L A S E R: Ight Mplification by Timulated Mission of Adiation
L A S E R: Ight Mplification by Timulated Mission of Adiation
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity,
and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
LASER
Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation
Dr. Prabal Pratap Singh Bhadauria
School of Physics and Material Science
TIET, Dera Bussi Campus, Punjab
• Introduction
– Properties of LASER
• Coherence
Overview – Temporal
– Spatial
• Interaction of radiation and matter
– Absorption of photon
– Emission of photon
• Spontaneous
• Stimulated
– Einstein’s coefficients
• LASER working principle
– Population inversion
– Metastable states
• Examples
– Ruby laser
– He-Ne laser
1
07‐01‐2021
The theoretical basis for the development of laser was
provided by Albert Einstein in 1917.
Coherent
Divergent
Monochromatic
LASER
High Directionality
High Intensity
2
07‐01‐2021
Divergence less
Directionality
The divergence of the laser beam is usually
limited by diffraction.
3
07‐01‐2021
Monochromacity
Coherence of light
• An ordinary light wave is the bundle of many sinusoidal waves. Each
sinusoidal wave has a phase relationship up to a short period in space and
time. The ordinary light has no phase relationship, i.e., individual photons
comprising the light are incoherent.
• The distance and time up to which a given light wave has a phase relationship
is called coherence length (Lφ) and coherence time (τφ) respectively.
Lφ = c.τφ
4
07‐01‐2021
𝜆
𝐿φ
Δ𝜆
Source τφ Lφ = c.τφ
5
07‐01‐2021
Absorption
Basic Spontaneous Emission
concepts
for a laser Stimulated Emission
Population inversion
6
07‐01‐2021
7
07‐01‐2021
Einstein’s coefficients
Einstein’s coefficients
The probabilities of absorption and emission of electromagnetic
radiation (photon) are given by
P12 = B12.u(ν)
(P21)spontaneous = A21 B12, B21 and A21 are called Einstein’s
coefficient of stimulated absorption,
(P21)stimulated = B21.u(ν) stimulated emission and spontaneous
emission respectively
8
07‐01‐2021
Einstein’s coefficients
Einstein’s coefficient of ….
Stimulated absorption: B12
Spontaneous emission: A21
Stimulated emission: B21 Higher the frequencies, smaller
is the value of B21.
𝐵
1
𝐵 It is comparatively difficult to obtain
the stimulated emission of higher
frequencies.
𝐴 8𝜋ℎ𝜈
𝐵 𝑐
The population of high energy state is less then that of low energy state.
9
07‐01‐2021
Population inversion
• According to Boltzmann equation if N1 and N2 are the number of atoms in ground
state and excited state respectively then:
𝑁
/
• If somehow, we can make N2 > N1, the process of stimulated emission dominates,
and laser action can be achieved.
10
07‐01‐2021
11
07‐01‐2021
The pumping schemes which are most used are
Three level pumping scheme and
Four level pumping scheme
In these schemes one or two metastable states
are involved. Metastable states are the states
which have longer life times (~10‐3 s) in
comparison to an excited state.
12
07‐01‐2021
Three level
pumping
Four level
pumping
13
07‐01‐2021
LASER principle
• There are few conditions for stimulated emission to dominate the other
two processes:
– Ratio B21/A21 must be high. It can be achieved by presence of metastable
states.
– u(ν) must be high. It can be achieved by optical resonator.
– Ratio N2/N1 must be high. This is the condition of population inversion
achieved by pumping.
– Step1- Pumping
– Step2- Population inversion
– Step3- Stimulated emission
Optical resonator
– The optical resonator consists of two
mirrors facing each other. The active
medium is enclosed by this cavity.
– Out of the two mirrors, one is fully
reflective while the other is partially
transparent.
– The function of the optical resonator
is to increase the intensity of laser
beam.
14
07‐01‐2021
Suitable pumping
LASER Processes The initial stage
Spontaneous photons
The optical resonator
Suitable pumping
LASER Processes The initial stage
Spontaneous photons
The optical resonator
Strength gain
15
07‐01‐2021
LASER procedure
Using suitable pumping process, the material in non-excited state is taken into
population inversion state. For this purpose, energy source is used.
At the initial stage, spontaneous photons are emitted in all directions.
The mirrors constituting the resonator cause the directional selectivity. The
photons travelling in random directions are lost. The stimulated photons are to
be made to pass through the medium a number of times. On reaching the
partially reflective mirror, some photons are transmitted out while the
remaining are reflected back.
The reflected photons de-excite more and more atoms. The beam is now
amplified.
The amplified beam undergo multiple reflections at the mirrors and gains in
Strength.
When the oscillations build up to enough intensity then they emerge through
front mirror as a highly collimated intense beam, i.e., laser light.
Topics covered so far
• Laser properties Coherence length (Lφ)
Coherence time (τφ)
– Divergence
Lφ = c.τφ
– Monochromaticity Bandwidth 𝜆
𝐿φ
– Coherence τφ.∆ν = 1 Δ𝜆
• (Stimulated) absorption
• Spontaneous emission 𝐵 ,𝐴 ,𝐵
𝐴 8𝜋ℎ𝜈
• Stimulated emission 𝐵 𝑐
• Maxwell Boltzmann distribution law
𝑁 𝑁 𝑒𝑥𝑝 ∆𝐸/𝑘𝑇
• Population inversion
• Metastable state 𝑁 𝑁
• Laser process
• Main components of Laser
16
07‐01‐2021
17
07‐01‐2021
The energy levels of the chromium ion
Spiking in
ruby
LASER Pulse operation: Pulses of light 10 – 20 ns
18
07‐01‐2021
A Gas LASER
It is an example of gas-LASER which utilizes four
level pumping scheme and first built successfully by
Javan, Bennett and Herriott in 1961.
He-Ne Mixture of He and Ne in ratio 10:1.
19
07‐01‐2021
• There are two metastable excited states in He. He atoms may return to their
ground states by transferring the energy to Ne atoms and by doing so, they
bring Ne atoms to (one of two) metastable state.
• Now when the Ne atoms jump from one metastable state to another, they
emit the stimulated emission of 3.391 μm, 1.150 μm and 6328 Angstrom.
• The Ne atoms
finally return to
ground state by
collision with
walls of tube.
Gas lasers are, in general, found to emit light, which is more directional and
more monochromatic. This is so because of the absence of crystalline
imperfection, thermal distortion and scattering which are present in solid-state
lasers.
Gas lasers are capable of operating continuously without need for cooling.
Ruby laser is a pulsed laser while gas laser, like He-Ne laser is a continuous
laser.
In Ruby lasers, the pumping is usually done using a flashlamp. Such a technique
is efficient if the lasing system has broad absorption bands. In He-Ne lasers since
the atoms are characterized by sharp energy levels as compared to those in Ruby,
electrical discharge is used to pump the atoms.
20
07‐01‐2021
21
07‐01‐2021
22
07‐01‐2021
23