With mobeam's technology, the Galaxy S4 can "beam" traditional 1D barcode data to any laser scanner with no new equipment, such as optical scanners or backend systems, required by the retailer.

ENGADGET: Samsung partners with Mobeam to offer scannable bar codes on the Galaxy S 4

Dr Page said the laboratory had a number of sophisticated microscopes which will be available to Pauline including a confocal laser scanner, which is a microscope which uses a laser to illuminate and fluoresce.

BBC: NEWS | Health | 'My neck scan inspired my art'

The laser beam in the scanner shoots a steady stream of photons, all of the same frequency, at the plastic.

ECONOMIST: Recycling

BECs are as unimaginable at the moment as the supermarket bar-code scanner would have been to the inventor of the laser.

ECONOMIST: Bose-Einstein condensates: Cold, quickly | The

The laser system, which includes a low-cost, portable scanner, is extremely accurate, according to the research team, and it also still recognised surface patterns after the materials had been abused.

BBC: NEWS | Technology | Laser spots paper 'fingerprints'

The scanner itself consists of a digital camera with an on-board laser that determines the distance to the object, although it also apparently requires that targets be placed around the scene to properly scan the object -- or person, as the case may be.

ENGADGET: Industrial Research creates 3D crime scene/movie set scanner