Laser Types and Uses

Understanding the different types of lasers and the potential hazards that they can produce is important.

High-powered neodymium-YAG (Nd:YAG) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) lasers are used to cut or weld materials with a high degree of accuracy. These high-powered lasers require greater safety measures than some of the lower-power vision system lasers used for inventory tracking or parts identification.

In today's industrial environment, laser uses include cutting, alignment, annealing, drilling, dynamic balancing, metrology, nondestructive testing, sealing, soldering, and lithography - to mention just a few.

Figure 1: The types of laser technology, the wavelength at which they operate, and the applications in which they are used.

These applications are done generally with a broad range of laser types, including gas, solid-state, metal vapor, diode, and dye. The active medium is different in each laser to achieve different beam characteristics (such as the wavelength) that are useful in different applications.