1

INTRODUCTION
The word LASER is an acronym which stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of
Radiation. It actually represents the principle itself but is nowadays also used to describe the
source of the laser beam. The main components of a laser are the laser active, light amplifying
medium and an optical resonator, which usually consists of two mirrors.

There are now many and various ways in which the principle of laser operation can be realised.
Some lasers are not even a m long while some laser systems fill entire buildings. Power outputs
vary between nW and TW (10-9 - 1012 W). The wavelength and output power of any
particular Laser are defined by the application for which they are intended. Lasers are used in a
wide variety of applications, such as:
Optoelectronics
CD players and CD-ROM drives (semiconductor lasers)
Data transfer via fibre optic cables
Medicine
Ophthalmology
Dermatology
Measurement & instrumentation
Mining and tunnel surveying
Measurement of work piece surfaces
Analysis (e.g. in mobile environmental analysis equipment)
Manufacturing technology
Cutting
Welding
Surface treatment etc.
Research
Laser fusion
Diagnostics
Measurement of earth-moon distance

2
LASER HISTORY

The history of laser starts on 1917 when the first laser being invented by the father of the laser,
Albert Einstein. Einstein had postulated photons and stimulated emission about 84 years ago
and he won the Nobel Prize for related research on the photoelectric effect. Table 1 below
shows the historical evolution from microwave lasers to optical lasers and finally to x-ray lasers
and lasers discovered in space.

Years History
1864 - 1940 History of Astronomical Spectroscopy
1917 Einstein postulates photons and stimulated emission
1954 First microwave laser
1960 First optical laser
1965 Microwave laser discovered in the orion nebula
1965 Discovery of cosmic background radiation using microwave laser
1966 First gas dynamic laser
1970 First postulate of laser action in stars
1973 Discovery of laser action in quasars
1979 Near Infrared laser star found in Orion nebula
1981 Carbon dioxide laser discovered in atmosphere of mars and venus
1984 First x-ray laser
1993 Gas contact plasma laser
1994 Artificial laser guide stars
1995 Far infrared laser star discovered by Kuiper Airborne Observatory
1996 Ultraviolet laser star discovered by Hubble Space Telescope
2000 Survey of the worlds most powerful research and military lasers

Table 1: History of Laser
3
LASER PHYSICS

Theory
Atoms and molecules posses internal energy. The value of its internal energy is restricted to
specific discrete values, or energy levels. Figure 1 illustrates the energy levels which the
electrons in a typical atoms may posses. Each electron will always be found in one of these
allowed energy states. The transition of an electron of one energy level to another is made
possible by the absorption or emission of light.








Figure 1: Electron energy levels

Light is absorbed or emitted in individual unites called photons. For the transition between
energy level E1 and E2, as shown in figure 1, a photon is either absorbed, for the E1 to E2
transition, or emitted, for E2 to E1 transition. The energy of the photon must correspond
exactly to the energy difference between the two energy levels. The wavelength of the photon
can be calculated from its energy by using the equation

1 2 1 2
2398 . 1
E E
h
E E
C

= [Equation 1]
where, = wavelength (m
c = velocity of light (2.998x10
8
ms
-1
)

E
4

E
3


E
2


E
1



E
0

E
n
e
r
g
y

Excited level





Ground level
4
h = Planks constant (4.135x10
-15
eV HZ
-1
)
E2-E1 = Energy level between states (eV)
There are three types of energy transition as describe in figure 2. The first transition occurs
when a photon light, with the wavelength given by equation 1, strikes an atom which has an
electron in energy level E
1
. The photon is absorbed and the electron is left in the energy level
E
2
. This phenomenon is called induced absorption.












Figure 2: Electron energy level transition processes


The second transition process occurs when an atom, which has an electron in energy level E
2
,
emits a photon with the wavelength given by equation 1. The electron is left in the energy level
E
1
. This phenomena is called spontaneous emission. The light emitted in one atom within a
material has no phase relationship to the light emitted by any other atom (i.e. light is emitted in all
directions). Random transitions of this type produce the incoherent light characteristic of most
light sources.

