Abstract :
The seminal ideas underlying laser theory originated many decades ago and so it is perhaps remarkable that lasers took so long to become exploited as useful and reliable devices. Possibly even more surprising is the enormous diversity of practical applications which they now find in industry and medicine, as well as in `blue skies´ research. This article seeks to whet the reader´s interest in a field which is now highly interdisciplinary, rather than to treat any topic in great depth
