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Article

Title: Zapping with the Light Fantastic

Author: Staff Article Type: Product Analysis
Source: The Economist, v386 n8573 p103(2) Publication Date: Mar 29, 2008
  ISSN: 0013-0613
URL of Publication: http://www.economist.com

Ultra-fast lasers are being used in all kinds of applications, from engraving security codes to cutting out burnt skin. These lasers, which produce incredibly short bursts of concentrated energy with mind-boggling levels of intensity and power, have valuable properties that previous lasers did not. Perhaps most notably is that ultra-fast lasers can cut something before things heat up and damage surrounding areas. Femtosecond lasers are the fastest among ultra-fast lasers, with the titanium-sapphire laser known as HERCULES recently reaching a new record for intensity. Its 300 terawatt beam lasted for 30 femtoseconds (a femtosecond is 30 million billionths of a second). Small femtosecond lasers are in production and are being targeted for such applications as making medical stents which keep arteries open, making fine holes in the nozzles of fuel injectors, and bonding joint implants to bone. Studies are still being done to determine the optimal wavelength, pulse, and duration of the lasers depending on their application, particularly when it comes to medical uses. Ultimately, being able to deliver femtosecond pulses with flexible fiber cables will allow surgeons to use them more effectively.

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