Philippe Grelu will give a lecture entitled “The Fiber Optic Laser: Science and Technology of the Second Laser Industrial Revolution” at the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters this Wednesday, May 13, at 6:00 p.m.

Since its invention in 1960, the laser has profoundly transformed our daily lives. The unique properties—coherence and directionality—of this artificial light source make it a tool of unparalleled precision and intensity. The first laser industrial revolution, driven by the semiconductor laser, commonly called a laser diode, gave rise to the multimedia society: optical readers, telecommunications, and high-speed internet. This miniaturization of the laser made it ubiquitous, discreet, yet indispensable. Today, a second revolution in laser technology is underway, embodied by the fiber optic laser. By confining light within the core of a silica fiber doped with rare-earth ions, this technology combines the advantages of fiber—flexibility, compactness, and beam quality—with the power of lasers. Laser diodes play a key role: they supply energy to the doped fibers, enabling optical amplification and the generation of a remarkably pure light beam. Applications are numerous and span strategic sectors: high-precision industrial cutting and engraving, minimally invasive medical surgery, defense systems, scientific metrology, and optical communications. The ability to emit ultrashort optical pulses is a major advantage for many of these applications. Fascinating physical phenomena are emerging in this field, associated with the non-equilibrium dynamics of dissipative optical solitons, robust waveforms sustained by a continuous energy input. These open up vast possibilities for generating a wide variety of optical pulses for advanced photonic technology.