EP 309: Photonics

Chapter 14: Lasers

Dinesh Kabra, Physics - IITB
 Lasers
Theory of Laser Oscillation
Optical amplification and
feedback
Condition for laser oscillation
Characteristic of the laser
output
Power
Spectral distribution
Spatial distribution and
polarization In 1958 Schawlow, together with Charles Townes,
Mode selection showed how to extend the principle of maser to
Characteristic of common the optical region. He shared the 1981 Nobel prize
laser with Nicholaas Blombergen. Malman demonstrated
Pulsed lasers the first successful operation of the ruby laser in
Methods of pulsing lasers 1960.
Analysis of transient effects Nicholaas Blombergen :
Q-Switching laser spectroscopy four
Mode locking wave mixing
Lasers
Oscillation condition

1. There should be net gain in a

round trip.

2. Round trip phase should be

2n, n = 1,2,3.integer

Higher gain to saturation

and

steady-state-condition (gain = loss)

 Lasers

Laser an optical oscillator

Amplifier is pumped active medium
Gain saturation is a basic property of amplifier
Feedback is obtained by optical resonator
Frequency selection is achieved by resonant amplifier and
resonator
Outcoupling is achieved by using a partial transmission of one
of the mirror
 Theory of Laser Oscillation
Optical Amplification and Feedback:

Laser amplification
14.1-1
Narrowband coherent amplifier Small-signal gain
coefficient
Via stimulated emission (i.e, population inversion)

Bandwidth homoegenous/ inhomoegenous

Amplification process will deplete No to N

(for homogeneous broaden system), where

s = saturation time constant (s tsp (4- level scheme) and s 2tsp (3-level system)

Saturated gain
14.1-2
coefficient
 Theory of Laser Oscillation
Amplification process also introduces phase shift.

For Lorentzian linewidth, the amplifier phase shift

per unit length is

14.1-3
Phase shift coefficient

There will be an additional phase shift due to

medium in which amplifier is kept.

Feedback and loss: The optical resonator

Phase shift in simple Fabry-Perot etalon comprising two mirrors separated by distance d
and medium n, in which amplifier reside. This medium will introduce an additional phase
shift per unit length equal to wavenumber
14.1-4
Phase shift coefficient
Feedback and loss: The optical resonator
Losses:

Overall loss in one round trip due to absorption and scattering and mirror transmission

t = total effective distributed loss coefficient

14.1-5
Loss coefficient

t loss of energy (photons) per unit length hence tc represents the loss of photons per
second. Thus
14.1-6
Photon lifeitme
Feedback and loss: The optical resonator
The resonator sustains only frequencies that correspond to a round-trip phase shift of 2n.
Where n is an integer.
For a resonator the round trip phase shift is k*2d = 4d/c = q*2.

Modes frequencies :

F = c/2d is resonator mode spacing . FWHM (spectral width) of these modes is

F is finesse of resonator.
 Condition for laser Oscillation
Two conditions must be satisfied for laser to oscillate (lase)
1. Gain > 1 per round trip
2. Phase should 2n , n =1,2,per round trip (self-consistency condition)

Gain condition : Laser threshold

The initiation of laser oscillation requires that small signal gain coefficient be greater than
loss coefficient

where

Which can be further simplified in the form of

14.1-14
Threshold population
difference
 Condition for laser Oscillation
Expression suggest that Nt is function of frequency. The
threshold is lowest for frequency for which g() is highest,
i.e., at its central frequency 0.

For Lorentzian lineshape

Nt

Further if transition rate is limited by lifetime broadening with a decay time tsp:
1/2tsp, which further simplifies to

Lasing is difficult for higher frequency and shorter photon lifetime

Threshold of a ruby laser
 Phase Condition: Laser Frequencies
The 2nd condition of oscillation requires round trip phase shift should be:

If the contribution arising from active laser atoms is small then it can be considered as
simple case of resonator modes. However, if active laser atoms contributes, the solution
of above equation give rise to set of oscillation frequencies q that are slightly displaced
from cold resonator frequencies q. These new frequencies gets pulled towards central
frequency.

Frequency pulling:
k = 2/c ; F = c/2d
And Phase shift coefficient
for Lorentzian lineshape

gives:

14.1.18
Phase Condition: Laser Frequencies
 Phase Condition: Laser Frequencies
Approximate analytic solution of 14.1-18 can be
14.1-19
When = q q, the 2nd term is small in 14-1-19, hence replacing = q does not affect
accuracy. Thus

An explicit function of cold resonator frequency.

