Ultrafast scientific lasers undergo an industrial revolution

Historically, companies manufacturing scientific ultrafast lasers have focused almost exclusively on achieving leading-edge performance (like high peak power or short pulse duration), often using advanced and therefore less-proven designs. In contrast, industrial lasers have long been designed for a cost-conscious environment, in which operational simplicity and reliability are of paramount importance and throughput, cost per part, percentage of up-time, and cost of ownership are key performance metrics. This dichotomy has led to very different design philosophies for scientific and industrial lasers. Recognizing that productivity and cost of ownership are also very important for scientific users, the application of some central concepts from the industrial world is now yielding lasers for scientific applications that offer cutting-edge performance, industrial-grade reliability, up-time, and productivity. Here, Ashmead discusses the scientific applications of lasers.