Laser Physics II

Lecture 1
By
Dr. Fatema H. Rajab
[email protected]
[email protected]
 Laser Oscillation:

Gain, Losses, Threshold, and

Power
 Gain: Loop Gain

• Light bouncing back and forth in the optical resonator undergoes

amplification as well as suffers various losses.
• For the proper build-up of oscillations, essential is that the
amplification between two consecutive reflections of light from
rear end mirror can balance losses.

• Gain (Loop Gain) is measured as a ratio between output radiation

intensity and input one after a round trip through the laser.
 Gain: Loop Gain
• Figure 1 show the round-trip path of the radiation through the laser
cavity. The path is divided to sections numbered by 1-5, while point 5 is
the same point as 1.

Figure 1: the round-trip path of the radiation through the

laser cavity.
 Gain: Loop Gain

By definition, Loop Gain is given by:

𝐼5
𝐺𝐿 =
𝐼1
Where 𝐺𝐿 is the Loop Gain, 𝐼1 is the intensity of radiation at the
beginning of the loop and 𝐼5 the intensity of the radiation at the
end of the loop.
 Gain: Loop Gain
Calculating the Loop Gain with Losses
(i) Consider the laser medium fills the space between the mirrors M1 & M2, of reflectivity
R1 & R2 respectively and mirrors separated by a distance L (Figure 1). Let I0 - the intensity
of the light beam at M1.
• Active medium Gain (𝑮𝑨 )for one pass in given by:
𝑮𝑨 = 𝒆(𝜸𝑳) where 𝛾 Gain coefficient.
• Active medium Gain (𝑮𝑨 ) in a round trip loop inside the cavity:
𝑮𝟐𝑨 = 𝒆(𝟐𝜸𝑳)
• Loos factor (M): All the losses in a round trip loop inside the cavity (always << 1) in a
round trip loop inside the cavity:
𝑴 = 𝒆(−𝟐𝜶𝑳) where 𝛼 is the Loss coefficient (absorption coefficient).
 Gain: Loop Gain
(ii) Traveling from mirror M2 to mirror M1 → beam intensity increases from I0 to I(L), which
is given by,
𝑰 𝑳 = 𝑰𝟎 𝒆 𝜸−𝜶 𝑳

(iii) After reflection at M1, the beam Intensity will be;

𝑹𝟏 𝑰𝟎 𝒆 𝜸−𝜶 𝑳

(iv) After a complete round trip (Reflection from M2), the final Intensity will be (Figure 1):
𝜸−𝜶 𝟐𝑳
𝑰 𝟐𝑳 = 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 𝑰𝟎 𝒆
(v) Amplification obtained during the round trip,

𝑰 𝟐𝑳 𝜸−𝜶 𝟐𝑳
𝑮𝑳 (𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒑 𝑮𝒂𝒊𝒏) = = 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 𝒆
𝑰𝟎
Product R1 R2 represents the losses at the mirrors.
 Gain: Loop Gain

❖ When G is greater is greater than 1 (𝑮𝑳 > 1), the beam intensity will
increase after one return pass through the laser, and so the output power
does.
❖ When the G is less than 1 (𝑮𝑳 < 1), the beam intensity will decrease after
one return pass through the laser, laser oscillation decay and no beam will
be emitted. This causes the output power to drop until laser ceases to
operate.
❖ When 𝑮𝑳 = 1, then the beam intensity remains constant, the laser
operating at a steady-state condition, i.e., constant optical power.
 Gain: Loop Gain

(vi) Losses are balanced by gain, when 𝑮𝑳 ≥1 or I(2L) ≥I0. It leads to the
condition that,
𝛾−𝛼 2𝐿 𝛾−𝛼 2𝐿 1
𝑅1 𝑅2 𝑒 ≥ 1 or 𝑒 ≥
𝑅1 𝑅2

Taking logarithms on both sides, we get

2𝐿 𝛾 − 𝛼 ≥ − ln( 𝑅1 𝑅2 )
1
𝛾−𝛼 ≥ − ln( 𝑅1 𝑅2 )
2𝐿

𝟏
𝜸≥ 𝜶− 𝒍𝒏( 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 )
𝟐𝑳
 Gain: Loop Gain

(vii) So, the condition of lasing will be:

𝟏 𝟏
𝜸≥𝜶 + 𝒍𝒏
𝟐𝑳 𝑹 𝟏 𝑹𝟐

This equation show that the initial gain must exceed the sum of losses in
the cavity. The threshold value of pumping energy necessary for lasing
action is (threshold gain coefficient):
𝟏 𝟏
𝜸𝒕𝒉 = 𝜶 + 𝒍𝒏
𝟐𝑳 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐
 Gain: Loop Gain

❖ Amplification of the laser depends on how hard the laser medium is

pumped.
❖ As the pump power is slowly increased, a value of 𝛾𝑡ℎ is reached and
the laser starts oscillating. The value of 𝛾 must be at least 𝛾𝑡ℎ for laser
oscillations to commence.
❖ Active medium threshold Gain can be achieved by G= 𝑮𝑳 = 1, so:

𝟏
𝑮=𝟏= 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 𝑮𝟐𝑨 𝑴 → (𝑮𝑨 )𝒕𝒉 =
𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 𝑴

