The high power laser market has been remarkably influenced by the introduction of high-brightness lasers, i.e., laser sources offering a high optical output power in combination with a high beam quality or a low beam parameter product, respectively. These features are primarily exhibited by fiber and disk laser systems, but diode lasers are also increasingly available with improved beam quality and higher output levels. The development of new processes that make use of the advantages of high- brightness lasers was intensively pursued in recent years and some examples of innovative solutions were given in this paper.
