Revision Questions !

Molecules and Lasers

5. The figure shows the fundamental absorption band HBr in the near infrared.

Draw an energy-level diagram and show the transitions responsible for the
observed spectrum.

[7]

Give a simple theoretical model which accounts for the energy levels, including
molecular rotation and vibration, and from the data in the figure, extract an
approximate value for the inter-nuclear separation, and the force constant.

[10]

From the data in the figure, make an estimate of the temperature of the gas
sample.
!
"
Bromine has a relative atomic mass of 80.
1

[8]

Revision Questions !

Molecules and Lasers

3. The dierence in energy between an upper level 2 and lower level 1 in an atom is
!0 , and the degeneracies of the upper and lower levels are g2 and g1 respectively.
h
The line-shapes for spontaneous emission, absorption, and stimulated emission are
gA (! !0 ), gB (! !0 ) and gB 0 (! !0 ) respectively, where in each case the line-shape
is normalised such that
Z 1
0

gA,B,B 0 (! !0 ) d! = 1 .

Define the Einstein coecients A21 , B21 and B12 for radiative transitions between
the two levels in the atom.

[3]

Show that the Einstein coecients are related by

g2 B21 = g1 B12
and
A21 =

h! 3 B21

.
2 c3

[5]
[3]

Prove that the three line-shape functions are identical.

What is meant by homogeneous and inhomogeneous line broadening? Give an
example of each.

[6]

Spectral brightness is defined as the number of photons per second per steradian
per unit area per unit frequency range. An X-ray laser emits pulses of light containing
1012 photons per pulse, in a pulse length of 1013 s. The beam has a diameter of
300-m and an angular divergence of 106 radians. The photon energy is 8 keV with
a bandwidth (!/!) of 5 103 . What is the spectral brightness of the X-ray laser?
What would the temperature of a blackbody need to be to have the same spectral
brightness at 8 keV as the X-ray laser?

[8]

[ The energy density per unit frequency range of blackbody radiation is

(!) =

!3
h
1
2
3
c exp(
h!/kB T ) 1

at frequency ! and temperature T . The flux of particles with number density n and of
velocity c through unit area is nc/4. ]

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[Turn over]
2

Revision Questions !

Molecules and Lasers

2. What is the essential difference between a 4-level and a 3-level solid-state laser
system? Give one example of each type and explain qualitatively why the pump power
necessary to bring the two different types of laser to threshold can differ widely.

[5]

Explain what is meant by Q-switching, and describe briefly one means by which
it is achieved in practice.

[5]

Derive the rate equations governing the time evolution of the inversion density
N (t) and the photon number n(t) in the cavity of a 4-level laser that is Q-switched at
time t = 0. Assume that the laser medium fills the cavity volume and that the upper
and lower laser levels have equal degeneracy.
Show that at the time when n(t) achieves its peak value, the instantaneous value
of the inversion density Np equals the inversion density required to bring the laser to
steady state threshold in the same cavity with the Q-switching element in its low-loss
state.

[10]

The energy utilisation factor is defined as

=

Ni Nf
,
Ni

where Ni is the value of N (t) at t = 0 and Nf is the value of N (t) as t . Show

that
! "
Np
Ni
.
= ln
Ni
Nf
State clearly any assumptions you make.

[5]