Originally published: Jan 6 2015 - 8:45am, Inside Science News Service By: Charles Q. Choi, Contributor ( Inside Science ) -- A laser could be created with air in a practical way, a new advance that could one day be used to help spot explosives or pollutants from afar, researchers say. Laser light is generated by pumping energy into atoms or other objects. A chain reaction can occur in which energized atoms all stimulate each other to give off laser light. Image credit: FastLizard4 via flickr | http://bit.ly/14rZuS8 One way laser light differs from normal light is that all the light waves in a laser beam are the same frequency — that is, color. Another difference is that all the light waves in a laser beam are coherent — the peaks and troughs of these light waves overlap exactly. These properties help laser beams focus on tight spots and stay narrow for long distances. The material that gets stimulated to generate laser light can be exotic in nature, such as ruby or sap
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