Eurolaser activities and EU113 achievements in particular

Cooperative laser activities in Europe under the 'Eureka umbrella,' and their principle objectives, are summarized. The paper then discusses recent laser applications work within the Eureka EU113 CO EUROLASER Project using: a 1 kW laser at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh; a 3 - 4 kW (industrial prototype) Laser Ecosse laser (currently sited at TWI, Abington); and the high power laser facility at SBLT, Ekaterinburg. Finally, the potential for carbon laser processing is reviewed globally, in the light of experiments recently published by other workers.