laser guidance is a technique of guiding a missile or other projectile or vehicle to a target by means of a laser beam.

=== Target designator ===

Another military use of lasers is as a laser target designator. This is a low-power laser pointer used to indicate a target for a precision-guided munition, typically launched from an aircraft. The guided munition adjusts its flight-path to home in to the laser light reflected by the target, enabling a great precision in aiming. The beam of the laser target designator is set to a pulse rate that matches that set on the guided munition to ensure munitions strike their designated targets and do not follow other laser beams which may be in use in the area.  The laser designator can be shone onto the target by an aircraft or nearby infantry. Lasers used for this purpose are usually infrared lasers, so the enemy cannot easily detect the guiding laser light.

=== Firearms ===

==== Laser sight ====

The laser has in most firearms applications been used as a tool to enhance the targeting of other weapon systems. For example, a laser sight is a small, usually visible-light laser placed on a handgun or a rifle and aligned to emit a beam parallel to the barrel. Since a laser beam has low divergence, the laser light appears as a small spot even at long distances; the user places the spot on the desired target and the barrel of the gun is aligned (but not necessarily allowing for bullet drop, windage, distance between the direction of the beam and the axis of the barrel, and the target mobility while the bullet travels).
Most laser sights use a red laser diode. Others use an infrared diode to produce a dot invisible to the naked human eye but detectable with night vision devices. The firearms adaptive target acquisition module LLM01 laser light module combines visible and infrared laser diodes. In the late 1990s, green diode pumped solid state laser (DPSS) laser sights (532 nm) became available.

==== Eye-targeted lasers ====
A less-lethal laser weapon was developed by the U.S. Air Force to temporarily impair an adversary's ability to fire a weapon or to otherwise threaten enemy forces. This unit illuminates an opponent with harmless low-power laser light and can have the effect of dazzling or disorienting the subject or causing them to flee.  Several types of dazzlers are now available, and some have been used in combat.
There remains the possibility of using lasers to blind, since this requires relatively low power levels and is easily achievable in a man-portable unit. However, most nations regard the deliberate permanent blinding of the enemy as forbidden by the rules of war (see Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons).  Although several nations have developed blinding laser weapons, such as China's ZM-87, none of these are believed to have made it past the prototype stage.
In addition to the applications that cross over with military applications, a widely known law enforcement use of lasers is for lidar to measure the speed of vehicles.

==== Holographic weapon sight ====
A holographic weapon sight uses a laser diode to illuminate a hologram of a reticle built into a flat glass optical window of the sight. The user looks through the optical window and sees a cross hair reticle image superimposed at a distance on the field of view.

== Medical ==

Cosmetic surgery (removing tattoos, scars, stretch marks, sunspots, wrinkles, birthmarks, and hair): see laser hair removal. Laser types used in dermatology include ruby (694 nm), alexandrite (755 nm), pulsed diode array (810 nm), Nd:YAG (1064 nm), Ho:YAG (2090 nm), and Er:YAG (2940 nm).
Eye surgery and refractive surgery
Soft tissue surgery: CO2, Er:YAG laser
Laser scalpel (General surgery, gynecological, urology, laparoscopic)
Photobiomodulation (i.e. laser therapy)
"No-Touch" removal of tumors, especially of the brain and spinal cord.
In dentistry for caries removal, endodontic/periodontic procedures, tooth whitening, and oral surgery
Cancer treatment
Burn and surgical scar management: scar contracture CO2 (especially the newer fractionated CO2 lasers), redness and itch (Pulsed Dye laser - PDL), post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation (Q-switched lasers :Ruby, Alexandrite), burn scar unwanted hair growth and trapped hairs (Ruby, IPL and numerous hair removal lasers)

== Industrial and commercial ==