Continuous wave (CW) lasers operate with a stable average beam power. In most higher power systems, one is able to adjust the power. In low power gas lasers, such as HeNe, the power level is fixed by design and performance usually degrades with long-term use.

Single pulsed (normal mode) lasers generally have pulse durations of a few hundred microseconds to a few milliseconds. This mode of operation is sometimes referred to as long pulse or normal mode

Single pulsed Q-switched lasers are the result of an intracavity delay (Q-switch cell) which allows the laser media to store a maximum of potential energy. Then, under optimum gain conditions, emission occurs in single pulses; typically of 10^-8 second time domain. These pulses will have high peak powers often in the range from 10⁶ to 10⁹ watts peak.

Repetitively pulsed or scanning lasers generally involve the operation of pulsed laser performance operating at a fixed (or variable) pulse rate which may range from a few pulses per second to as high as 20,000 pulses per second. The direction of a CW laser can be scanned rapidly using optical scanning systems to produce the equivalent of a repetitively pulsed output at a given location.

Mode-locked lasers operate as a result of the resonant modes of the optical cavity which can affect the characteristics of the output beam. When the phases of different frequency modes are synchronized, i.e., "locked together," the different modes will interfere with one another to generate a beat effect. The result is a laser output which is observed as regularly spaced pulsations. Lasers operating in this mode-locked fashion, usually produce a train of regularly spaced pulses, each having a duration of 10^-15 (femto) to 10^-12 (pico) sec. A mode-locked laser can deliver extremely high peak powers than the same laser operating in the Q-switched mode. These pulses will have enormous peak powers often in the range of 10¹² (tera) watts peak.