Part-II ♦LASER

Chapter II
LASER

TOPICS:
Introduction of laser

Properties of laser

Einstein’s AB coefficient

Interaction of radiation with matter

Component of laser

Type of laser

Three level laser system-Ruby laser

Four level laser system- He-Ne laser

Semiconductor laser

Application of laser

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Introduction:

LASER is the acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

Albert Einstein first explained the theory of stimulated emission in 1917, which became the
basis of Laser. He postulated that, when the population of atom in upper level and lower
levels among atomic systems, it is possible to realize amplified stimulated emission and the
stimulated emission has the same frequency and phase as the incident radiation

Despite the pioneering work of Townes and Prokhorov it was left to Theodore Maiman in
1960 to invent the first Laser using ruby as a lasing medium that was stimulated using high
energy flashes of intense light.

The development of Lasers has been a turning point in the history of science and
engineering. It has produced a completely new type of systems with potentials for
applications in a wide variety of fields. During sixties, lot of work had been carried out on
the basic development of almost all the major lasers including high power gas dynamic and
chemical lasers. Almost all the practical applications of these lasers in defense as well as in
industry were also identified during this period. The motivation of using the high power
lasers in strategic scenario was a great driving force for the rapid development of these high
power lasers. In early seventies, megawatt class carbon dioxide gas dynamic laser was
successfully developed and tested against typical military targets. The development of
chemical lasers, free electron and X-ray lasers took slightly longer time because of
involvement of multidisciplinary approach.

Interaction of radiation with matter

As we all know that atoms and molecules can exist only in certain energy states. The state of
lowest energy is called the ground stats. All other states have more energy than the ground
state and are called excited states. Each excited state, of which there are many, has a fixed
amount of energy over and above that of the ground state. Under ordinary conditions, almost
all atoms and molecules are in their ground states. Three types of processes are possible for a
two-level atomic system.

Stimulated absorption:-

In the first, an incoming photon excites

the atomic system from a lower energy
state into a higher energy state. This is
called absorption or sometimes
stimulated absorption. It is called
stimulated absorptions because of the
fact that the atoms absorb the incident
energy at certain frequencies only.

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Stimulated absorption occurs when a photon strikes an atom with just exactly the proper
energy to induce an electronic transition between two energy states. In case a broadband
light is incident on a given two level atomic system, we can observe that the complete
spectrum is not absorbed but only certain discrete lines are absorbed depending on the
difference in their energy levels. This process reduces the lower level population and in the
process increases the upper level population.The absorption depends on the population
difference between N1 and N2 and the refractive index of the medium.

Spontaneous emission:-

In the second process once the atom or

molecule has been come in to its excited
state, after absorbing a certain amount of
frequency. There is a probability that it
will emit radiation again and return to a
lower energy state. This lower energy
state may be either the ground state or
still one of the excited states but having
lower energy level. In the process, a photon is emitted. In this emission process, where the
atoms spontaneously goes to a lower energy state through the emission of a photon is called
spontaneous emission or fluorescence. This emission process is a random one and the
emitted light goes off in all directions, and the wave properties of the light are randomly out
of step with each other and thus are incoherent.

Stimulated emission:-

Excited atoms can loose their energy not

only by spontaneous emission, but also
by induced or stimulated emission and
therefore the emission output of the
system consists of spontaneous and
stimulated emissions. In that process a
photon is trigger to excited atom and
return to its ground state after emitting a
photon. The probability of stimulated emission is proportional to the intensity of the energy
density of external radiation and the induced emission has a firm phase relationship with it.
Since the spontaneous photons have no phase relations with each other, the output is
incoherent. But stimulated emission has the same phase, direction, spectral and polarization
properties as the stimulating field and both are indistinguishable in all aspects. Consequently,
the laser output is coherent. In fact it is this stimulated emission, under certain conditions as
explained in the earlier section that comes out of the laser device as laser.

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Einstein’s AB Coefficient:-

Albert Einstein wrote an important paper of in 1916. In this paper he relate rate of induced
(stimulated) radiation rate and spontaneous emission rate. Let us consider there is N1 number
of atoms present in the ground state E1 and N2 number of atoms are present in the excited
state E2 in thermal equilibrium.

