Taking Excimer Laser Processing to Industry
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Taking Excimer Laser Processing to Industry Perspectives from a NATO Advanced Study Institute Luclen D. Laude A NATO Advanced Study Institute entirely devoted to excimer lasers took place September 7-16, 1993 in Elounda (Crete), Greece, gathering some 85 scientists from 21 different countries, mostly from Germany, France, and Greece. Among the continuously expanding list of laser sources, excimer lasers are unique in their technical specifications, venturing into unusual fundamental physics and chemistry, and thus opening routes to novel applications. Emitting intense pulses of uv light, excimer lasers are best characterized by their enormous instant power (tens of megawatts) delivered in a dense flux of high-energy photons able to overcome bond strength. This gives access to processes like nonequilibrium (thermal or athermal) surface phase transitions or chemical reactions which are not accessible either to other laser sources or via conventional (thermodynamic) processes. In addition, and most remarkably, these excimer sources are equally able to process (i.e., to transform irrevocably) materials as diverse as ceramics, polymers, metals, or biological tissues. As a result, a single excimer laser beam may find equally effective applications in fields as diverse as materials science and medicine. For example, one of the many processes that can be induced by excimerlaser irradiating matter, namely ablation, has proved to be a reliable and simple way to produce good-quality high Tc superconducting films, custom-designed 3-D engraving on either hard or soft materials, and high-precision ceramic machining. In medicine, novel techniques like corneal reshaping, cancer phototherapy, and others can be likewise elaborated. The extreme versatility of the excimer laser is in itself unique in the field of lasers, and a fortiori in the broader panoply of energy sources which have been developed and utilized until now. However, full development of excimer
laser potential may only be achieved under three conditions: (1) the characteristics and limitations of the sources should be known to all practitioners; (2) a reasonable understanding of the basic processes which are induced by excimerirradiating matter should be disseminated throughout the larger community; and (3) technological or industrial problems in search of a solution should be clearly identified. .
Scientists were not, are not, and will never be able to transfer their occasional bright ideas efficiently to the industrialists, who logically should be their customers, unless they direct some serious effort toward the real world. The first two conditions are within reach of scientists as part of their educational background. However, because of the extreme diversity or complexity of the disciplines involved, the conditions for the dissemination of knowledge (either technical or scientific) are not currently fulfilled through the usual specialty conference series, which do not allow for cross-fertilization. One objective of this NATO Advanced
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