During LASIK surgery, a laser removes microscopic amounts of tissue from the cornea

Before surgery, a patient’s vision needs are incorporated with measurements and mapping of their eye’s surface to identify corrections to refractive errors. This ensures light entering the eye correctly focuses onto the retina to produce a clear image.

NASA began investigating the healing properties of red light therapy in the 1980s, when researchers studying how LED lights could aid in photosynthesis noticed that their hands seemed to heal faster than normal under the lights.

Laser technology powers communication, medical and manufacturing tools

Lasers are used when scanning groceries, printing documents or undergoing cosmetic procedures to enhance efficiency, precision and accuracy. Missile defense, targeting and optical communication systems have made using laser technology habitual in the military.

Experience a century of America's healthcare advances with this medical visualization, tracing a sampling of healthcare innovations from head to toe.

Restoring vision in impaired patients via CRISPR

Since CRISPR was revealed as a gene editing tool in 2012, it has been on an accelerated track to real-world applications. Among other clinical demonstrations, doctors have now injected a CRISPR treatment directly into eye cells, helping vision-impaired patients see shapes and colors again.

New eye implant clinical trial recruiting in 2026

University of Southern California researchers have launched a phase 2b clinical trial of a stem cell implant designed to restore vision in people with advanced dry macular degeneration. Patients will be randomized to receive the stem cell implant or a simulated procedure and placebo implant. This type of larger, second-stage clinical trial is designed to confirm efficacy and dosing and to look for side effects. It's one of the stages that precedes the US Food & Drug Administration approval of a device.

Scientists have diverted the path of lightning using lasers

A proof of concept for a laser protection system, which could be used to protect launchpads and airports in the future, was conducted on the Säntis mountain in northeastern Switzerland. Rapid laser pulses heated air molecules, creating a more conductive, 50-meter (164-foot) path for the electrical discharge to travel through.

Scientific breakthroughs funded by NASA, the NSF, and the NIH include GPS, sign language, bladeless LASIK surgery, and quantum dots—tiny semiconductor crystals used in many modern televisions.

Random lasers can be created from biomaterials, such as peanuts and birch leaves

Rather than creating a narrow beam of light via amplification in an optical cavity, the random laser produces a red glow by scattering photons created in the natural pores of a peanut kernel after it has been injected with a solution of light-generating carbon dots derived from birch leaves.

Lasers could be the most cost-effective tool for clearing dangerous space debris

A NASA study found that lasers from ground- and space-based systems could utilize the momentum of light to safely push smaller debris out of their orbits. These systems would need to be accompanied by amendments to international space law, which prevents any nation from touching debris from another country, among other strategies.

How to cook food with lasers

Creative Machines Lab at Columbia Engineering have developed a system of software-controlled lasers to cook food with precision, retain moisture with the final-cooked product, brown food within its original packaging, and create an entirely new meal creation process for a consumer. Watch this three-minute video to see for yourself.

Light therapy was widely used as a medical treatment for various maladies in the early 1900s before it was replaced by antibiotics.

High-powered red light therapy—delivered directly to nerve fibers via a fiber optic needle—has been used in recent experimental research to suppress pain.

Lasers help build the layers of circuit components in microchips

During the photolithography process, light is projected through a blueprint onto a light-sensitive chemical layer on silicon wafers, etching patterns that become transistors through a series of successive reactions. These processes require significant electricity, as only about 2% of photons reach the wafer.

Using brain implants to restore vision

Several companies are attempting to create brain-computer interfaces that skip over retinas and optic nerves to allow visual input to go straight to the brain, potentially restoring some sight to the blind. Clinical trial findings suggest restored sight is sparse and manifests differently than a sighted person might expect, appearing as specks of "light" clusters called phosphenes to help differentiate one's surroundings.

Scientists create contact lenses that give you infrared vision

Scientists have created lenses that use nanoparticles to convert infrared light into visible light, allowing human eyes to observe previously invisible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. This technology may help colorblind individuals by converting colors they cannot see into wavelengths they can.

Why surgeons implant teeth into eyes

What if the thing that restored your vision… was your own tooth? That’s exactly what happened to Brent Chapman. After 20 years without sight, a bizarre surgery using his tooth as a lens restored his vision.

Corrective vision technologies rely on the bending of light waves

When focusing on an object, muscles change the shape of the lens, which refracts incoming light such that it focuses at the retina. If the cornea is unable to bend light correctly, lenses or contact lenses can provide supplemental refraction to ensure a focused image is produced.

How lasers have become a go-to in archaeology

Archaeological teams now have another item to pack with their trowels: Lasers. Researchers' approach to unsurveyed land has been transformed by light detection and ranging technology. LiDAR has helped archaeologists break new ground and uncover...

