1. Laser physics, characteristics and applications

As mentioned in the introduction, a laser is a high-energy, coherent beam of light (figure 1 ). The ability to emit high energy makes lasers a "revolutionary" technology in many fields, from industry (electronics, computing, etc.) to medicine (diagnostics, surgery, etc.). In medicine, for example, lasers can perform a number of tasks, including ablation, vaporization, coagulation and biostimulation of biological tissues. Table 1 gives an overview of how a surgical laser works and the clinical applications it is used for.