Materials processing by high-repetition-rate pulsed excimer and carbon dioxide lasers

Recently created pulsed gas lasers with high pulse repetition rate produce radiation in the IR [ <author order="1"> <name> <first>V. Yu.</first> <last>Baranov</last> </name> </author>, in Molecular Gas Lasers. Physics Applications, VelikhovE. P., Ed. ( Mir, Moscow, 1981), pp. 252– 255] and the UV ( <author order="1"> <name> <first>V. Yu.</first> <last>Baranov</last> </name> </author>, in Proceedings, International Conference on Lasers, 14–18 Dec. 1981, pp. 968– 974) regions of the spectrum. These lasers are widely used in research on the selective excitation of matter. This field of study includes laser isotope separation { <author order="1"> <name> <first>G. I.</first> <last>Abdushelashvili</last> </name> </author>, Kvantovaya Elektron. (Moscow)9, 743 ( 1982) [ Sov. J. Quantum Electron.12, 459 ( 1982)]} and laser-induced chemical reactions [ <author order="1"> <name> <first>V. Yu.</first> <last>Baranov</last> </name> </author>, Preprint IAE 3693/13 ( Moscow, 1982)]. But there are few publications dealing with uses of high-repetition-rate lasers for materials processing, although this problem undoubtedly is of considerable scientific interest.