(𝑮𝑨 )𝒕𝒉 = 𝒆𝜸𝒕𝒉 𝑳

 Gain: Loop Gain
Example: Active medium gain in a laser is 1.05. Reflection coefficients of the mirrors are
0.999 and 0.95. Length of the laser is 30 cm. Loss coefficient is 𝛼 = 1.3 × 10−4 𝑐𝑚−1 .
Calculate the loss factor, the Loop Gain and the Gain coefficient.
Sol:
−4 ×30)
𝑀= 𝑒 (−2𝛼𝐿) = 𝑒 (−2 × 1.3×10 = 0.992
𝐺 = 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝐺𝐴2 𝑀 = 0.999 × 0.95 × 1.052 × 0.992 = 1.038
Since G>1, this laser operates above threshold
𝐺𝐴 = 𝑒 (𝛾𝐿)

ln(𝐺𝐴 ) ln(1.05)
ln 𝐺𝐴 = 𝛾𝐿 → 𝛾 = = = 1.63 × 10−3 𝑐𝑚−1
𝐿 30
 Gain: Loop Gain

H.W. 1: Calculate the threshold Gain coefficient for He:Ne

laser where the loss is 0.05 m-1 , cavity length is 20 cm and
the reflectivity of both mirrors are 99.9 % and 95 %.

H.W. 2: He:Ne laser operated in threshold condition.

Reflection coefficients of the mirrors are: 0.999 and 0.97.
Length of the laser is 50 cm. Active medium gain is 1.02.
Calculate the Loss factor and the loss coefficient.
 Critical Population Inversion
• Quantity, Nth = (N2-N1)th called Critical P.I. or Threshold P. I. density:
Minimum population inversion density required to start lasing action and then
to sustain it.
𝜸𝒕𝒉
∆𝑵𝒕𝒉 =
𝜹𝒆
Where 𝛿𝑒 is the stimulated emission cross section (m²/cm2) which can be
estimated as:

𝝀𝟐
𝜹𝒆 = 𝒈(𝝂)
𝟖𝝅𝝉𝒔𝒑
𝑔(𝜈) is the lineshape of the gain function (which will be defined later), 𝜆 is the
wavelength in the medium.
 Power Emitted by Laser
• Power emitted by the laser is given by:
𝑷𝒆 = 𝑵𝒕𝒉 𝐕 𝑾 𝐡𝛎 ;
V is the active volume of the lasing material. W (emission rate) = 1/tc
𝟐𝑳
tc is the cavity decay constant = , 𝜈 the speed.
𝒄 𝒍𝒄

𝟏 𝟏 𝟏
𝒕𝒄 = (𝜶 − 𝒍𝒏 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 )−𝟏 → 𝒍𝒄 = 𝟐𝑳 (𝜶 − 𝒍𝒏 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 )
𝒄 𝟐𝑳 𝟐𝑳

• Amount of spontaneous light generated by the lasing material

𝑵𝒕𝒉 𝐕 𝒉𝝂
𝑷𝒔 = ,
𝝉𝒔𝒑

Ps is called critical fluorescence.

 Power Emitted by Laser

• Using Pe and Ps, we can write,

𝛾𝑜 𝜸𝒐
𝛾= → 𝑷𝒆 = 𝑷𝒔 [ − 𝟏] , where 𝛾𝑜 is small signal gain
1+Pe /Ps 𝜸

coefficient, which active medium has when the feedback is closed and
when oscillation starts, 𝛾 decreases.
• Expression ‘Pe’ gives the total power generated within the cavity by the
atoms due to stimulated emission. However, only a fraction of the total
emitted power ‘Po’ is coupled out of the cavity as useful output laser
beam through the output mirror.
 Power Emitted by Laser

• We would like to extract more power from the cavity, → could be done by
increasing the transmission coefficient of the output mirror.
• If the transmission coefficient of the mirror is increased, the light output
increases but it means an increase in the cavity losses. Further, increasing
transmission reduces mirror reflectivity. If the mirror reflectivity is smaller, the
cavity losses exceed the gain and the laser ceases oscillating.

• On the other hand, if the output mirror reflectivity is increased to say 100%,
the laser oscillates but the output will become zero. For a given pumping rate,
there exists an optimum coupling which yields the maximum output power.
 Power Emitted by Laser

• The term lc consists of two types of losses:-

1. Loss due to useful power output (To) (transmission of output mirror)

2. Inherent losses (li)
Thus,
lc = To + li
𝑻𝒐
𝑷𝒐 = 𝑷𝒆 [ ]
𝑻𝒐 +𝒍𝒊
 Power Emitted by Laser

Example: Calculate the output power of a laser with active volume of 50 cm3
and cavity length 30 cm. The unsaturated gain coefficient of 0.49 m-1 and
inherent loss is 0.01. The output coupler has 99% reflectivity. The active
medium gain is 1.05 and the spontaneous emission lifetime is 9 ns. The
pumping energy is 0.5 mJ and threshold population inversion is 30.
 Power Emitted by Laser
Sol:

Ro = 0.99, To = 1 - R2 = 0.01

li = 0.01, lc = 0.01+0.01 = 0.02

ln(𝐺𝐴 ) ln(1.05)
𝛾𝑜 = 0.49 , ln 𝐺𝐴 = 𝛾𝐿 → 𝛾 = = = 0.162 𝑚−1
𝐿 30×10−2
𝛾𝑜
𝑃𝑒 = 𝑃𝑠 [ − 1]
𝛾

N𝑡ℎ V hν 30 ×50 ×10−6 ×0.5 ×10−3

𝑃𝑠 = = = 83.333 𝑊
𝜏𝑠𝑝 9 ×10−9

0.49
𝑃𝑒 = 83.333 [ − 1] = 168.724 W
0.162

𝑇𝑜 0.01
𝑃𝑜 = 𝑃𝑒 = 168.724 = 84.362 𝑊
𝑇𝑜 +𝑙𝑖 0.02
THANK YOU