The third process occurs when a photon with the wavelength given by equation 1 interacts with
an atom which has an electron in the energy level E
2
. The atom is stimulated to emit a second
photon with the same wavelength, the same phase, and traveling in the same direction as the
incident photon, leaving the electron in the energy level E
1
. This phenomena is called
stimulated emission.
5

The constructive interference of many photons travelling in the same direction with a common
phase and the common wavelength produce a powerful, coherent beam commonly associated
with a laser.

Resonator
In order to produce useful laser beam, a laser oscillator must be form which has the ability not
only to amplify light but also to feedback light. A laser oscillator generally consists of two
confronting mirrors with the space between mirrors occupied by light amplifying material. The
structure, called a Febry-Perot resonator, is obtained in a semiconductor laser by cleaving the
ends of the semiconductor crystal to form two parallel reflective crystal surfaces as shown in
figure 3.

















Figure 3: Febry-Perot resonator

When the semiconductor material forming the resonators brought to a state of population
inversion, light produced by spontaneous emission is amplified and repeatedly reflected by the
front and rear reflective facets. Light emitted to any directions not parallel to the optical axis of
the resonator will pass through the sides of the resonator (figure 4a).
6

The component of the spontaneously emitted light which travels parallel to the optical axis, will
be repeatedly reflected by the mirror facets (figure 4b). As the light travel through the
semiconductor material, it is amplified by the stimulated emission (figure 4c,d).







4a spontaneous emission 4b stimulated emission






4c amplification by optical feedback 4d beam partially transmitted through the reflective
facets.






4e laser oscillation

Figure 4: Laser oscillation processes


As the light travel through the semiconductor material, it is amplified by stimulated emission.
Laser oscillation begins when the amount of amplified light becomes equal to the total amount
lost, through the mirror facets and through absorption by the semiconductor material (figure 4e).



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. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .
Semiconductor
material
. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . Mirror facet
7
TYPES OF LASER

The details of a selection of the most important lasing materials and corresponding types of laser
is given in table 2 below. The list of potential applications is far from complete.

Wavelength Power Operating mode Applications
Semiconductor diode lasers
Single diodes Infrared to visible 1 mW - 100 mW Continuous and
pulsed modes
Optoelectronics
Diode laser bars Infrared to visible up to 100 W Continuous and
pulsed modes
Pumping light source for
solid state lasers
Solid state lasers
Nd:YAG laser 1.06 m 1 W - 3 kW Continuous and
pulsed modes
Materials processing,
measurementation, medicine
Rubin-Laser
(Ruby Laser)
red Several MW Pulsed mode Measurementation, pulse
holography
Gas lasers
CO
2
-Laser 10.6 m 1 W 40 kW
(100 MW in
pulsed mode)
Continuous and
pulsed modes
Materials processing, medicine,
isotope separation
Excimer laser 193 nm, 248 nm,
308 nm
(and others)
1 kW - 100 MW Gepulster Betrieb,
Pulslnge 10 ns -
100 ns
Micro-machining, laser chemistry,
medicine
HeNe laser 632.8 nm (most
prominent)
1 mW - 1 W Kontinuierlicher
Betrieb
Measurementation, holography
Argon ion laser 515 458 nm
(several)
1 mW - 150 W Continuous and
pulsed modes
Printing technology, pumping laser
for dye laser stimulation, medicine
Liquid Laser
Dye laser Continuous
between infrared
and ultraviolet
(different dyes)
1 mw - 1 W Continuous and
pulsed modes
Measurementation, spectroscopy,
medicine
Special Lasers
X-Ray Laser
FEL - Free Electron Laser

Table 2: Type of laser
8
Common Types of Laser

From various types of laser, there are several lasers that are commonly used in daily life such as
diode lasers, dye lasers, ruby lasers, x-ray lasers and free electron lasers.