When atoms of ground state interact with the radiation and get a new state in the excited
state E2. We have transition from E1 to E2 in which a photon with energy hυ is observed by
the atom. This transition is known stimulated absorption or induced absorption. The atoms in
excited state rest for 10-8 sec after this they again back to the ground state E1 by down
transition. The up transition rate proportional to the number of atoms present in the ground
state and energy of the radiation.

Now Rup= Bup N1 U(v)

Where U(v) is the energy density of radiation and Bup is the transition constant

Similarly the down transition from E2 to E1 is sum of two parts each part is proportional to
the number of atoms in the excited state. One part is denoted as Rspon it is spontaneous
transition and other one is Rindused which is stimulated transition.

Rspon = N2

Rinduced = Binduced N2 U(v)

Now total transition from E2 to E1 is define as

Rdown = Rinduced + Rspon

Rdown = Binduced N2 U(v) +Bspon N2

In the equilibrium condition

Rup = Rdown

Bup N1 U(v) = Binduced N2 U(v) +Bspon N2

Bup N1 U(v) - Binduced N2 U(v) = Bspon N2

U(v) (Bup N1 - Binduced N2) = Bspon N2

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N 2 Bspon
U (v ) =
Bup N1 − Binduced N 2
Bspon
U (v ) =
 B N1 − Binduced 
 up N2
 

Now according to Boltzmann distribution law no of atoms N1 and N2 in energy state E1 and
E2 in thermal equilibrium at temperature T ate given by
E1
−
KT
N 1 = N 0 exp and

E2
−
KT
N 2 = N 0 exp

Where N0 is the total number of atoms presents and K is the Boltzmann constant
E2
−
KT
N 2 N 0 exp
= E1
N1 −
N 0 exp KT
( E 2− E 1)
N2 −
KT
= exp
N1
hv
N2 −
= exp KT
N1
hv
N1
= exp KT
N2

Put the value of N1/N2 in U(v)

Bspon
U (v ) =
 hv

 Bup exp − Binduced 
KT
 
 

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Bspon
U (v ) =
 Bup hv

Binduced  exp − 1
KT

 Binduced 

Bspon 1
U (v ) =
Binduced  Bup hv

 exp KT
− 1 
B 
 induced 
Comparing the above relation with the plans radiation law

8πhv 3 1
U (v ) =
c 
3 hv

 exp − 1
KT
 
 

After comparing the above two equation we conclude that

Bup
=1
Binduced
Bspon
= v3
Binduced

Some results are given by Einstein

1. Probability of stimulated absorption is equal to the probability of stimulated

transition.
2. The ratio of the probability of spontaneous to stimulated light emission depends
directly on the frequency of emission or inversely to the wavelength.

Thus in the microwave region, stimulated emission is more probable than spontaneous,
hence the early production of the maser. In the optical region, spontaneous emission is more
likely than stimulated emission and this gets worse as we go into the UV and X-ray regions
of the spectrum.

Basic component of laser:-

Active laser medium or gain medium:

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Laser medium is the heart of the laser system and is responsible for producing gain and
subsequent generation of laser. It can be a crystal, solid, liquid, semiconductor or gas
medium and can be pumped to a higher energy state. The material should be of controlled
purity, size and shape and should have the suitable energy levels to support population
inversion. In other words, it must have a metastable state to support stimulated emission.

Excitation or pumping mechanism:

Absorption of the energy by the
atoms, electrons, ions or molecules
as the case may be, of the active
medium is a primary essential in the
generation of laser. In order to
excite these elements to higher
energy levels, an excitation or
pumping mechanism is necessary. It
is well known that under the
equilibrium state, as per Boltzman?s
conditions, higher energy levels are
much less populated than the lower energy levels. One of the requirements of laser action is
population inversion in the levels concerned. i.e. to have larger population in the upper levels
than in the lower ones. Otherwise absorption will dominate at the cost of stimulated
emission. There are various types of excitation or pumping mechanisms available, the most
commonly used ones are optical, electrical, thermal or chemical techniques, which depends
on the type of the laser gain medium employed. For example, Solid state lasers usually
employ optical pumping from high energy xenon flash lamps (e.g., ruby, Nd:YAG), Gas
lasers use an AC or DC electrical discharge through the gas medium or a chemical reaction.
The DC electrical discharge is most common for 'small' gas lasers (e.g., helium-neon, argon
ion, etc.). DC most often pumps semiconductor lasers current.

