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The Laser world consists basically of two areas, which are necessary and in many cases also sufficient for effective innovation: The right laser for the right application. For the individual application that means the determination of optimized process parameters in terms of laser power, peak power/ intensity, focus geometry and dimension, pulse length, pulse repetition rate and wavelength to name only the six most important ones. Once these parameters are identified, the corresponding Laser has to be selected on the basis of commercial availability.
Obviously there is no such thing than "One Laser for all". The situation is rather comparable with electrical power, were depending on the demand of the application in terms of voltage, current and time corresponding power supplies need to be tailored, however, with the difference that in the case of the Laser the variety of parameters is even higher, thus the technology is more complex but on the other hand much more flexible in terms optimizing the source to the application.
As a consequence it is suggested to generate two volumes on Lasers and Applications named "Tailored Light".
List of contents
Laser Technology.- Introduction.- Electro-magnetic radiation.- Propagation of electro-magnetic waves.- Laser beams.- Optical resonators.- Absorption and emission of radiation.- Generation of laser beams.- Laser media and laser systems.
About the author
Prof. Dr. Reinhart Poprawe holds an M. A. in Physics from California State University (Fresno, 1977). After completion of his diploma and PhD in Physics (Darmstadt 1984) he joined the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen, where he began working as head of the department "Laser Oriented Process Development." From 1988 to 1996 he served as managing director of Thyssen Laser Technik GmbH in Aachen. Since then he has been managing director of the Fraunhofer ILT and holds the University Chair for Laser Technology at the RWTH Aachen.
Summary
The Laser world consists basically of two areas, which are necessary and in many cases also sufficient for effective innovation: The right laser for the right application. For the individual application that means the determination of optimized process parameters in terms of laser power, peak power/ intensity, focus geometry and dimension, pulse length, pulse repetition rate and wavelength to name only the six most important ones. Once these parameters are identified, the corresponding Laser has to be selected on the basis of commercial availability.
Obviously there is no such thing than "One Laser for all". The situation is rather comparable with electrical power, were depending on the demand of the application in terms of voltage, current and time corresponding power supplies need to be tailored, however, with the difference that in the case of the Laser the variety of parameters is even higher, thus the technology is more complex but on the other hand much more flexible in terms optimizing the source to the application.
As a consequence it is suggested to generate two volumes on Lasers and Applications named "Tailored Light".
