Gas Lasers

Type: Technology

As of November 2026, Gas Lasers has been mentioned in one podcast episode on Stuff You Should Know (Feb 2026). Presented as lasers using gaseous gain media (e.g., CO2, argon) often excited by electrical current; linked to cutting/welding and medical UV excimer uses.

A gas laser is a laser in which an electric current is discharged through a gas to produce coherent light. The gas laser was the first continuous-light laser and the first laser to operate on the principle of converting electrical energy to a laser light output. The first gas laser, the Helium–neon laser (HeNe), was co-invented by Iranian engineer and scientist Ali Javan and American physicist William R. Bennett, Jr., in 1960. It produced a coherent light beam in the infrared region of the spect