Dye lasers

Large size organic molecules

Dye solutions/dyes doped in solid matrix (polymers / organic molecules) Liquid lasers/dye doped solid state lasers

Typical dyes

Energy levels

Energy levels (simplified model)

Dye absorption

Absorption and emission

Dye emission

Green dye absorption Yellow dye emission

Pumps 1. Flash lamp 2. Lasers( N2, excimer, Nd, ion lasers, Cu vapour etc) Pulsed systems/ CW systems Photo-degradation; dye degrades on absorption of light; limits the life of the dye Continuous circulation for CW lasers

Flash lamp pumped dye laser

Linear/coaxial flash lamp pumped laser, dye solution is made to flow; in low power dye circulation is under gravity while high power sources it is pumps are used Average power ~ several KW Pulse energy ~ 100J/10Hz UV-IR, 1GHz line-width 1-5000s pulse widths, 1ps pulses have been produced 1-2% wall-plug efficiency

Schematics of a flash lamp pumped dye laser

Laser output of flash lamp dye lasers Linear/coaxial flash lamp pumped laser, dye solution is made to flow; in low power dye circulation is under gravity while high power sources it is pumps are used Average power ~ several KW Pulse energy ~ 100J/10Hz UV-IR, 1GHz line-width 1-5000s pulse widths, 1ps pulses have been produced 1-2% wall-plug efficiency

Typical pulsed laser pumped dye laser

Tuning element

Schematics of a laser pumped pulsed dye laser

Tuning element

With magnetic stirrer

N2 laser pumped dye laser

OUTPUT CYLINDRICAL LENS N2 LASER DYE CELL

N2 laser pumped dye laser; ANNIMATION

Schematics of laser pumped CW dye laser (linear cavity)

Dye doped solid state lasers

Rd6G doped LAP developed at IIT Kanpur

PMMA,MPG (polymers), silicate glass, phosphate glass, silica gel etc available commercially

Q-switching Quality factor Q of a resonator is the measure of the amount of energy that can be stored in the resonator. A high Q factor corresponds to low resonator losses per roundtrip, and vice versa. Q=- /(d/dt), where is the stored energy; in case of a laser resonator energy is stored in the form of population inversion density. Q=/ ( 1/2) In lasers we have Q-switching; a

Q-switching (Contd) Initially the laser medium is pumped while the Q-switch prevents feedback of light into the gain medium (producing an optical resonator with low Q). This produces a population inversion, but laser operation cannot yet occur since there is no feedback from the resonator. Since the rate of stimulated emission is dependent on the amount of light entering the medium, the amount of energy stored in the gain medium increases as the medium is pumped. Due to losses from spontaneous emission and other processes, after a certain time the stored energy will reach some maximum level; the medium is said to be gain saturated. At this point, the Q-switch device is quickly changed from low to high Q, allowing feedback and the process of optical amplification by stimulated emission to begin. Because of the large amount of energy already stored in the gain medium, the intensity of light in the laser resonator builds up very quickly; this also causes the energy stored in the medium to be depleted almost

Q-switching techniques 1. Mechanical methods a.Rotating resonator mirror

b. Mechanical chopper inside laser cavity

Q-switching techniques (contd.) Saturable absorber (absorption changes with intensity)

Q-switching techniques (contd.) Electro-optic/magneto-optic/acoustooptic switches Refractive index is modulated by application of voltage / acoustic wave

Acousto-optic Q-switch

Electro-optic Q-switch Polarization is changed on application of voltage, so the laser cavity has high loss(low Q). Suddenly voltage is switched-off and Q of cavity is high and a laser output in the form of pulse is observed

Q-switching increases peak power. What about the average power? Does it also increase? Think

Mode-locking Output of a windows

Output of a laser Out-put of a laser which has with Brewster cylindrical windows The output is viewed in asymmetry plan

perpendicular to laser-axis (line joining the resonator mirrors through the gain medium); transverse laser modes