Laser control processes in solids

The large amount of information carried by the energy, spectral, and space—time characteristics of a laser beam makes it feasible to use laser radiation to control the processes that occur in solids. The influence of laser radiation with a wide range of deposited energies on a variety of processes is considered: these processes include crystal growth, formation of dissipative (spatial and temporal) defect structures on the surface and in the bulk of a solid, instabilities in melts, materials fracture considered from the point of view of both selectivity and self-organisation. An analysis is made of the relationship between the nature and parameters of such structures, on the one hand, and the characteristics of laser radiation, on the other.