Types of Laser

The following table gives details of a selection of the most important lasing materials and corresponding types of laser. The list of potential applications is far from complete.

  Wavelength Power continuous mode Power pulsed
mode
Applications
Semiconductor
diode lasers
       
Single diodes infrared to visible 1 mW - 10 mW 100 W opto-electronics,
pump light source
Diode laser bars infrared to visible up to 250 W 2,5 kW pump light source, material processing
Solid-state lasers        
Fiber laser (Yb:glass) 1,03-1,06 µm 1 W - 10 kW up to 1 GW material processing,
metrology,
medicine
Thin-disk laser
(Yb:YAG)
1,03 µm 50 W - 16 kW up to 100 GW
Ti:sapphire
laser
broadband 650-1100 nm 0,1 - 50 W up to PW pulse duration 10 fs metrology , pulse holography
Gas lasers        
CO2 laser 10,6 µm 1 W - 40 kW 100 MW materials processing,
medicine
Excimer laser 193 nm, 248 nm, 308 nm, 351 nm (and
others)
  1 kW - 100 MW
pulse duration 10 - 100 ns
micro-machining, laser
chemistry, medicine
HeNe laser 632.8 nm (most
prominent)
1 mW - 1 W   metrology ,
holography
Argon ion laser     515 nm - 458 nm (several) 1 mW - 150 W   printing technology,
pumping laser, medicine
Dye laser continuous
between infrared
and ultraviolet
(different dyes)
1 mW - 1 W   metrology ,
spectroscopy, medicine