Milestones: in industrial laser materials processing

摘要

Selecting ten milestones in the 50-year listory of lasers and the 40-year history of industrial laser materials processing is a daunting task as there are so many, each worthy of recognition. However for this exercise, if you approach the assignment with the view that the milestone events selected had-and in many cases continue to have-an impact on this important market sector it becomes somewhat easier. Criteria established for the selections made were: did the application break new ground for industrial laser processing, did the application lead to major commercial markets over the intervening years, and did the development of the laser equipment used to process the application spin-off new product technologies for manufacturing.