LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

Even though, LASER has been invented at Bell Labs, credit should go to many Russian physicists who worked on the Light stimulation, Quantum physics, etc. LASER word started appearing in late 1950's, world has seen the first working LASER in 1960. In the coming decade(s) much of the work is done on the invention of different type of LASERs like Gas Lasers, Solid-State Lasers, etc.

Within years from the invention, commercial applications have started to roll in. It started with LASER diode, because of that Gallium Arsenide had become darling of Semi-Conductor industry for some time! Later with Semiconductor Lasers came into picture. All these happened in short time. No wonder, human were waiting for it.

Coming to commercial application, there should be at least hundreds!! First striking Industry application was the Bar Code Reader in 1970's. Later in the late 1970's, most common application as EmM mentione ...more

The most widespread use of lasers is in optical storage devices such as compact disc and DVD players, in which the laser (a few millimeters in size) scans the surface of the disc. Other common applications of lasers are bar code readers and laser pointers. In industry, lasers are used for cutting steel and other metals and for inscribing patterns (such as the letters on computer keyboards). Lasers are also commonly used in various fields in science.

It was invented in the 60s but I do not know the exact time when it started to be used commercially.