Applications of laser

1. Scientific a. Spectroscopy b. Lunar laser ranging c. Photochemistry d. Laser cooling e. Nuclear fusion 2 Military a. Death ray b. Defensive applications c. Strategic defense initiative d. Laser sight e. Illuminator f. Rangefinder g. Target designator

Cont.
3. Medical a. eye surgery b. cosmetic surgery 4. Industry & Commercial a. cutting, welding, marking b. CD player, DVD player c. Laser printers, laser pointers d. Photolithography e. Laser light display

I- Laser in Industry I.1- LASER WELDING

In the basic welding process two metals (which may be the same or dissimilar) are placed in contact and the region round the contact heated until the materials melt and fuse together. Enough heat must be supplied to cause melting of a sufficient volume of material but not enough to give rise to significant amounts of vaporization, otherwise weak porous welds are produced. Both CW and pulsed lasers can be used in welding. For situations where only a small spot weld is required a single pulse from a pulsed laser may be sufficient. If a continuous weld is required, however, the beam is moved across the work-piece. The CW laser produces a continuous weld, while the pulsed laser produces a train of spot welds, which may overlap (and hence produce effectively a continuous weld) or be separated, depending on the scanning speed. Laser welding has, however, a number of advantages, for example: (1) there is no physical contact with external components; (2) the heating is very localized (3) dissimilar metals can be welded;

Schematic beam focusing head design for laser welding when using a shielding gas.

Laser- Assisted Machining ) cutting of material (

One of the problems associated with conventional approaches to the cutting of especially tough materials such as titanium alloy is that at high cutting speeds the life of the cutting tool is very short. Since these materials are used extensively in the aerospace industry there is much interest in techniques that enable the cutting rates to be speeded up. One possibility is laser assisted machining. During cutting a high-power laser beam is focused onto the work surface just ahead of the cutting tool. The material is softened and hence more readily removed. Because only a small area is heated the cutting tool remains relatively cool. Thus higher cutting rates become possible or alternatively longer tool life can be achieved for a given cutting speed. To reduce the natural reflectance of the metal surface an absorptive coating may be sprayed on just ahead of the laser beam.

LASERS IN MEDICINE
In medicine there are three main areas in which lasers have successfully established
themselves. These are in surgery as a cutting tool, in ophthalmology and in dermatology(study of skin diseases). As far as surgery is concerned, the CO 2 laser has proved the most successful all-rounder, although Nd: YAG lasers can also be used. The 10.6mm output of the CO2 laser is strongly absorbed by the water molecules present in tissue and the subsequent evaporation of the water leads to the physical removal of the tissue. There are several advantages over mechanical cutting: The laser beam can be positioned and controlled with a high accuracy, relatively

inaccessible regions can be reached, limited damage is caused to adjacent tissue and the
laser beam has a cauterizing effect on nearby blood vessels, which reduces bleeding.

1. In ophthalmology(study of eye) detached retinas have been successfully treated by lasers for many years now. Although ruby lasers were used initially in such operations, the green

output from argon ion lasers is now more popular. The radiation is strongly absorbed by red
blood cells and the resulting thermal effects lead to a re-attachment of the retina. Ophthalmology is one area where treatment is sometimes needed at some point within a uniform transparent optical medium. 2. Some disfiguring skin conditions can be successfully treated with lasers. They are often difficult to treat using conventional surgery because of the extensive areas that can be involved. 3. Many methods of cancer treatment therapy can also used in conjunction with lasers.

4. Since laser beams are readily sent down optical fibers and since fibers can be introduced
into arteries using catheters, it becomes possible to contemplate the treatment of coronary artery blockages using lasers. and many more..

OPTICAL DISK SYSTEMS

In recent years optical disks have been used increasingly for entertainment, educational programs and general audio-visual communications. In the field of data storage direct optical recording systems are becoming popular as computer peripherals, where the combination of very high information capacity and rapid random access makes optical disks an attractive

alternative to other forms of computer memory store.

INTRODUCTION: In all the optical disk systems, such as prerecorded audio disks (compact disk or CD), video disks (often called laser vision or LV) and data-storage disks, we shall assume that the information is recorded or written onto the disk and played back or read optically. In practice a variety of lasers such as argon ion, HeNe, HeCd, and AlGaAs semi-conducting laser diodes have been used as the light sources for writing and reading. There are, in fact,

alternative methods of writing the disk. We shall not, however,

consider these further.

The main advantages of optical disks over other systems such as conventional audio disks and magnetic tape systems, apart from the high storage density are: 1- The absence of physical contact between the reading head and the information storage medium, which prevents wear. 2- Furthermore, in the case of an optical disk a transparent film may be deposited over the information stored to protect it from damage.

Special features of optical disks are:

1. The high information capacity 2. long shelf life 3. long storage life

(a) Schematic of a typical optical disk. The precise geometry of a pit depends on a number of factors including the storage mode and readout technique employed. (b) Scanning electron micrograph of an optical disk (From G. Bouwhuis. A. Huijser, J. Pasman, G. Von Rosmalen, K. Schouharner Immink, Principles of Optical Disc Systems (1985). Courtesy Adam Huger Ltd).

Recording
Recording information from, for example, a video tape into the surface relief pattern is called mastering. In this process a master disk is produced and this is used to form stampers, which in turn are used to generate large numbers of video disks by injection-molding techniques.

In a typical mastering process, the master disk, which is a flat glass substrate, is coated with a thin layer of photosensitive material (photo resist) about 0.12 mm thick. The surface relief pattern is then recorded by exposing the resist to a focused laser beam, the irradiance of which is modulated in accordance with the information to be stored. The exposed areas of resist can now be dissolved away leaving holes or pits in the resist.

Schematic diagram of laser beam recorder.

The master disk is rotated at an angular frequency of 25 Hz under the focused laser beam, which is scanned radially outwards, thereby

producing a spiral track of pits. Pits can be formed at the rate of

several million per second, their spacing and length being of the order of a micron. The recorded master disk is now inspected and if satisfactory it is used to form a negative of the surface relief called a father. This is fabricated by electroplating the master with nickel. The nickel father is then separated from the master and subsequently used to form a family of stampers. This is done by growing mother positives by further electroplating with nickel after chemical modification of the surface of the father. In turn each mother is used to form several negative sons, which are used in mass replication.

CD Manufacturing Process

Data readout from optical disks

To read the stored information an optical pick-up converts the
variations in reflectance into an electronic signal. A lens within the pick-up focuses a low-power laser beam to a small spot of light on the track and also redirects the light reflected from the disk to a photodetector. The output of the photodetector varies according to the distribution of pits along the track and gives an electrical signal which enables the original audio, video or data signal to be regained.

Light is strongly reflected from the areas where there are no pits (often called land) and is largely scattered by the pits so that the

output of the detector varies as the beam follows the track. In

digital storage, for example, a change in the level of the reflected signal represents a transition from a pit to land or vice versa. These transitions are, in fact, used to represent ones, while the path length between transitions, on either pit or land, represents a certain number of zeros.

The basis of readout from an optical disk. The read beam from a laser is focused onto the surface containing the pits. Particles of dust on the protective layer are not in focus and do not affect the readout process.

Digital storage. A binary one is represented by a land-pit or pitland transition: the number of zeros is defined by the path length (either pit or lend) between transitions.