It would be too extensive to explain all the types of lasers therefore two types of lasers will be
concentrated on in this section.

Dye Laser
A Liquid Lasers.
A dye laser can be considered as a special device to convert electromagnetic radiation
from one wavelength, to another wavelength which can be tuned.
The output of a dye laser is always a coherent radiation tuneable over a specific
spectrum region, determined by the Dye material.
Brief history: Peter P. Sorokin and J. R. Lankard first demonstrated Dye Laser in 1965
at IBM laboratories in the US. They discovered the dye laser action during a
fluorescence research of organic dye molecules, which were excited by Ruby laser. In
1967 scientists discovered the possibility to tune the emitted wavelength, using a grating
at the end of the optical cavity.

Ruby Laser
A Solid State Lasers (Insulator).
Emit radiation in the red range of the visible spectrum.
Optically pumped.
The radiation is emitted as pulses.
A three level laser.
Brief History: Ruby laser was the first man made laser, which was build by Theodore
Maiman in 1960.
9
APPLICATION OF LASER

The Audio Compact Disc (CD)
Sampling process
A normal analogue signal may consist of a voltage, which varies with time corresponding to the
variation of the amplitude of a sound wave with time as shown in figure 5. Using digital and
laser technology, the noise caused by the variations had been immediately digitised (i.e. the
analogue waveform is sampled at certain time intervals). By this meant, the voltage level at each
sampling points is expressed in digital code, as a series of pulses.
















Figure 5: Digital encoding of an analogue signal

Time
A
n
a
l
o
g
u
e

a
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e

Amplitude 2
0 1 1 0 1 0
Amplitude 6
6
2
Time
Resulting digital
pulse stream
Digital coding of
amplitude
Analogue signal
10
In Compact Disc , the pulse sequence has to be stored on a medium which can be read at any
time so that the reproduction of sound can be chosen at any time. The medium should allow
large number of bits (pulses) to be stored in a small space (i.e. it must be compact).

Design requirement of the optical system
i. The spot of light must contain as much optical power as possible to provide a
good and strong reading signal.
ii. The spot must be as small as possible so that it can read small pits. The smaller
is each pit, the greater the amount of information can be stored on the disc.
iii. The usage of semiconductor laser for its compactness, ruggedness and low
operating voltage.

Compact Disc reading processes
Referring to figure 6, it is clear that the lens material will exhibit optical dispersion (i.e. its
refractive index will vary with wavelength. Hence, the focal length will vary with the wavelength.
For a well-defined spot we thus require a small wavelength spread. The laser provides this.

Secondly, the lens aperture will cause diffraction to occur, which will again limit the spot size.
The best way to see this is to reverse the direction of the light rays and to consider the spot to
be diffracting towards the lens.







Figure 6: optical system for disc reader
D1

D2

D3

D4
Laser diode
disc
Semitransparent
mirror
Photo-detector
array
11
In figure 7(i), if the spot falls on the polished land the light will be well reflected back, via the
collimating lens system, to the detector lens system and the photodetector. The detection is
arranged so that the misalignment of the spot focussing arrangement will generate an error signal
which set back to the stepper motors. These then correct the misalignment.








(i) (ii)
Figure 7: Pit and land reflection

In figure 7(ii), if the spot falls into a pit, it is necessary to ensure that as little light as possible is
reflected back, so as to make it as easy as possible to distinguish between a 0 and 1.

Hence the pit-land (0-1) information on the disc now appears as an optical pulse stream at the
photodetector which duly converts the optical stream into a stream of electric current pulses.
These, via resistors, are converted into voltage pulses which are digitally processed, and then
converted back into an analogue signal via a digital-to-analogue converter (DAC). They are
then amplified before passing to a loudspeaker for conversion into sound waves. These sound
waves are now a very accurate, noise-free reproduction of the original sound.
pits
lands
12
Laser Engraving

Laser engraving/cutting & marking is a viable, versatile technology that is being integrated into
many shops to provide more services for customers, improve productivity, diversify capabilities
and increase overall profits. If you are deciding whether laser technology is right for your
business, consider the following information.

