A US market analyst forecasts that the worldwide laser market will have a value of $3 billion by 2008.
The worldwide laser market will reach $3billion by 2008, according to a report by the US market analysts Business Communications Company (BCC).
The report, titled RGB-292 Solid State, Gas and Dye Lasers: Outlook for the Future, estimates that the value of the worldwide laser market in 2003 was just over $2 billion. Rising at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 9.1%, the firm expects the market to cross the $3 billion mark by 2008.
BCC divides its report into two sections: solid-state lasers and gas and dye lasers.
The firm predicts that the solid-state laser market will rise from $914.1 million in 2003 to $1471.4 million in 2008, an AAGR of 10%. Lamp-pumped lasers form the largest part of this sector and are predicted to grow at an AAGR of 8%, reaching $980.9 million by 2008.
In contrast, the market for diode-pumped solid state lasers is expected to grow with an AAGR of 14.8% to reach $490.5 million in 2008.
BCC says that Nd:YAG crystals, in either a flash-lamp-pumped or diode-pumped configuration, hold a 50% to 65% share of the solid-state market. Crystals such as Nd:YLF or Nd:YVO4 are said to hold a 10% share while the rest of the market is made up by other rare-earth or transition-metal-based systems.
Despite its greater value, BCC forecasts that the gas and dye laser market will have an AAGR of 8.4% between 2003 and 2008. Starting at a value of $1108.5 million in 2003, the company estimates the market’s value will rise to $1657.2 in 2008. The report claims that excimer lasers will show a high AAGR through 2008, fuelled by applications in basic research and industry.
Author
Jacqueline Hewett is news reporter on Optics.org and Opto Laser Europe magazine.