At 11:38 AM 4/21/99 -0700, you wrote: > >Does anyone have any idea how a CO2 laser would affect quartz crystal? > >Lots of questions. > >Dan Wenger > At my place of employment, we use 250 Watt CO2 lasers to perforate cigarette filters. A CO2 laser emits an invisible infrared beam which is absorbed by glass rather than transmitted by it. The glass will heat rapidly and shatter. To focus the beam onto the cigarette filter, we use lenses made from selenium dioxide. As to what effect the beam would have on quartz, I'm not sure since I don't know how transparent it is to infrared.
Charles
