Laser Processing and Chemistry

This book gives an overview of the fundamentals and applications of laser-matter interactions, in particular with regard to laser material processing. Special attention is given to laser-induced physical and chemical processes at gas-solid, liquid-solid, and solid-solid interfaces. Starting with the background physics, the book proceeds to examine applications of lasers in “standard” laser machining and laser chemical processing (LCP), including the patterning, coating, and modification of material surfaces. This fourth edition has been enlarged to cover the rapid advances in the understanding of the dynamics of materials under the action of ultrashort laser pulses, and to include a number of new topics, in particular the increasing importance of lasers in various different fields of surface functionalizations and nanotechnology. In two additional chapters, recent developments in biotechnology, medicine, art conservation and restoration are summarized. Graduate students, physicists, chemists, engineers, and manufacturers alike will find this book an invaluable reference work on laser processing

Is Switzerland Still a Lucrative Place for Manufacturers of Drug Substances to Produce Their Products?

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are coming under increasing pricing pressure as a result of healthcare reforms and are therefore looking to low wage countries in the Far East. Often, the outcome is a process that is not fully mature in economic terms. Contract synthesis manufacturers, such as Siegfried, offer assistance here with its comprehensive pharmaceutical know-how in order to establish efficient and low-cost processes at an early stage. Siegfried's strengths lie in its many years experience in the pharmaceutical industry and in the network of contacts it has built up over the years with technical and material suppliers. Therefore, as far as Switzerland as a location for manufacturing is concerned, Siegfried looks to the future with confidence