Introduction to the Helium Neon Laser

prepared by-mehul pal(ec 10 26)

Introduction
In this experiment, you will investigate some of the properties of laser radiation. You will also be introduced to the internal working components of a typical gas laser. These components are similar in all gas lasers, and with the exception of the gas tube, are also similar to the components of solid-state lasers. Please take due care in making your measurements and be sure to record everything in a notebook. SAFETY WARNING: The output of a laser is very intense! Never look into a laser beam; instead, use a white card to detect the output. Block all stray reflections.

Internal Workings of a Helium - Neon Laser

The helium-neon laser consists of three main components: A discharge tube containing the helium-neon laser medium, A high voltage power supply that excites the gases in the discharge tube, An optical cavity consisting of two highly reflective mirrors surrounding the laser medium. These components are mounted on an optical breadboard and are visible to the user.

One mirror of the optical cavity is sealed directly onto the back of the discharge tube. This concave mirror has a 60 cm radius of curvature and is called a high reflector because its reflectivity at the lasing wavelength of 632.8 nm is essentially 100%. The other end of the discharge tube is sealed by a transparent flat window oriented at 56o. At this special angle, known as the Brewster angle, this window transmits virtually all light polarized parallel to the plane of incidence. Light that is polarized perpendicular to the plane of incidence is partially reflected by the Brewster window; therefore, this light escapes from the cavity. If this window were not oriented at the Brewster angle (or not properly coated), its reflectivity would introduce a loss in the cavity, which would prevent laser operation. The other laser mirror, called the output coupler, is a flat mirror held in a gimbal mount on a sliding track so that its orientation and the optical cavity length can be adjusted. The output coupler reflects roughly 99% of the stimulated emission from the laser medium back into the optical cavity and transmits 1% of the stimulated

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emission as the laser's output beam.

Part A. Laser Alignment

Sketch the laser apparatus in your lab notebook, and identify the name and purpose of each component. To support laser action, the optical cavity must be aligned so that the light beam inside the optical cavity does not "walk off" the end mirrors after repeated reflections. A systematic search procedure is used to align the output coupler parallel to the high reflector. During this and subsequent procedures, be careful not to touch the Brewster window or output coupler. CAUTION: The emitted laser beam is very intense. Never look directly into a laser beam or into any reflections of a laser beam. Remove watch and jewelry from wrist and fingers to prevent stray reflections. Turn on the power supply and wait 5 seconds for the discharge. If the laser has been left in an unaligned configuration, it should not be lasing; however, the discharge tube should glow. Slide the output coupler mount to about 4 cm from the Brewster window and lock down the carrier onto the sliderail. Adjust the vertical knob so that the output coupler points slightly downward. This setting is easily verified by observing that the vertical post extending upward from the mirror mount slants a few degrees toward the discharge tube. With a delicate touch, grasp the vertical post and rock it back and forth a few degrees. Rocking the output coupler about a horizontal axis sweeps the mirror through a range of angles that includes the correct vertical orientation required for lasing. The horizontal adjustment knob rotates the output coupler about a vertical axis and allows for the correct left-to-right mirror orientation required for lasing. Position this knob so that the output coupler points slightly to the left or right of the discharge tube. This position may be verified by viewing the output coupler holder from above the apparatus. The search procedure calls for a systematic two-dimensional search over all vertical and horizontal mirror positions to locate the lasing position of the output coupler. Make a very small adjustment (1/32 of a full turn) of the horizontal knob to move the output coupler toward the correct horizontal position. Then gently rock the vertical post to pass through the full range of vertical orientations. These two different motions must be performed independently, but in succession. As the mirror is rocked between small horizontal adjustments of the output coupler, watch for a flash of red laser light on the output coupler. If none appears, advance the horizontal knob in the same direction and then rock the post again. Continue this procedure. A smooth systematic search eventually produces a flash of red laser light. Once the flash has occurred, stop adjusting the horizontal knob and allow the

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vertical post to return to its resting position. Then, advance the vertical knob until lasing is continuous. At this point, "tweak" both knobs for maximum laser brightness. CAUTION: The laser beam cannot hurt one's fingers, but be careful not to look directly into the beam. Verify that the beam and any stray reflections are blocked. Intentionally misalign the laser by randomly twisting both knobs slightly and repeat the alignment procedure until it is performed confidently and easily. Each student should align the laser.

Part B. Laser Cavity Stability

Laser activity is sustained only when amplification exceeds the loss of laser light from the optical cavity. If an optical cavity is constructed with small or flat mirrors, diffraction causes some of the laser light to spill out around the edges of the mirrors. Such radiation losses must be minimized for efficient laser activity. The problem of diffraction loss can be minimized by using at least one slightly concave mirror so that light is redirected back toward the optical axis upon each reflection. One can show that a cavity is stable, i.e. can support lasing, when 0 < g1g2 < 1 (1)

Where gi = 1 (L/ri), where L is the separation between the two mirrors, and ri is a spherical mirror's radius of curvature. Evaluate the laser stability condition, Equation (1), for the laser. The high reflector mirror has a radius of curvature, r1 = 60 cm, and the output coupler is flat, i.e., r2 = . Evaluate g2. Substitute the value of g2 into Equation (1) so that the only remaining variable is g1. Replace g1 with its definition containing the current value of r1, and rearrange the inequality to find the maximum and minimum lengths L for this laser. Can both limits be tested with the present apparatus? Use the meter stick to measure the distance. Make your measurements from the back mirror of the laser (the one inside the laser housing). Unlock the sliding carrier for the output coupler and increase the cavity length. Relock the carrier and reestablish lasing if necessary. Note that lasing is more difficult with increased cavity length. Increase L until the cavity no longer sustains laser activity. At this point, the laser cavity has become unstable. How does the final, limiting value of L agree with the theoretical prediction?

