Physical Basics

The first laser was presented by THEODORE MAIMAN in the year 1960 (Maiman 1960). Since 1963, the interaction of laser light with matter and its applications in the field of material processing are under ongoing investigation (Ready 1963; Linlor 1963). Today, a large array of laser material processing schemes are applied in industrial production. Although today material processing with laser light is used by engineers and technicians, there are still many physicists involved in the further development of lasers and laser material processing. This is due to historical reasons and the fact that laser material processing only recently found its way into the engineering sciences and that lasers are still opening up new fields of applications. Among other things, additive processes and fields of application for ultra short pulse lasers should be mentioned here. The physical processes that are involved in the interaction of laser light with matter are quite complicated and are still not fully understood. So laser technology remains being a challenge for physicists and also will be so in the future.