Techniques which enable changing certain amount of energy being applied from a laser to a material during scan lines of the laser. The container may be made from a tube of biodegradable or non-biodegradable material. The expander may be coupled to the grating directly, or through an expansion reducer, which produces a greater range of tuning. The method can evaluate erosion of system components in a plasma, by monitoring fluorescent light emission and a mass signal from the sensor gas. The system includes a system controller, a planning function for planning the concurrent production of regular and diagnostic work units, and a scheduling function for scheduling the concurrent production of regular and diagnostic work units. The condition is corrected by making an adjustment to the communication signal by a correction amount.