We have seen in the present chapter that the light emitted by a laser has properties that are radically different from those of the light emitted by classical sources. These properties have been the basis for the myriad applications found for lasers since their advent in the 1960s; they have escaped the confines of the research laboratory to become ubiquitous in industrial production and modern consumer society. Lasers now have innumerable applications in such disparate areas as medicine, metallurgy and telecommunications and are at the heart of new developments in commercial and consumer electronics (CD and DVD players, bar-code readers and printers, to name but a few examples).

The total market in the mid 2000s was estimated to be almost 6 billion dollars. It was dominated by the domains of optical storage (30% of the total amount) and communication (20%), which are mass production markets. In contrast, material processing (25%) and medical applications (8%) involve a smaller number of very expensive lasers. Research and instrumentation amount to 6% of the total sales. The significant fraction of laser sales related to research and development is a testament to the relative youth of the technology. New applications are still coming to light, some of which may have profound economic consequences for the future.

It will not be possible to provide an exhaustive account of these applications here. We shall, therefore, concentrate on a few significant examples selected from the broad categories introduced above.