Advances in Laser Materials Processing and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The laser has long outgrown any doubts regarding its usefulness and is now a ubiquitous tool in science, industry, and medicine. It continues to find new applications driven by evermore stringent manufacturing needs, and this has been accompanied by a continuing development of the laser itself, resulting in new irradiance regimes to be explored. In particular, fiber lasers as well as ultrashort pulsed lasers are producing ever higher average powers and irradiances. At the same time, there has been an increase in the use of complex material systems (e.g., composites), as well as a proliferation of traditionally difficult to machine materials (e.g., chemically toughened glass), and high-volume applications requiring hard to achieve welds (e.g., metal foils for electric vehicle batteries, and dissimilar materials such as glass to metal seals). More applications are emerging in surface texturing and hardening, volume surface removal (scabbling), cleaning, large area dense hole arrays, and ultra-high-resolution machining in multiple axes, complimented by additive manufacturing (stereolithography and sintering). Further, thin film technologies continue to demand improved deposition and structuring techniques. Aiding these endeavors are machine learning and artificial intelligence coupled with enhanced laser control systems, beam shaping, and high-speed scanning.

It seems timely to group together leading work in the fields of laser material interactions and the beam delivery techniques that are being developed to facilitate these many applications. Hence, we wish to highlight the latest advances in these exciting areas of applied science and engineering through the compilation of this Special Issue of Materials.

Dr. Howard V. Snelling
Guest Editor

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