A laser diode is a laser whose active medium is a semiconductor similar to that found in a light-emitting diode.

The most common type of laser diode is formed from a p-n junction and powered by injected electric current. The former devices are sometimes referred to as injection laser diodes to distinguish them from optically pumped laser diodes.

Laser action (with the resultant monochromatic and coherent light output) can be achieved in a p-n junction formed by two doped gallium arsenide layers. The two ends of the structure need to be optically flat and parallel with one end mirrored and one partially reflective. The length of the junction must be precisely related to the wavelength of the light to be emitted. The junction is forward biased and the recombination process produces light as in the LED (incoherent). Above a certain current threshold the photons moving parallel to the junction can stimulate emission and initiate laser action.

Application When the term of laser is brought into discussion it has to be mentioned which are its elements and what kind of lasers exist. Regarding its derivates, one of the most common representatives is the laser diode.

This is a type of laser which becomes active through a semiconductor.

The most known and used type of laser diode is powered by injected electric current. To distinguish them from (optically) pumped laser diodes, which are more easily manufactured in the laboratory, these devices are sometimes met under the designation of injection laser diodes. Laser diodes are also the most common type of lasers when comes into the light the numerically side. Regarding its usability laser diodes is well known in telecommunications as an easily modulated and easily coupled light sources for fiber optics communication. Also, they are used in various measuring instruments, such as rangefinders.

Beyond these the concept of laser diodes is met in the barcode readers areas. When we are talking about the printing industry it is known that both low and high-power diodes are used extensively as light sources for scanning (input) of images and for very high-speed and high-resolution printing plate (output) manufacturing. But the most known laser diodes technology is represented by the red laser diodes and

infrared which are common in CD players, CD-ROMs and DVD technology. Also, in the in HD DVD and Blu-ray technology are met and used violet lasers.

Diode lasers have also found many applications in laser absorption spectrometry (LAS) for high-speed, low-cost assessment or monitoring of the concentration of various species in gas phase. High-power laser diodes are used in industrial applications such as heat treating, cladding, seam welding and for pumping other lasers, such as diode pumped solid state lasers.

If the matter of the lasers diode is being seen from the angle of applicability, these can be categorized in various ways. Most applications could be served by larger solid state lasers or optical parametric oscillators, but thing that makes them essential for mass-market applications is the low cost of massproduced diode lasers.

Diode lasers can be used in a wide range ; since light has many different properties (power, wavelength and spectral quality, beam quality, polarization, etc.) it is properly to classify applications by these basic properties.