While ordinary diodes are made of silicon (Si), laser diodes are made of a class of materials called compound semiconductors. Laser diodes are the most common type of lasers produced, with a wide range of uses that include fiber-optic communications, barcode readers, laser pointers, CD / DVD / Blu-ray disc reading/recording, laser printing, laser scanning, and light beam illumination. Silicon. A laser diode is a semiconductor device that emits coherent light through the process of stimulated emission. They consist of complex multi-layer structures requiring nanometer scale accuracy and an elaborate design. If you've ever seen an ordinary laser in a laboratory, you'll know it's quite a hefty beast: typically about as long as your forearm, fairly heavy, quite hot, and capable of producing a very intense beam of.
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