Table Top USP Lasers Slice, Dice, and So Much More

UltravioletLED writes "A company in Petaluma, California has developed highly programmable desktop lasers. The same devices used in hospitals could also be used to turn any metal surface black by simply changing the software. From the article: 'The technology once filled a large room at DARPA until Raydiance scientists made it into a compact, tabletop unit. Schuler (The CEO) said he hopes it will replace just about any cutting device you can think of, from a big metal saw to a precise surgical blade ... Now that it's a little bigger than a breadbox, researchers want to use them to kill tumors, identify friend or foe during combat, and even remove tattoos.' Femtosecond lasers for eye surgery have been around for years now, but these new lasers are far smaller and promise to have much greater versatility."

Comments

Yes

[El Lobo]

We are using programable lasers at our hospital too (well, kind of experimental). The programmable laser radiation doser may be successfully employed in rheumatology (arthritis, arthrosis), neurology (radiculitis, osteochondrosis), gynaecology (inflammation of adnexa), urology, in cases of pancreatonecrosis, pulmonary pathology, hepatitis, gastritis, trophic ulcer, dermatitis, eczema and other diseases.

The dosing device goes together with laser therapy apparatus comprising only low-energy semiconductor and gas lasers. Its control mode is set with regard to the functional condition of the patient's body, the disease dynamics and stage.

New ?

[dbcad7]

Table top, and bigger, lasers used for cutting materials have been around for quite a while.

I used to do waterjet cutting, and we had looked into laser cutters as well, but many materials are toxic when burned.. so we stuck with water. There are applications, where a laser is better. Wood is not practical with a waterjet because it absorbs water and the wood warps. Metals are problematic, but can be cut with laser, although much easier to add sand to a waterjet stream and cut it with water. I know that there were also cutters being developed using high pressure air. The waterjet machine I ran was made by Flow International, really an awesome machine. I kinda miss that job.

Re:Desktop Fabrication Applications Aplenty

[turtledawn]

This is already in existence (not that it isn't incredibly cool!). Here's a link to a fellow slashdotter's sculpture site; he has an article describing the technology. Oh, and the art is really neat.. I don't know him, nor do I own any of the pieces though I would like to.

http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/process/index.html #3dprint