Introduction:
There are many scientific, industrial, military, medical and commercial laser applications. The coherency, high monochromaticity, focussability, directionality and ability to reach extremely high powers are all properties which allow for these specialized applications.
Application of laser:
We discuss a few of them below.
1. Laser cutting: In Industry lasers are used for the precise cutting of flat materials. Lasers have the advantage that there is no physical contact with the material so there is no chance of contamination, also there is less chance of the material warping as the laser energy can be focused on a very small area so the whole material is not heated. Even a three dimensional profile can be cut using lasers. Laser cutting is also employed in tailoring industry.
2. Laser welding: In laser welding, a beam of laser is focused on to the spot to be welded. Due to the heat generated, the material melts over a tiny area and upon cooling the material becomes homogeneous solid structure. Laser welding is a contact-less process and thus no outside material gets into the welded region. Since the heat affected zones are very small, laser welding is ideal for many microelectronic devices.
3. Laser drilling: Laser drilling of holes is achieved by subjecting the material to powerful laser pulses of about millisecond duration. The intense heat generated over a short duration by the pulses evaporates the material locally leaving a hole. Very fine holes of the dimensions one tenth of millimeter can be drilled. Since there is mechanical stress involved in laser drilling, even the brittle materials can be drilled.
4. Measurement of pollutants in the atmosphere: There are various types of pollutants in the atmosphere. In the measurement of pollutants, laser is used in the way a radar system is used. Hence it is called LIDAR meaning Light Detection and Ranging. This can evaluate the distance, altitude and angular coordinates of the object.
