Feature Physics

Lasing Beyond Light

Physicists focus on whole new types of waves, from beams of sound and plasma swells to looking for ripples in spacetime

By Lisa Grossman

- More than 2 years ago

View a list of some of the world’s leading laser facilities at the bottom of this article.

GRAVITY FINDER LISA (shown in this illustration) will consist of three spacecraft that use lasers to look for gravitational waves. European Space Agency
LINAC X-ray pulses from SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source could be used to take holographic images (purple square in this artist’s illustration) of single molecules.