Beyond Darth Vader

McPherron explained, "CO2 lasers use light energy in the far-infrared spectrum," thus working at a wavelength of 10.6 microns. On the other hand, the YAG lasers use "light energy from the near-infrared spectrum, which has a much shorter wavelength of 1.06 microns (which is 10 times shorter than the CO2 beam). This allows for a much sharper concentration of laser energy during the engraving process." The shorter wavelength also results in a smaller beam width and allows higher line counts.