Under steady-state condition gain = loss, so that

Where is spectral width of resonator modes. This leads to

14.1-21
Laser frequencies
 Phase Condition: Laser Frequencies

Sharper the resonator modes (i.e., lesser ) less significant is pulling effect

Narrower the atomic resonance linewidth () more effective pulling

 Characteristic of Laser Output
Power:

Gain clamping The steady-state laser internal photon flux

density can be determined by equating
large-signal (saturated gain coefficient) to
loss coefficient.

Which provides:

Since 0() = N0() and r = Nt()

14.2-2
Steady-state laser
internal photon-flux
density
Power:

Output photon flux density

 Optimization of output photon-flux
density
Optimal transmittance to get maximum light output by limiting/controlling the resonator
losses.

Due to mirror

Total resonator loss

and

Gives
 Optimization of output photon-flux
density

= 0.5

Since

Optimal transmittance
Derivative of 0 w.r.t. Equal to zero.

Optimal Transmittance = 0.08

 Internal Photon-number Density
The steady state number of photons per unit volume inside the resonator n is related to
the steady-state internal by the simple relation:

Consider a cylinder of area A, length c and volume cA, whose axis lies parallel to axis of
resonator then n = /c

The photon number density corresponding to the steady-state internal photon-flux density
can be
14.2-11
Steady-state
photon number
density

Where ns = s()/c is the photon-number density saturation value.

Since, 14.2-12
Steady-state
Then equation 14.2-11 can be written as photon number
` density
Internal Photon-number Density

This suggest that

(N0 Nt) is population difference in excess of threshold.
(N0 Nt) / s is rate at which photons are generated
Under steady-state operation above rate is equal to n/ p, rate at which
photons are lost
Fraction p/ s is ratio of emitted to lost photon rates

Under ideal 4-level pumping conditions; s = tsp and N0 = Rtsp (R is pumping rate s-1cm-3)
then above expression can be written as:`

where Rt = Nt/tsp is pumping threshold rate.

It can be seen that under steady-state conditions the overall photon-density loss rate
n/p is precisely equal to the excess pumping rate.
 Output Photon flux and efficiency

If mirror transmission is only loss in resonator and V is volume of active medium, output
flux (photons per second) is

If there losses other than output coupler, the 0 can be written as

14.2-15; laser output photon flux

Where e is emission efficiency (ratio of loss arising from the extracted light to all of the
total losses r)

14.2-17
Since Emission efficiency

gives
Where we have defined 1/TF = c/2d, indicating that the emission efficiency can be
understood in terms of the ratio of the photon-lifetime to its round-trip travel time
mulitplied by mirror transmission.
 Spectral Distribution
Figure suggest that only finite
number of oscillation frequencies (1,
2, 3 m) are possible. The
number of possible laser oscillation
modes is therefore

14.2-18
No. of possible laser modes

We will see later how does these all

possible modes behave inside
resonator, which will depend upon
whether active system is
inhomogeneous or homogeneously
broaden.

The approximate linewidth of each laser mode is expected to be , but it turns out to
be smaller than this. It is limited by the so called Schalow-Townes linewidth, which
decreases inversely as the optical power.
Acoustic and thermal fluctuation of resonator mirrors
 Homogeneously Broadened
Medium

Above picture is valid as long as spatial hole burning is avoided.

In practice, homogeneously broadened laser do indeed oscillates on multiple modes

because the different modes occupy different spatial portion of the active medium.
When oscillation on 0 is established, the gain coefficient can still exceed the loss
coefficient at those locations where standing wave of 0 vanishes. This phenomenon is
called spatial hole burning.
It allows another modes whose standing wave peaks located near to null of central
frequency standing wave.
Inhomogeneously Broadened
Medium
Start with similar to homogenous broadened syste

Continue to grow independently due to non-spect

Spectral hole burning occurs

Many modes lase

Spectral hole-burning

A probe wave at frequency q saturates

those atomic populations with
velocities v = c(q/0 -1) on both sides
of central frequency, burning two holes
in gain profile.

If q = 0 then there will be single hole

in center of the profile.

Merger of two holes results in bell

shape gain profile with a central
depression, called Lamb dip.
Spectral hole-burning Lamb dip
in He:Ne laser