In 1960, the year laser light was first generated, it was an invention in search of an application. Today the laser is the foundation for the modern communications society. Installed in machine tools, it has taken manufacturing by storm. In the realm of science it delivers important findings in research efforts. Brought to a remarkable state of sophistication through decades of intensive research and development, today everyone uses the incredible capabilities of laser light. Often we do this as a simple matter of course, without noticing or knowing that a laser is at our beck and call.

Light, as a tool, has become a key technology and the applications are diverse as would be expected. The laser industry, measured by the sum of the firms that manufacture and supply laser equipment, is small. The laser industry, seen as the sum of all the companies that work with lasers, is gigantic. Considering what is going on in the world’s applications laboratories gives us the feeling that we are still at the beginnings of the revolution described here, one triggered by the laser.