The first working laser, constructed by Theodore Maiman in 1960, was a ruby laser pumped with a flash lamp. Lamp-pumped lasers utilize laser pumping as the act of energy transfer from an external source into the gain medium of a laser. They are commonly used for applications demanding higher energies, as lamp-pumped lasers are able to generate very high pump powers. Additionally, lamp-pumped lasers offer low price per watt of generated power compared to laser diodes. They are also relatively sturdy and can handle voltage and current spikes.