Ultrashort pulse widths and higher peak powers are the hallmarks of today’s solid-state lasers suited for welding circuit boards and cutting sheet metal.HANK HOGAN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, [email protected]For solid-state lasers, more power, along with increasingly robust systems and a wider variety of wavelengths, mean new applications in cutting, welding, precision manufacturing, marking and elsewhere. Together with falling prices, such advances are putting lasers into new applications. On the horizon are solid-state lasers that enable high-resolution x-ray, neutron and electron imaging for nondestructive testing of turbine blades, engine parts and other components. Those systems and capabilities lie in the future. Today, solid-state lasers come in two broad categories. 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