By Eric Mottay

Technology breakthroughs can change the face of a whole industrial sector; in many cases unexpected discoveries drive unprecedented benefits for industrial applications. Let’s consider the adaptation of lasers into various industrial sectors and developments in laser technologies. The advent of solid-state lasers some 30 years ago, in a world dominated by gas lasers, brought unparalleled advantages, through the significant increase in efficiency gained by replacing flashlamps with semiconductor laser diodes and the development of high beam quality, high average power thin disk lasers.

The micro-manufacturing industry has experienced profound changes over the past decade, largely attributed to the increasing availability of industrial grade, high power ultrafast lasers. Another key contributing factor has been the heavy investment and development of associated beam delivery technologies. Many solid-state lasers used in industry today employ optical fiber beam delivery, enabling easy coupling to industrial robots, the ability to supply multiple workstation from a single high power laser source, and more generally, offering exceptional flexibility to production processes. Continue reading →