Coherent Inc.'s Semiconductor Group in Santa Clara, Calif., has joined the Precision Laser Machining Consortium, a group of 24 companies administered and partially funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Their mission is to develop laser-based tools suitable for machining applications in the aerospace, automotive and shipbuilding industries. The companies work to extend the power and brightness of diode-pumped solid-state lasers to levels required for advanced applications.