Optical resonator:

Optical resonator plays a very important role in the generation of the laser output, in
providing high directionality to the laser beam as well as producing gain in the active
medium to overcome the losses due to definite sizes of the mirrors, radiation losses inside the
active medium due to absorption and scattering etc.
In order to sustain laser action, one has to confine the laser medium and the pumping
mechanism in a special way that should promote stimulated emission rather than
spontaneous emission. In practice, photons need to be confined in the system to allow the
number of photons created by stimulated emission to exceed all other mechanisms. This is
achieved by bounding the laser medium between two mirrors as shown above. On one end of
the active medium is the high reflectance mirror (100% reflecting) or the rear mirror and on
the other end is the partially reflecting or transmissive mirror or the output coupler.

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The laser emanates from the output coupler, as it is partially transmissive. Stimulated
photons can bounce back and forward along the cavity, creating more stimulated emission as
they go. In the process, any photons which are either not of the correct frequency or do not
travel along the optical axis are lost.

How laser actions perform?

Interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter produces absorption and spontaneous

emission. Absorption and spontaneous emission are natural processes. For the generation of
laser, stimulated emission is essential. Stimulated emission has to be induced or stimulated
and is generated under special conditions. When the population inversion exists between
upper and lower levels among atomic systems, it is possible to realize amplified stimulated
emission and the stimulated emission has the same frequency and phase as the incident
radiation. Einstein combined Plank? law with Boltzmann?s statistics in formulating the
concept of stimulated emission. In electronic, atomic, molecular or ionic systems the upper
energy levels are less populated than the lower energy levels under equilibrium conditions.
Pumping mechanism excites say, atoms to a higher energy level by absorption. The atom
stays at the higher level for a certain duration and decays to the lower stable ground level
spontaneously, emitting a photon, with a wavelength decided by the difference between the
upper and the lower energy levels. This is referred to as natural or spontaneous emission and
the photon is called spontaneous photon. The spontaneous emission or fluorescence has no
preferred direction and the photons emitted have no phase relations with each other, thus
generating an incoherent light output. But it is not necessary that the atom is always de-
excited to ground state. It can go to an intermediate state, called metastable state with a
radiation less transition, where it stays for a much longer period than the upper level and
comes down to lower level or to the ground state. Since period of stay of atoms in the
metastable state is large, it is possible to have a much larger number of atoms in metastable
level in comparison to the lower level so that the population of metastable state and the lower
or ground state is reversed. i.e. there are more atoms in the upper metastable level than the
lower level. This condition is referred to as population inversion. Once this is achieved, laser
action is initiated in the following fashion. The atom in the metastable state comes down to
the ground state emitting a photon. This photon can stimulate an atom in the metastable state
to release its photon in phase with it. The photon thus released is called stimulated photon. It
moves in the same direction as the initiating photon, has the same wavelength and
polarization and is in phase with it, thus producing amplification. Since there are a large
number of initiating photons, it forms an initiating electromagnetic radiation field. An
avalanche of stimulated photons is generated, as the photons traveling along the length of the
active medium stimulates a number of excited atoms in the metastable state to release their
photons. This is referred to as the stimulated emission. These photons are fully reflected by
the rear reflector (100% reflective) and the number and consequently the intensity of
stimulated photons increases as they traverse through the active medium, thus increasing the
intensity of radiation field of stimulated emission. At the output coupler, a part of these
photons are reflected and the rest is transmitted as the laser output. This action is repeated

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and the reflected photons after striking the rear mirror, reach the output coupler in the return
path. The intensity of the laser output increases as the pumping continues. When the input
pumping energy reduces, the available initiating and subsequently the stimulated photons
decrease considerably and the gain of the system is not able to overcome the losses, thus
laser output ceases. Since the stimulation process was started by the initiating photons, the
emitted photons can combine coherently, as all of them are in phase with each other, unlike
in the case of spontaneous emission and coherent laser light is emitted. Though the laser
action will continue as long as the energy is given to the active medium, it may be stated that
pulsed laser is obtained if the population inversion is available in a transient fashion and
continuous wave (CW) laser is possible if the population inversion is maintained in a steady-
state basis. If the input energy is given by say a flash lamp, the output will be a pulsed output
and the laser is called a pulsed laser. If equilibrium can be achieved between the number of
photons emitted and the number of atoms in the metastable level by pumping with a
continuous arc lamp instead of a flash lamp, then it is possible to achieve a continuous laser
output, which is called continuous wave laser.

