Stefano Zarini believes the potential for laser technology is limitless because lasers have become a genuine commodity. “The potential is limitless because a laser is a heat source that can be shaped in any possible way, and the wider industrial world outside is full of requests for heat source applications,” he elaborates.

Even so, he continues, the biggest limitation the photonics sector faces is the limited number of people able to handle it in a practical sense; skilled staff who know how to shape laser heat according to customer need.