Laser-material interaction is a field with a wide range of applications, on the brink of immense technological advances. This text for engineers explains the physical principles of power lasers and the optical properties of solids subjected to high photon flux. It includes a detailed study of power laser interactions and covers important applications such as the manufacture of thin layers, welding, laser recrystallization and treatment, and laser fusion. In reviewing the physics necessary for the understanding of this class of laser, the author prepares the ground for a description of principle power laser types. The laser material interactions in which the matter does not change state are then analyzed, and the necessary parameters for the description of linear and non-linear optics are introduced. Mechanisms responsible for the absorption of the energy of a laser beam are isolated and described, such as the creation of free carriers, plasmons and photons, the emmisions of neutral or charged particles and vaporization of the material.
The account finishes with such practical applications as laser recrystallization, laser probe mass spectrometry and nuclear fusion brought about by laser pulse.