A laser is merely a tool. Unlike other tools, this tool is a beam of light generated and focused in
a manner that vaporizes material when focused onto a small area. It is similar to the process of
using a magnifying glass in the sun to start a fire. Lasers used for laser engraving are generally
small in wattage, are fully enclosed and are designed and built with ease-of-operation and safety
in mind.

There are certain advantages to using a laser over other conventional tools. One is that the laser
produces its engraved mark with a non-contact method. Therefore the wear and tear associated
with conventional tooling is not present. This also reduces potential product damage and
deformation.

The mark is permanent, concise and clean. Lasers also can engrave faster than many
conventional methods, although sometimes one must experiment to find the most efficient
settings.

Lasers also have the advantage of engraving onto materials that are unengraveable by other
methods. This includes wood and other materials. In addition, the same machine that can
engrave also can be used to cut through thin materials.


13
DDC3 Laser Coder

Building on Dominos proven laser technology, the new DDC3 digital laser coder takes laser
marking to new levels of reliability and versatility. It features state-of-the-art electronics, new
software, high-resolution print option and exclusive Rainbow laser tubes, which combine to
deliver unrivalled performance. The result is a complete solution for your unique coding needs.

Dominos exclusive sealed CO
2
laser tubes are manufactured in-house and proven on the
worlds production lines. Completely redesigned electronics and power supply technology are
incorporated for cooler operation and ultimate system reliability. The rugged IP56 & NEMA 4
rated system has no moving parts and is designed for even the most challenging working
environments.

The new, exclusive High Resolution print option is the latest addition to the range of benefits of
our field-proven DDC3 laser coder. Unlike any laser coders in the market, it creates attractive,
letter-quality codes at the speeds demanded at most production lines. Whether its onto PET,
cartons, paper, glass or flow wrap materials, the code is distinctively consistent in quality.
14
SCIENTISTS WORDS ON LASER

... when the first lasers were operated, I and other scientists close to the research were
surprised at how easy it turned out to be. We had assumed that, since lasers had never
been made, it must be very difficult. But once you knew how, it was not at all difficult.
Mostly what had been lacking were ideas and concepts.
- Arthur L Schawlow, 1981 Nobel Prize for Laser Spectroscopy (Bertolotti, 1983)

'One important object of this original spectroscopic investigation of the light of the stars
and other celestial bodies, namely to discover whether the same chemical elements as
those of our earth are present throughout the universe, was most satisfactorily settled in
the affirmative; a common chemistry, it was shown, exists throughout the universe.'
- Sir William Huggins

'Basic research is like shooting an arrow into the air and, where it lands, painting a
target.'
- Homer Adkins, Nature, 312, 212.

X-rays. Their moral is this - that a right way of looking at things will see through almost
anything.
- quote by Samuel Butler 1835-1902 in Notebooks, vol V

As a rule people are afraid of truth. Each truth we discover in nature or social life
destroys the crutches on which we use to lean.
- Ernst Toller in Saturday Review of Literature, May 20, 1944.

15
REFERENCES

1. Alan Rogers, Essential of Optoelectronics - with application, 1997, Chapman & Hall,
1st. Edition.
2. John Wilson and John Hawkes, Optoelectronics - an introduction, 1998, Prentice Hall,
3rd. Edition.
3. Oxford Reference - A concise of dictionary of Physics, Oxford University Press, 1990.
4. Dictionary of Electronics, E.C. Young, Second edition, Penguin books.


Websites
i. http://home.achilles.net/~jtalbot/history/
ii. www.ilt. Fhg.de/eng/lasertypen.html