= Laser diode
{wiki}
This is by far the most important type of <laser> commercially, as it can be made relatively cheaply, and it doesn't break easily as it ends up being a single <crystal>.
Compare them for example to the earlier <gas lasers>.
This is the type of laser that you would get in a simple <laser pointer>.
But the real mega aplications are:
* <fiber-optic communication>, where <laser diodes> are one of the most commonly used methods to generate the light that goes in the fiber. This makes <laser diodes> one of the most important inventions of the 20th centure without doubt.
* <optical storage>. But as of the 2020s its usefulness was much diminished by a combination of <solid-state storage> + faster <Internet> due largely to <fiber-optic communication>. So it is partly a matter of <laser diodes> beating <laser diodes>!
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