Laser hardening

[simonwei]

Hi, all:

Can anyone help me with "laser hardening"? It appears to be a common process to increase the surface hardness of the metal (correct me if I'm wrong), and I also learned it can increase the damage threshold of optical windows. I've googled it but couldn't find why it works. Appreciate it if anyone can explain the mechanism how damage threshold is increased. Published papers are even better.
Thanks a lot.

simonwei

 

[cloa]

http://www.springerlink.com/content/q323574662unp5l2/

Look for Laser modification glass. Its not laser hardening.