Laser Technology Jargon Buster

We know that the language of laser technology can seem a little confusing at first. Here's a handy jargon buster to help you decipher it like a pro:

Ablation	The removal of solid material using a laser beam.
Amplitude Stability	The variation of laser amplitude or output power over time.
Annealing	The laser heats the surface to change the colour of the material, depending on the temperature of the laser.
Beam Dimensions	The cross-sectional size of the beam.
Beam Profile	The measurement of a laser beam's energy output and distribution.
Bitmap	A graphic created from rows of different coloured pixels that together form an image.
Co2	A laser which uses a small tube filled with gas. Electricity is put through these tubes and reflected onto mirrors to produce a laser beam.
Continuous Wave	The output of a laser that is operated in a continuous (pulse duration >0.25s) rather than a pulsed mode.
Diode	A light emitting diode with an optical cavity to amplify light.
DPSS	Diode-pumped Solid-state - a laser made by pumping a solid gain medium (e.g., a ruby) with a laser diode.
DXF	Drawing Interchange Format - a CAD file which is used to share drawing data between CAD programs.
Engraving	The laser removes material to create deep surface marks.
Etching	The laser melts the micro surface to created raised marks.
Excimer Laser	Uses a gas mixture as the gain medium.
Fiber	A laser which uses an optical fiber to amplify and channel light through an optical lens to produce a laser beam.
Focal Length	The distance from the centre of the lens to the point at which an image of a distant object is formed.
Gain Medium	The source of optical gain within a laser.
Hatch	An engraving technique which simulates a solid effect using a series of parallel lines to 'fill in' the area.
Irradiance	The amount of power per unit area.
JPEG	An image type where the degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a trade-off between size and quality.
JSF Font	Single line font defined by N-Lase Designer.
LASER	Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
Marking	A group of methods for labelling materials and surfaces with lasers.
MOPA	A Master Oscillator Power Amplifier - a laser with a fiber amplifier to boost the output power.
PNG	Portable Network Graphics - a raster-graphics file format that supports lossless data compression.
Pulse Duration	The duration of a laser pulse; usually measured as the time interval between the half-power points on the leading and trailing edges of the pulse.
Pulsed Laser	A laser that delivers its energy in the form of a single pulse or a train of pulses (pulse duration <0.25s).
Rotary	A device with 360 rotation which allows a laser to mark objects with a curved surface.
Source	Adds energy to the laser system such as a flash lamp or electrical current.
UV	A laser which passes a standard wavelength laser through crystals to reduce the wavelength to produce a UV laser beam.
Vector	Vector files are images that are built by mathematical formulas that establish points on a grid, as opposed to pixels.
Watt (W)	The basic unit of power (J/s).
Wavelength	The distance between two successive points on a periodic wave that have the same phase
Workspace	The rectangle or circular area in the main interface window. Any object drawn in this area will be marked.
Ablation	The removal of solid material using a laser beam.