Ruby laser:-

The World's first solid-state laser, invented by Maiman in 1960, now has only a historical
importance. The laser host is Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) with triply ionized chromium (Cr3+)
as the active ion. This first material used was synthetic ruby. Ruby is crystalline alumina
(Al2O3) in which a small fraction of the Al3+ ions have been replaced by chromium ions,
Cr3+. It is the chromium ions that
give rise to the characteristic pink or
red color of ruby and it is in these
ions that a population. inversion is
set up in a ruby laser.

The two broad absorption regions

centered on 400 nm and 550 nm are
both used for optical pumping of the
ruby. Thus most of the useful pump
light for a ruby rod lies in the blue-green portion of the visible spectrum. In a ruby laser, a
rod of ruby is irradiated with the intense flash of light from xenon-filled flashtubes. Light in
the green and blue regions of the spectrum is absorbed by chromium ions, raising the energy
of electrons of the ions from the ground state level to the broad F bands of levels. Electrons
in the F bands rapidly undergo non-radiative transitions to the two metastable E levels. A
non-radiative transition does not result in the emission of light; the energy released in the
transition is dissipated as heat in the ruby crystal. The metastable levels are unusual in that
they have a relatively long lifetime of about 4 milliseconds (4 x 10-3 s), the major decay
process being a transition from the lower level to the ground state. This long lifetime allows
a high proportion µmore than a half) of the chromium ions to build up in the metastable
levels so that a population inversion is set up between these levels and the ground state level.

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This population inversion is the condition required for stimulated emission to overcome
absorption and so give rise to the amplification of light. In an assembly of chromium ions in
which a population inversion has been set up, some will decay spontaneously to the ground
state level emitting red light of wavelength 694.3 nm in the process. This light can then
interact with other chromium ions that are in the metastable levels causing them to emit light
of the same wavelength by stimulated emission. As each stimulating photon leads to the
emission of two photons, the intensity of the light emitted will build up quickly through this
cascading process.

The ruby aser is often referred to as an example of a three-level system. More than three
energy levels are actually involved but they can be put into three categories. These are; the
lower level form which pumping takes place, the F levels into which the chromium ions are
pumped, and the metastable levels from which stimulated emission occurs. It is a three level
laser and as such threshold for laser action is nearly 300 to 400 times when compared with
Nd:YAG laser (four level laser) of similar dimensions. Working of this laser has already
been discussed earlier. Some important properties of Ruby are listed below:

Other types of laser operate on a four level system and, in general, the mechanism of
amplification differs for different lasing materials. However, in all cases, it is necessary to
set up a population inversion so that stimulated emission occurs more often than absorption.

He- Ne laser:

Construction:

The Helium-Neon laser was the

first continuous laser. It was
invented by Javan et. al. in 1961.
A helium-neon laser, usually
called a He-Ne laser, is a type of
small gas laser. HeNe lasers have
many industrial and scientific
uses, and are often used in
laboratory demonstrations of optics. He-Ne laser is a four-level laser. Its usual operation
wavelength is 632.8 nm, in the red portion of the visible spectrum. It operates in Continuous
Working (CW) mode. The setup consists of a discharge tube of length 80 cm and tube

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diameter of 1.5cm. The gain medium of the laser, as suggested by its name, is a mixture of
helium and neon gases, in a 5:1 to 20:1 ratio, contained at low pressure (an average 50 Pa per
cm of cavity length) in a glass tube. The energy or pump source of the laser is provided by
an electrical discharge of around 1000V through an anode and cathode at each end of the
glass tube. A current of 5 to 100 mA is typical for CW operation. The optical cavity of the
laser typically consists of a plane, high-reflecting mirror at one end of the laser tube, and a
concave output coupler mirror of approximately 1% transmission at the other end. He-Ne
lasers are normally small, with cavity lengths of around 15 cm up to 0.5 m, and optical
output powers ranging from 1 mW to 100 mW.

Working Principle:-

A characteristic of helium is that its first states

to be excited, 2S1 and 2S0 are metastable, i.e.
optical transitions to the ground state 1S0 are
not allowed, because this would violate the
selection rules for optical transitions. As a
result of gas discharge, these states are
populated by electron collisions. A collision is
called an inelastic collision if one of the
colliding bodies transfers energy to the other so
that a transition from the previous energy state
to the next higher or lower takes place. Apart
from the electron collision of the second type
there is also the atomic collision of the second
type. In the latter, an excited helium atom
reaches the initial state because its energy has
been used in the excitation of a Ne atom.

