The laser is a light source that produces highly collimated, coherent, and spectrally narrow electromagnetic light, which spans the ultraviolet (UV), visible, and infrared (IR) spectral regime. There are several types of lasers differentiated by the lasing medium (e.g., gas, liquid, or solid state). The technology and engineering aspects pertaining to the various types of lasers are different, stemming from the nature of the lasing media and the pumping technology. Lasers are widely used for various applications including industry, pure science, medicine, diagnostics, and entertainment. In general, the use of various types of lasers will increase and dominate many fields. In particular, it is expected that by improving the reliability of the existing lasers or by introducing solutions to meet specific needs, the market size of some specific types of lasers may increase significantly.
According to a recent report from Business Communications Company, Inc, RGB-292 Solid State, Gas and Dye Lasers: Outlook for the Future, the worldwide market for all types of lasers is estimated to be just over $2 billion in 2003. Rising at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 9.1%, the market is expected to cross $3 billion by 2008.
Diode-pumped solid-state lasers will show the strongest growth, rising at an AAGR of 14.8% to $490.5 million in 2008. However, lamp-pumped lasers will continue to constitute the largest market as it grows at an AAGR of 8% to reach $980.9 million by 2008.
Within solid-state lasers, the type most commonly used in a variety of applications is Nd:YAG, with either a flash-lamp-pumped or diode-pumped configuration. Presently, the Nd:YAG holds 50% to 65% of the market of crystals for all solid-state lasers. The market share of other crystals is about 10% of the solid-state market. The rest of the market (40% - 25%) is accounted for by the other rare-earth or transition-metal-based systems.
In terms of applications, a very high average annual growth rate for diode-pumped systems, relative to other types of lasers, is observed for medicine and instrumentation. The market volume of diode-pumped systems is also expected to increase for these applications. Excimer lasers will show a high AAGR through 2008 for basic research and to some extent in industry (F2 lasers) and medicine. A minor share of the market is expected to belong to other applications, denoted in this report as miscellaneous, including sensing, image recording, inspection, optical data storage, and entertainment. Except for gas lasers (excluding excimers), these applications will show negative growth.
