Editor's choice: laser advances

Lasers are an indispensable tool that can be found in virtually every research lab in the world. Beginning with the ruby laser in the 1960s, lasers were quickly developed and the price steadily decreased. The advent of semiconductor lasers revolutionised technology. New developments in the world of lasers are published daily, with advances in exciton lasers, quantum cascade lasers, and nanolasers being but a few of the areas of interest, each with their own benefits and drawbacks. Here we present some papers in this field published in Scientific Reports.