INTRODUCTION TO

LASER

Dr. N.
 LA SER
 LASER (Light Amplification by the
Stimulated Emission of Radiation)
 A device that creates a uniform
and coherent light.
 Laser output can be continuous or
pulsed and is used in many
applications.
 AP PL ICA TI ONS
 Gas lasers are used to cut steel
and perform delicate eye
surgery.
 solid state lasers create the
ultra-high-speed, minuscule
pulses traveling in optical fibers
traversing the backbones of all
major communications
 WORKIN G
 A laser is an optical oscillator, which is
made out of a solid, liquid or gas with mirrors
at both ends.
 To make the laser work, the material is
excited or "pumped," with light or
electricity. The pumping excites the electrons
in the atoms, causing them to jump to higher
orbits, creating a "population inversion."
 A few of the electrons drop back to lower
energy levels spontaneously, releasing
a photon (quantum of light).
 The photons stimulate other
excited electrons to emit more
photons with the same energy
and thus the same wavelength as
the original.
 The mirrors at both ends keep
reflecting the light back and
forth creating a chain reaction
and causing the laser to emit laser
light continuously.
 In simple laser cavities, one
mirror has a small transparent
area that lets the laser beam out.
 In semiconductor lasers, both
mirrors often transmit a beam,
the second one being used for
monitoring purposes.
PROPERTIES OF LASER
 DIR ECTION ALIT Y
 The directionality of the laser beam is
usually expressed in terms of full angle
of beam divergence,
 it is twice the angle made by the
outer edge of the beam with the
axis of the beam.
 At the outer edge the strength of the
beam drops to 1/e times compared to
its strength at the centre.
Ф
Ф
1
 The angular spread (Ф) = λ/da
 Where,

da- Diameter of the aperture

λ- Wavelength of the beam
 Rayleigh Range: The range for which
the laser light propagates as a
parallel beam is called Rayleigh
range, which is equal to da2/λ.
 For a typical laser the beam divergence
is less than 0.01 milliradian (it spreads
0.01 mm/m), but the ordinary light the
spread is 1m for every 1m of travel.
 Since the angular spread depends upon
distance from the source, the angular
spread (Ф) = a2-a1 / [2(d2-d1)]
Where,
a1 & a2 – diameters of laser radiation at
distances d1 & d2 from the laser source.
 HIG H I NTEN SI TY
 The laser emits light into a narrow
beam; the concentration of energy
is both spatially and spectrally.
Therefore the intensity of the laser
beam is very high.
 For example, from a 100 W bulb
emitting ordinary light, one can
perceive only 1/1000 watt of light if
he/she stands 1foot away from it.
 But laser can damage eye of a
person, if allowed observe at a
same distance.
 The number of photons emitted
by laser source is 1012 to 1028
times more than that of ordinary
light.
 MONOCHROMACITY

monochromaticity is
the function of
wavelength spread
of radiation.
It is, Δλ = (-c/v2) Δυ
 The light from a laser source is highly
monochromatic compared to light
from conventional incoherent
monochromatic source.
 The value of Δλ is in the order of 300
nm for white light, 0.01 nm for gas
discharge lamp, and for laser it is
0.0001 nm.
 COHERENCE
 A typical laser emits light in a narrow,
low-divergence beam and with a well-
defined wavelength.
 This is in contrast to a light source such
as the incandescent bulb, which emits
into a large solid angle and over a wide
spectrum of wavelength.
 Laser beams can be focused to very
small area of 0.7 µm thickness.
 Spatial Coherence & Temporal
Coherence
 Types of Coherence
 For any electro-magnetic wave, if at
times t1 and t2, the phase difference
between two points in space remains
the same, then it is called as spatial
coherence.
 If at a point P, the electro-magnetic
wave at t and t+dt has same phase
difference, if dt is the same, temporal
coherence exists.
COMPONENTS OF A LASER
 Laser material (crystal, gas,
semiconductor, dye, etc...)
 Pump source (adds energy to the
lasing material, e.g. flash lamp,
electrical current to cause electron
collisions, radiation from a laser, etc.)
 Optical cavity consisting of reflectors
to act as the feedback mechanism for
light amplification.
LASER SETUP
RUBY LASER
 PRINCIPLE OF LASER
 Theory of interaction of radiation with
matter. (Emission and absorption of
electromagnetic radiation by matter is in the
form of photon).
 Consider an atom that has only two energy
levels. E1 and E2. When it is exposed to
radiation having a stream of photons, each
with energy hν, three distinct processes are
possible.
 Absorption, Spontaneous emission and
Stimulated emission.
 ABSORPTION

R12 α ρν
α N1
R12 = B12 ρν N1
Where,
N1 - Number of atoms per unit
volume and
 EMISSIONS

 Since higher energy state is unstable state

the atoms will come back to the lower
energy state with the emission of a photon. It
may takes place in two ways.
Spontaneous emission and
Stimulated emission
Spontaneous Emission
 The atom or molecule in the higher energy state
E2 is coming back to the ground state by
emitting excess energy spontaneously.
 This process is independent of the external
radiation.
 The rate of spontaneous emission is directly
proportional to the population of the energy
level E2.
 SPONTANEOUS EMISSION

R21 (SP) α N2
R21 (SP) = A21 N2
Where,
A21 – Probability per unit time that the atoms
will spontaneously fall to the ground state.
N2 – Number of atoms per unit volume in E2.
 STIMULATED EMISSION
 A photon of energy E, equal to the difference
between the two levels E2 and E1, stimulate
the atom to transit to ground state from the
higher energy state by emitting second
photon.
 The rate of stimulated emission R21 (ST) is,

R21 (ST) = B21 ρν N2

 Where,
B21 – Probability per unit time that the
atoms undergo from higher energy state to
lower energy state by stimulated emission.
 POPULATION INVERSION
 In a system containing a very large number of
atoms, the dominant process will depend on
the virtual number of atoms in the excited and
ground state.
 If there are more number of atoms in the
ground state (N1>N2), then there will be more
absorption than stimulated emission.
 If large number of atoms are present in the
excited state (N1<N2), then stimulated
emission will be more.
 Under the conditions of thermal equilibrium,
N2/N1 = e-(E2- E1) /kT = e-hν /kT
 Where, k – Boltzmann’s constant &
T – Absolute temperature.
 For Laser action, Stimulated emission should
be a dominate process. So it is necessary to
increase the population of excited state and
it is greater than that of ground state. This is
known as Population inversion (P.I.).