Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
A laser focus
Rox Middleton, Liam Shaw and Miriam Gauntlett look at the history of lasers, from cat toys to modelling the explosion of stars
A rainbow lights up the Edinburgh skyline during the Scottish premiere of Global Rainbow a laser art installation by Yvette Mattern, part of Burns and Beyond, Edinburgh's flagship Burns festival, March 24, 2021

WHAT if you could capture light in a box? Lasers work on that very principle. Light is a wave and any colour is described by a particular wavelength. To trap light in a box, mirrors are used, with the dimensions specially chosen so that the light can reflect off the mirrors and “resonate” at its own wavelength.

Just like a musical instrument, these resonant waves reinforce each other. For a musical instrument, these reinforced waves come out as a sound wave making a note at a particular frequency, which is related to the wavelength.

In the case of a laser, light is trapped at a high intensity, again at a singular frequency related to the wavelength of the light. Some of the light is allowed to burst out of the container, seen as a laser beam.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
JI
Interview / 7 January 2026
7 January 2026

CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Filipino-US saxophonist JON IRABAGON about the threat of AI in the time of Musk and Trump, and how an artist can respond

Atom
Science and Society / 19 November 2025
19 November 2025

Neutrinos are so abundant that 400 trillion pass through your body every second. ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT explain how scientists are seeking to know more about them

citz
Opinion / 26 August 2025
26 August 2025

ANDREW FILMER welcomes the reopening of Glasgow’s landmark theatre after a seven-year transformation

UNRECOGNISED POTENTIA:L: Girl students conduct an experiment by throwing cotton balls to demonstrate the instinctive reaction of flinching at The Big Bang Fair 2025, for young scientists and engineers, at the NEC in Birmingham on June 18 2025
Science and Society / 16 July 2025
16 July 2025

What’s behind the stubborn gender gap in Stem disciplines ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT in their column Science and Society