Both these processes form the basis for the production of a population inversion in the Ne
system. A description of the rather complex He-Ne excitation process can be given in terms
of the following four steps.

1) When the power is switched on, an energetic electron collisionally excites a He atom
to the state labeled 2So and 2S1.The He atom in this excited state is often written
He*(2So), where the asterisk means that the He atom is in an excited state.
2) The excited He*(2So and 2S1) atom collides with an unexcited Ne atom and the atoms
exchange internal energy, with an unexcited He atom and excited Ne atom, written
Ne*(3S2), resulting. This energy exchange process occurs with high probability only
because of the accidental near equality of the two excitation energies of the two levels
in these atoms. Thus, the purpose of population inversion is fulfilled.
3) When the excited Ne atom passes from metastable state (3S) to lower level (2P), it
emits photon of wavelength 632 nm.

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4) Two other transition are also possible from (3S) to (3P) by emitting a wavelength 3.39
micron and one more transition from (2S) to (2P) by emitting a wavelength of 1.15
micron. Both of the laser are not in visible region.
5) This photon travels through the gas mixture parallel to the axis of tube, it is reflected
back and forth by the mirror ends until it stimulates an excited Ne atom and causes it
to emit a photon of 632nm with the stimulating photon.
6) The stimulated transition from (3S) level to (2S) level is laser transition.
7) This process is continued and when a beam of coherent radiation becomes sufficiently
strong, a portion of it escape through partially silvered end.
8) The Ne atom passes to lower level 1S emitting spontaneous emission and finally the
Ne atom comes to ground state through collision with tube wall and undergoes
radiation less transition.

The Narrow red beam of He-Ne laser is used in supermarkets to read bar codes.

The He- Ne Laser is used in Holography in producing the 3D images of objects.

He-Ne lasers have many industrial and scientific uses, and are often used in laboratory
demonstrations of optics.

Semiconductor laser:-

Properties of a laser:-

Light from a laser differ from light from a conventional source in a number of ways.
The most remarkable features of laser beam are:

1. Directionality
2. Highly coherence
3. High intensity
4. Extraordinary monochrometicity

Directionality:

The conventional light source emit in all direction. Laser emit light in only one direction as
the photon travelling along the optical axis of the system are selected and amplified with the
optical resonator. Therefore laser light travel in a narrow beam.

Highly intensity:

The light emitted by a conventional light source in all direction. Intensity of light is define as
energy passing normally per unit area per second through a point normal to the direction of
flow. In case of laser its energy is concentrated in a small region and therefore its intensity is

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very high. So that one watt laser appears many thousand times more intense than a 100 W
bulb.

Monochrometicity:-

The light coming from a source has only one frequency of oscillation, the light is said to be
monochromatic ad the source is called monochromatic source of light. But in practice it is
not possible to produce light with only one frequency. Light coming out from a source
consist of a band of frequency .closely spaced around a central frequency. This band of
frequency of frequency is called band width or line width. The light from a conventional
light source has large line width of the order of 1010 Hz or more. On the other hand the light
from the laser light has the line width of the order of 100 Hz. So the light coming out from
the laser is monochromatic.

High degree of coherence:-

The laser beam is coherent, with the wave of all exactly in phase with one another. The term
coherence basically refers to the degree of correlation between the phase at different point in
a beam light. It can be classified in to two category:

a)Temporal coherence b) Special coherence

Application of laser:-

Due to various characteristics of laser beam, the laser have application in the in the branch of
science. Following are the important use of laser

1. Due to narrow band width, laser are used of laser

2. Due to narrow band width, laser is used in micro wave communication.
3. The laser beam has become a way of communication between earth and moon or other
satellites because of narrow angular spared. Distance between earth and moon can be
measured by the laser.
4. Laser has wide industrial application i.e. cutting of material, drilling a very fine hole,
surface roughness, welding etc.
5. Laser may serve as a war weapon in military.
6. As chemical application laser are used to initiate or sustain a chemical reaction.
7. High power laser can be use for nuclear fusion reaction.
8. Laser can be very useful in biological science in the treatment of censor, glaucoma,
gynecological problems etc.

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