In a first, eye prosthesis has restored sight to macular generation patients

In a clinical trial, 27 of 32 participants with advanced macular degeneration regained enough vision to read books, food labels, and subway signs about a year after receiving a prosthetic retina device. This is the first device to restore functional vision to patients with incurable vision loss, though in this case they can only see in black and white, with no shades in between.

See how cataracts—a leading cause of vision loss globally—form and how sound waves are often used to help remove them.

Credit for inventing the laser was fought over for nearly three decades

Although Theodore Maiman built the first working laser in 1960, Gordon Gould coined the term earlier. Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow of Bell Labs filed a patent after Gould came up with the idea and name, but before Gould filed his patent.

The history of contact lenses may have begun with Leonardo da Vinci, who developed a concept of vision correction based on placing a substance directly on the eye's surface.

A laser energy system has allowed scientists to achieve fusion ignition

In 2022, scientists used lasers to create a powerful implosion that bound hydrogen isotopes together, releasing more energy than was input into the system. Research is ongoing to achieve this self-sustaining reaction with larger yields and energy gains.

Scientists have proposed using lasers to push space trash into Earth's atmosphere

Such projects would allow most debris to burn up and no longer pose a risk to active satellites, telescopes, and astronauts on space stations. Enacting these plans would require substantial investments from private and governmental space agencies and overcoming international laws that prevent the removal of another country's space equipment.

Scientists using gene therapy recently managed to regenerate retinal cells in the lab—a breakthrough for mammals that could potentially lead to future treatments for human retinal diseases.

Lasers have been used to create natural adhesives for paper

German researchers at four Fraunhofer institutes have developed a method to seal paper packaging using a carbon monoxide laser. Without the need for glue or plastic adhesives, the Papure project is expected to improve the recyclability of paper. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Stimulating electrons to emit identical photons produces lasers

This effect was predicted by Albert Einstein in 1917, and requires all excited electrons in a material to exist in the same excited metastable state within their atoms. Pumping all atoms through the same mechanism, such as electricity or flash lamps, can create this environment.

See photos of ultraviolet light therapy, widely administered in the early 1900s, particularly among children with skin diseases, tuberculosis, rickets, and more.

Laser procedures have made tattoo removal much more common

An increasing number of Americans, including high-profile celebrities, get tattoos removed because laser removal has become more advanced and cost-effective. The tattoo industry is adjusting to this mainstream trend.

Laser skin treatments can promote the production of collagen

Skin resurfacing vaporizes the top layer of skin to reveal healthier, new skin, while collagen can give the skin structure and elasticity. Such procedures treat scars and burns, but may leave light spots on the skin.

Fiber lasers used for metal engravings can’t burn your skin

These devices use diodes and mirrors to create pulses of light that vaporize metal in billionths of a second, though at wavelengths that cannot react with organic material. Pulse width, power, and speed adjustments can produce white, black, and even colored patterns through controlled heat reactions.

Red light therapy—a treatment harnessing a specific form of energy that penetrates the top layers of skin—is marketed for skincare and wellness, but has its roots in NASA plant growth research.

Scientists can create movies of atomic and molecular phenomena using X-ray free-electron lasers, in which images are produced by matter being struck by high-intensity light created by accelerating electrons.

In an X-ray free-electron laser, electromagnetic fields are used to accelerate and move electrons in wiggling patterns, causing them to emit synchronized, high-energy X-rays. This resulting light beam can strike targets up to 120 times per second to create movies of changing molecular structures and phenomena.

An overview of the National Science Foundation and the technologies it has helped fund

Established in 1950, the federal agency has provided billions of dollars to over 300,000 researchers, entrepreneurs, and students to conduct research across all seven continents. These funds have contributed to major technological achievements, from the invention of the internet to the first image of a black hole.

Self-driving car companies like Waymo use lidar technology for navigation

By firing thousands of laser pulses in all directions, lidar systems construct 3D maps of a car’s surroundings, even in environments with limited lighting. The technology has also been incorporated into iPhones and the Vision Pro headset to improve camera focus.

Some materials can absorb low-energy light and emit high-energy radiation

Through anti-Stokes cooling, incoming energy is combined with vibrations in a material's crystal lattice to produce a net reduction in its temperature. Using this effect, lasers can be directed at microchip hot spots to help keep data centers cool.

Lidar's discoveries: 32 forts revealed by the laser tech

Lidar is a cutting-edge tool using lasers from an aircraft to map the elevations of huge swaths of land across the world. This technology has been especially effective in archaeology. It has revealed dozens of lost major historical sites concealed beneath overgrown brush and forests. From Canadian forts to Mayan settlements, check out these 32 significant finds from lidar.

Space probes propelled by lasers may one day visit distant planetary systems

Launched in 2016, Breakthrough Starshot is a project to send gram-sized spacecraft to the nearest stars and their planets at 10% to 20% the speed of light after being accelerated by ground-based laser systems. The project requires orders of magnitude advancements to current technology.