Advances open new applications

Although the use of lasers for materials processing represents, in total, the largest global market for nondiode lasers, the materials-processing "market" is in reality a collection of diverse and often otherwise-unrelated applications.

This month's Optoelectronics World serves to highlight this diversity. Old meets new in the first article about machining glass with a laser, a technique that offers novel glass geometries and opens up new applications for glass. The second feature describes how laser direct-write can fabricate tiny power systems for microdevices. And the final article explains the "cool" benefits of water-guided laser cutting.

Stephen G. Anderson
Editor in Chief
[email protected]