Billy, I stand corrected. The laser is used only for mastering. Actually, here is the explanation I got from a knowledgeable friend, which is informative for those non-techies on the thread:
The laser is just used for mastering. The exposed photoresist then is treated in a bath which washes away the exposed sections to reveal a pitted landscape. A thin layer of metal is then deposited onto the surface, and then that metalized surface is placed into a nickel bath, where a significant layer of nickel is electroplated onto the metal layer. This nickel layer is then removed from the photoresist, creating a father with corresponding bumps where the pits existed in the photoresist. This father is then electroplated to create a mother, and the mother is used to create stampers, which are identical to the father (the father-making process is time-consuming and expensive, and the stampers wear out, so they go through this extra generation process so that they can go back to the father whenever they need a new stamper). That stamper (with bumps) is placed into an injection molding machine, and voila! plastic replicated discs pop out every 4 seconds (with CDs).
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