Tech Tuesday - Applications of Lasers in Engineering

Applications of Lasers in Engineering

      a) Optical communication:

Lasers are preferred for light source for the transmission of audio, video and data over a long distance without encountering attenuation and distortion. Voice or data is converted to a coded pulse of light. Optical fiber carries this stream to its regenerating or receiving station where the light pulse is converted to electrical signal. The main advantage of laser is that it has a large capacity for carrying information. Laser beam has a thin angular spread thus is recommended to be used while communication take place between the earth and the moon or satellites. Since laser radiation cannot be absorbed by water, then laser beam is used in sea water for communication networks.

An industrial application for laser in optical communication includes petrochemical, process control in nuclear, chemical and food industry.

      b) Lasers cutter

Carbon dioxide gas(CO2) lasers are used for cutting extensive range of materials like graphite, carbide, ceramics, ferrite, sapphire and also tungsten. Continuous cutting with the aid of oxygen, carbon dioxide or air results in chemical and mechanical reaction which intensifies thermal effect. This kind of cutting is applicable with metals having a thickness of up to 5mm and width of 30micrometer.

In garment industry laser cutter computer controlled systems are programmed so that it cuts out garments of desired sizes. This programmed cutter cuts dozens to hundreds of thicknesses of cloth in a single run and cuts very faster than tailors using old method. This operation is achieved by a highly collimated beam which is focused onto microscopic dot and its energy density used for cutting is extremely high.

c) Laser micromachining

Laser beam interact with circuit boards and the semiconductor chip which contains memory and also logic circuits directly. The increased stability, higher repetition rates, a good wavelength and pulse durations being short of lasers makes possible to heat discrete micrometer-sized regions effectively at very high temperatures. This is achieved without damaging the neighboring or adjacent circuitry. Laser machining has an ability of forming small electronic circuit patterns on to a ceramic substrate in one step.

Lasers together with automatic control tools are used to trim electrical circuits. The technique which is used to switch and move laser beam is controlled automatically thus every operation was designed so as it saves time. Lasers using high power result in trimming operation to be fast.

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