"Digital lasers" is a new type of laser system that has been developed in recent years, which introduces a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) into the laser cavity. Because of possessing the intra-cavity dynamically adjusting diffractive optical element, the Spatial Light Modulator (SLM), digital lasers has a highly adjustable characteristics of dynamically selecting output laser beam. In recent years, the damage threshold of silicon-based liquid crystal SLM has been greatly improved, which makes digital lasers with high output power feasible. The applications of digital laser with dynamic modal modulation in several research fields, such as: optical tweezers, photolithography, photopolymerization, super-resolution microscopy, optical communication, and quantum information, are conceivable future developments.