Main article: Laser applications
When lasers were invented in 1960, they were called "a solution looking for a problem".[23] Since then, they have become ubiquitous, finding utility in thousands of highly varied applications in every section of modern society, including consumer electronics, information technology, science, medicine, industry, law enforcement, entertainment, and the military.
The first application of lasers visible in the daily lives of the general population was the supermarket barcode scanner, introduced in 1974. The laserdisc player, introduced in 1978, was the first successful consumer product to include a laser, but the compact disc player was the first laser-equipped device to become truly common in consumers' homes, beginning in 1982, followed shortly by laser printers.
Some of the other applications include:
Medicine: Bloodless surgery, laser healing, surgical treatment, kidney stone treatment, eye treatment, dentistry
Industry: Cutting, welding, material heat treatment, marking parts
Defense: Marking targets, guiding munitions, missile defence, electro-optical countermeasures (EOCM), alternative to radar, blinding enemy troops.
Research: Spectroscopy, laser ablation, Laser annealing, laser scattering, laser interferometry, LIDAR, Laser capture microdissection
Product development/commercial: laser printers, CDs, barcode scanners, thermometers, laser pointers, holograms, bubblegrams.
Laser lighting displays: Laser light shows
Laser skin procedures such as acne treatment, cellulite reduction, and hair removal.
In 2004, excluding diode lasers, approximately 131,000 lasers were sold worldwide, with a value of US$2.19 billion.[24] In the same year, approximately 733 million diode lasers, valued at $3.20 billion, were sold.[25]