RRCAT is involved in development of a variety of laser systems and their utilization for applications in industry, medicine and research. The laser systems developed include high power CO₂ lasers, flash lamp and diode laser pumped Nd lasers, semiconductor lasers, chemical lasers, excimer lasers and high energy/intensity pulsed lasers. Crystals of a variety of materials of interest to laser technology have been grown. The industrial applications being pursued include cutting, drilling, welding, surface modifications and rapid manufacturing. Various laser based instruments such as uranium analyzer, land leveler, compact N2 laser, photo-coagulator, fibre based temperature sensor, surgical CO₂ laser system have been developed. Home-made and commercial lasers are being used for research in the areas of laser plasma interaction, laser-based charged particle acceleration, laser cooling and trapping of atoms, nonlinear optics, ultra-fast dynamics, material processing, laser fluorescence spectroscopy of tissues, effects of narrow bandwidth light on cells and animal models, imaging through turbid media, laser micromanipulation of microscopic objects etc.