Navy Scientists Build Safer Lasers

Researchers at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have developed an improved process that could lead to production of useable lasers that would not damage eyesight. Using nano-particles, the process has shown an 85-percent improvement in efficiency. It entails incorporation of what they call “rare-earth-ion-doped fiber,” which essentially is “laser light pumping a silica fiber that has been infused with rare earth ions of holmium.”
Besides being more efficient than the present process, it produces a laser beam at a wavelength small enough to reduce the potential of damaging eyesight.