"Technologies With the Influence of Light"

Today, thanks to our very patient scientists in the whole world, that give their valuable time putting their knowledge about light into new technology that will help and benefit us reach the increasing demand of people. As our generation goes on we have observed that we are very dependent on technology. The main reason why we depend on them is that, we people want to live in the easiest way we can. We want an instant solution in our problems. Light plays a very vital role especially in our technology today. Scientists have developed technology with the help of light. LED Christmas lights, lasers, fiber optics, telescopes are just some of these technologies.

LED (Light Emitting Diode) Christmas lights are quickly gaining popularity it is because of their low usage of energy and last long. Light Emitting Diode is a device that emits visible light or infrared radiation when an electric current passes through it. LEDs are made of semiconductors, or electrical conductors, mixed with phosphors, substances that absorb electromagnetic radiation and reemit it as visible light. When electrical current passes through the diode the semiconductor emits infrared radiation, which the phosphors in the diode absorb and reemit as visible light.

Laser on the other hand, is a device that produces and amplifies light. The word laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Laser light is very pure in color, can be extremely intense, and can be directed with great accuracy. Lasers are used in many modern technological devices including bar code readers, compact disc (CD) players, and laser printers. Lasers can generate light beyond the range visible to the human eye, from the infrared through the X-ray range. Laser can be used in the field of medicine to cut and cauterize certain body tissues in a small fraction of a second without damaging surrounding healthy tissues. Lasers have been used to “weld” the retina, bore holes in the skull, vaporize lesions, and cauterize blood vessels. Laser surgery has virtually replaced older surgical procedures for eye disorders. Not only in medicine that a laser can be used, it can also be used in industry for precisely heat, melt, or vaporize material. It is also ideal for space communication and be used for military purposes.

Fiber optics is a technology that uses strands of glass, called optical fibers, to channel light. Total internal reflection holds light within a glass fiber no matter how much the fiber is bent, and pulses of light can be used to carry telephone and data signals many kilometers through fiber-optic cables. Surgeons use fiber optics to look inside lungs and other body cavities. Tools called, endoscopes have one bundle of optical fibers that leads light to the tip of the endoscope; a second bundle carries an image back.

Telescopes are also one of the technologies that exist with the science of light. Infrared telescopes use the basic design of an optical reflecting telescope, but have a detector at the focus that sees only infrared light. Because heat produces infrared radiation, the signal that an infrared telescope receives can be contaminated by the heat of the atmosphere if the telescope is Earth-based, as well as by the heat produced by the telescope itself. To adjust for this contamination, telescopes often take frequent readings of the background radiation away from the object being observed. The background radiation is then subtracted from the final image of the observed object. Infrared telescopes are also cooled to very low temperatures to reduce heat contamination of the image.

Computed Tomography, also known as computed axial tomography, or CT scan, medical technology that uses X rays and computers to produce three-dimensional images of the human body. Unlike traditional X rays, which highlight dense body parts, such as bones, CT provides detailed views of the body’s soft tissues, including blood vessels, muscle tissue, and organs, such as the brain. While conventional X rays provide flat two-dimensional images, CT images depict a cross-section of the body. A patient undergoing a CT scan rests on a movable table at the center of a donut-shaped scanner, which is about 2.4 m (8 ft) tall. The CT scanner contains an X-ray source, which emits beams of X rays; an X-ray detector, which monitors the number of X rays that strike various parts of its surface; and a computer. The source and detector face each other on the inside of the scanner ring and are mounted so that they rotate around the rim of the scanner. Beams from the X-ray source pass through the patient and are recorded on the other side by the detector. As the source and detector rotate in a 360° circle around the patient, X-ray emissions are recorded from many angles. The resulting data are sent to the computer, which interprets the information and translates it into images that appear as cross-sections on a television monitor. By moving the patient within the scanner, doctors can obtain a series of parallel images, called slices.

There are many technologies that exist with the help of science; these are just few of them. It is amazing to know how light can be very useful to us, not just by making new technology for us to live life easier, for us to explore the wonder and mystery of the world but most importantly for giving us life.