physics

M Squared Lasers

M Squared Lasers is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand M Squared Lasers rather than just read about it. In short: M Squared Lasers is a company headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland with a subsidiary, M Squared Lasers Inc., based in San Jose, California. It was established in 2005 by Graeme Malcolm and Gareth Maker who had previously been directors of Microlase Limited and Coherent Scotland Limited.

Key takeaways

M Squared Lasers belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect M Squared Lasers to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of M Squared Lasers from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

M Squared Lasers is a company headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland with a subsidiary, M Squared Lasers Inc., based in San Jose, California. It was established in 2005 by Graeme Malcolm and Gareth Maker who had previously been directors of Microlase Limited and Coherent Scotland Limited. They entered administration in August 2025 after failing to secure sufficient funding to continue trading. The company designs and manufactures lasers and photonic instruments for applications in academia, remote sensing, biophotonics, defence and metrology. According to their entry in the Scottish Optoelectronics Association, the company specializes technically in diode-pumped solid-state ti-sapphire, mid-infrared and terahertz lasers.

History M Squared Lasers was founded in 2005 by Dr. Graham Malcolm FRSE and Dr. Gareth Maker who had previously held senior roles in Coherent Scotland, a subsidiary of Coherent Inc. Malcolm and Maker founded an optoelectronics company called Microlase in 1992 as a spinout from Strathclyde University in Scotland. Microlase was acquired by Coherent in 2000. Malcolm won the Katharine Burr Blodgett Medal and Prize in 2008 in part for the founding of the company. In February 2012 M Squared announced that former Oclaro chairman Peter Bordui was to be the company's chairman. In August 2025, the company announced that it was seeking buyers for its assets after failing to secure sufficient funding from investor to continue operations. It claimed that challenges in finding skilled staff and supply chain disruptions were some of the causes for its financial troubles.

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with M Squared Lasers

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what M Squared Lasers claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to M Squared Lasers before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about M Squared Lasers ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of M Squared Lasers

In research: M Squared Lasers appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses M Squared Lasers in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: M Squared Lasers is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in San Jose, California, Manufacturing companies based in Glasgow, Optics manufacturing companies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for M Squared Lasers outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study M Squared Lasers in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what M Squared Lasers means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain M Squared Lasers out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is M Squared Lasers in simple terms?

Why does M Squared Lasers matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study M Squared Lasers?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on M Squared Lasers.