has laser technolgy got to a stage that it can be used in all sorts of work?

Answer 1

we design lasers that are used in distance measurement, laser printing that you see etched on cutlery as well as those little numbers (batch codes)imprinted on the side of the water bottles and fingernail polish containers. Many think of lasers for cutting, but they also are triangulated and the reflected beam registers the location within .0000032", but we do have some that will do better. They also monitor drill bits in manufacturing to let you know if one breaks off, or if the bit is loosing its edge and getting dull. I use them in grain silo's to measure the hight of the grain and it also sends a signal for a puff of air when its lens gets coated in dust to blow the dust off. I use them at trade shows to measure the stamping on the back of a penney and the columns are 5" tall on my scale. I also use them in electronics to measure the electrodes soldered to the chip that is molded into the plastic chips. These chips are around 1 sq/mm and have as many as 15-20 wires soldered to the chip. We measure the gap between the wires, the weld joint of the wire as well as make sure each wire is there. They are used in auto mfg to measure the gaps in door and hoods to assure proper alignment and equal spacing. They monitor weld joints to measure the build up and detect pin holes in faulty weld so when you weld a ship, it doesn't leak. On 9-11 lasers measured a building wall as it started to lean and fell over. They were able to measure the wall leaning in1/4mm increments to warn rescue teams to evac the area.

Not only do we use triangulated laser beams to measure, we have another beam we shoot 100 meters from a transmitter to a receiver that a can be interupted by a human hair. These are used in numerous manufacturing areas. Some are confused with laser beam -vs- photo beam -vs transducers. For long distance shots you need the laser.

Oh, by the way, the energy consumption thing mentioned above -They run on 12 volts and can be solar powered.

AND, I was not slicing bread with a laser as Einstein mentioned above. What I did was scan a photo to my computer, digitize it, feed the signal to a laser and by varying the voltage, I etched the picture to a slice of bread in order to demo how sensitive we can make the laser for performance in various applications. While slicing bread to sell may "sound cool" $20,000.00 is a lot to invest in "cool". This technology is used to etch a photo to headstones in cemetaries as well as etch decorative tiles used in flooring. Next time you drive near a cemetary, drop in ask to see headstones with laser etched photographes and inscriptions.

AND lasers do not work just on the surface of a substrate. You can now go to some malls and have your image 3D etched internally inside a glass block. I am sure you have seen these items on keyrings to paper weights.

We are now working on lasers that can do minor surgical precedures without making an incision.

As the real Einstein once said: "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts."

One should know the facts, before putting ones mouth in gear.

Other than the few things I mentioned, I can't think of any use at all for laser technology. Next time you check out items at the store, rather than scan each item with that "red line thingy" enter each UPC code by hand.

Answer 2

No.
It continues to evolve and new uses are found, but for some tasks you simply can't use a laser.
There's an example of a baker who thougt it'd be cool to sell laser-sliced bread. You can't slice a bread with heat though; it burns.
In addition to that, keep in mind that about 1% of the energy you put into a laser shoots out; the rest is converted to heat. So both the energy as well as the cooling requirements of a powerfull laser are big.
Then there's the fact that a laser only works at surfaces. Where a saw or a knife will cut through something, a laser can only touch the surface. It might burn that surface away, and then the deeper layer, and so on; but vaporising a thick slice of any material is always going to be slower than slicing through it.

Answer 3

Well, yes. Lasers have been used to cut (with very high precision, by the way) various things. Laser is also used for eye surgery and sometimes for hair removal

Answer 4

for some things it can be used for but not alot