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Part C. Laser Light Polarization

While some helium-neon lasers emit randomly polarized light, the discharge tube in the present apparatus (sealed at one end by a flat window oriented at the Brewster angle) produces a polarized light beam. The reason, as mentioned above, is that at the Brewster angle, the window transmits virtually all light polarized parallel to the plane of incidence. Light polarized perpendicular to the plane of incidence is partially reflected out of the cavity. The plane of incidence is the plane containing both the incident and reflected beams. Discrimination against perpendicularly polarized light during the 200 or so passes that a light wave makes through the Brewster window results in a polarized output beam. The theoretical expression for transmission of polarized light through a polarization analyzer is known as Malus Law: P( ) = Pocos2( ) (2)

In this expression, P( is the transmitted power at angle and Po is the ) , power at = 0. With the polarizing filter, investigate the polarization of the laser beam emitted by the present laser. Rotate the filter in a plane normal to the laser beam and observe the variation in intensity of the light transmitted through the film. In which plane is the laser light polarized, vertical or horizontal? Does this polarization correspond to light polarized parallel or perpendicular to the plane of incidence of the laser's Brewster angle? Explain by sketching the Brewster window and indicating the polarizations of the transmitted and reflected beams. Quantitatively measure the degree of polarization of the laser light as follows. Set the laser power meter to 3 mW full scale, and place the detector head in the laser beam. CAUTION: Insure that the reflection from the detector head is safely blocked. Tweak the output mirror to maximize the laser power; you will need more than 1 mW. Place the polarization analyzer in the laser beam between the output coupler and the detector head of the power meter. Check that the polarization analyzer is mounted such that the maximum transmitted power occurs at angle 0o and the minimum occurs at 90o. = = Acquire experimental data for the transmitted power, P( as a function of ), analyzer angle, Take a reading every 20 from -90 to 90. Plot P( on the . ) y-axis vs. on the x-axis. On the same figure, plot Malus law, Equation (2). Is there sufficient agreement between the data and Malus's Law to suggest that the laser beam is polarized?

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Part D. Laser Transverse Modes

Most helium-neon lasers are designed to emit a laser beam that produces a single spot on a screen. Detailed examination of the cross-sectional intensity profile of such a beam reveals it to have a Gaussian profile, with maximum intensity in the center that smoothly drops off with increasing radius. Lasers can operate in transverse modes, in which the radiation field within the optical cavity contains both maxima and minima in the cross-sectional plane perpendicular to the optical axis. Transverse modes are characterized by two integers, m and n, representing the number of vertical and horizontal nodes in the radiation filed. The TEM00 mode, which has no nodes, is the narrowest transverse mode; it has the minimum diffraction loss, has the minimum divergence, and can be focused to the smallest possible spot size. For these reasons, it is often the most desirable mode for commercial applications. Higher order modes are larger in diameter and therefore suffer higher diffraction losses. To observe the TEM modes, you need to magnify the laser beam and project it onto a screen. Slide the output coupler close to the discharge tube and establish laser action Maximize the power output Insert a - 1" focal length diverging lens in the output beam of the laser Display the resulting divergent beam on a white sheet of paper placed behind the lens. The laser may be operating on multiple transverse modes, thereby obscuring distinctive nodal patterns. Slightly adjust the output coupler alignment and/or cavity length to select a single TEMmn, mode while suppressing the others. Sketch this mode in your lab notebook and label it with the appropriate integers, e.g., TEM12 for one vertical node and two horizontal nodes. Locate and sketch at least three different transverse modes. The laser can be forced to operate in TEM00 by introducing an aperture of the proper size to discriminate against higher order modes. The easiest way of doing this is to increase the cavity length to L > 50 cm. At this length, the bore of the discharge tube acts as the limiting aperture. At shorter cavity lengths, a pinhole of roughly 1 mm diameter inserted on the optical axis near the Brewster window suppresses higher order transverse modes. This pinhole is held in an xy-translation mount so that it can be precisely positioned on the optical axis of the laser. Obtain TEM00 operation by one or both of these methods.

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Part E. Laser Longitudinal Modes

The high reflectivity of the end mirrors in a laser optical cavity causes the light to make many round trips before it escapes though the output coupler. Constructive interference of the light inside the cavity results when the maxima of the waves and their subsequent reflections overlap in space. The electric field oscillations of these light waves then add in phase, and the resulting light intensity increases and induces stimulated emission at that wavelength more efficiently. If the laser mirrors are nearly flat, such constructive interference occurs when an integral number of wavelengths are contained in the roundtrip distance of the cavity, i.e., when q
q

= 2L

(3)

Where q is an integer, q is the wavelength, and L is the cavity length. If the wavelength does not satisfy Equation (3), then destructive interference occurs among successive reflections of the light in the cavity, thereby suppressing stimulated emission at these wavelengths. Thus, a laser cavity only supports laser activity at distinct wavelengths, q. Each constructively interfering, oscillating electromagnetic field configuration is referred to as a longitudinal mode and is characterized by a unique integer index q. It is often more convenient to express the laser cavity boundary condition of Equation (3) in terms of frequency, q. We do not measure longitudinal modes in this experiment.

Lab Report:
Be certain to include a detailed drawing of the laser apparatus. Show all calculations. For the plot of Malus law, use a line for theoretical values, and points for the experimental values. Using the maximum power you generated, calculate the intensity of this laser if the laser spot is 1.0 mm2. Calculate the laser energy in joules/photon, kJ/mol, and cm1. Calculate the number of photons emitted from this laser in 5 minutes. Go to the LaSalle Laser Web, And provide a brief (one paragraph each) summary on the properties of three different lasers.

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