Engineering Physics Notes - 2

www.android.universityupdates.in | www.universityupdates.in | www.ios.universityupdates.
in
ENGINEERING PHYSICS
JNTUH [R18]
RIYAZ MOHAMMED
www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.universityupdates.in | www.universityupdates.in | www.ios.universityupdates.in
SYLLABUS
UNIT – I
Introduction to Mechanics: Transformation of scalars and vectors under
Rotation transformation, Forces in Nature, Newton’s laws and its completeness
in describing particle motion, Form invariance of Newton’s second law, Solving
Newton’s equations of motion in polar coordinates, Problems including
constraints and friction, Extension to cylindrical and spherical coordinates.
UNIT – II
Harmonic Oscillations: Mechanical and electrical simple harmonic oscillators,
Complex number notation and phasor representation of simple harmonic motion,
Damped harmonic oscillator: heavy, critical and light damping, Energy decay in
a damped harmonic oscillator, Quality factor, Mechanical
and electrical oscillators, Mechanical and electrical impedance, Steady state
motion of forced damped harmonic oscillator, Power observed by oscillator.
UNIT – III
Waves in one dimension: Transverse wave on a string, The wave equation on a
string, Harmonic waves, Reflection and transmission of waves at a boundary,
Impedance matching, Standing waves and their Eigen frequencies, Longitudinal
waves and the wave equations for them, Acoustic waves and speed of sound,
Standing sound waves.
UNIT – IV
Wave Optics: Huygen’s principle, Superposition of waves and interference of
light by wave front splitting and amplitude splitting, Young’s double slit
experiment, Newton’s rings, Michelson’s interferometer, Mach-Zehnder
interferometer, Frunhofer diffraction from a single slit and circular aperture,
Diffraction grating- resolving power.
UNIT – V
Lasers and Fibre Optics:
Lasers: Introduction to interaction of radiation with matter, Coherence, Principle
and working of Laser, Population inversion, Pumping, Types of Lasers: Ruby
laser, Carbon dioxide (CO2) laser, He-Ne laser, Applications of laser.

Fibre Optics: Introduction, Optical fibre as a dielectric wave guide, Total

internal reflection, Acceptance angle, Acceptance cone and Numerical aperture,
Step and Graded index fibres, Losses associated with optical fibres, Applications
of optical fibres.
******

Engineering Physics Unit – I Introduction to Mechanics
UNIT – I
INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICS
SYLLABUS
Transformation of scalars and vectors under Rotation transformation.
Forces in Nature.
Newton’s laws and its completeness in describing particle motion.
Form invariance of Newton’s second law.
Solving Newton’s equations of motion in polar coordinates.
BASIC TERMS
1. Scalar quantity: A quantity which has magnitude but no direction is called
as scalar quantity. Examples: Distance, Mass, Time & Length etc.
2. Vector quantity: A quantity which has both magnitude & direction is
called as Vector quantity. Examples: Velocity, Acceleration & Amplitude.
TRANSFORMATION OF SCALARS UNDER ROTATION
TRANSFORMATION
1|Page Riyaz Mohammed

TRANSFORMATION OF VECTORS UNDER ROTATION

TRANSFORMATION
Equations for transformation of vectors under rotation about z-axis:
FORCES IN NATURE
Force: A force is a push or pull acting on an object that changes the motion of
the object.
Types of forces: The four fundamental forces of nature are:
1. Gravitational force.
2. Electromagnetic force.
3. Weak nuclear force.
4. Strong force.
1. Gravitational force: This is the force which is always attractive. It acts
between two masses. Each and every object in this universe applies this force on
all other objects, This is the weakest force.

2. Electromagnetic force: When an electric charge is moving, it produces

magnetic force besides the electric force. The combined effect of these two forces,
is called the electromagnetic force. It is stronger than gravitational force.
3. Weak nuclear force: This is the force which is responsible for emission of
beta particles from the nucleus. This force is more powerful than the gravitational
force but it is weaker than the electromagnetic force.
4. Strong force: This is the strongest force in the nature. It acts on any two
nucleons (i.e. proton and neutron) in the nucleus.

NEWTON’S LAWS AND ITS COMPLETENESS IN DESCRIBING

PARTICLE MOTION
Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that, together, laid the
foundation for classical mechanics.
They describe the relationship between a body and the forces acting upon
it, and its motion in response to those forces.
More precisely, the first law defines the force qualitatively, the second law
offers a quantitative measure of the force, and the third asserts that a single
isolated force doesn't exist.
These three laws have been expressed in several ways, over nearly three
centuries, and can be summarised as follows:
1. First law: In an inertial frame of reference, an object either remains
at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity, unless acted upon
by a force.
2. Second law: In an inertial reference frame, the vector sum of
the forces F on an object is equal to the mass m of that object
multiplied by the acceleration a of the object: F = ma. (It is assumed
here that the mass m is constant).
3. Third law: When one body exerts a force on a second body, the
second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and
opposite in direction on the first body.

FORM INVARIANCE OF NEWTON’S SECOND LAW

SOLVING NEWTON’S EQUATIONS OF MOTION IN POLAR

COORDINATES [OR] THE EQUATIONS OF MOTION WITH POLAR
COORDINATES
To finish our discussion of the equations of motion in two dimensions, we
will examine Newton's Second law as it is applied to the polar coordinate
system.
In its basic form, Newton's Second Law states that the sum of the forces on
a body will be equal to mass of that body times the rate of acceleration.
For bodies in motion, we can write this relationship out as the equation of
motion.
Just as we did with with rectangular and normal-tangential coordinates, we

will break this single vector equation into two separate scalar equations.
This involves identifying the r and theta directions and then using sines and
cosines to break the given forces and accelerations down into components
in those directions.
Fig: When working in the polar coordinate system, any given forces or
accelerations can be broken down using sines and cosines assuming the angle
of the force or acceleration is known relative to the r and theta directions.

Just as with our other coordinate systems, the equations of motion are often
used in conjunction with the kinematics equations, which relate positions,
velocities and accelerations.
In particular, we will often substitute the known values below for the r and
theta components for acceleration.
Polar coordinates can be used in any kinetics problem, however they work
best with problems where there is a stationary body tracking some moving
body (such as a radar dish) or there is a particle rotating around some fixed
point.
These equations will also come back into play when we start examining
rigid body kinematics.









Engineering Physics Unit – II Harmonic Oscillations
UNIT – II
HARMONIC OSCILLATIONS
SYLLABUS
Mechanical and electrical simple harmonic oscillators.
Damped harmonic oscillator: critical light damping.
Energy decay in a damped harmonic oscillator.
Quality factor.
Mechanical and electrical oscillators.
INTRODUCTION
When the restoring force is directly proportional to the displacement from
equilibrium, the resulting motion is known as simple harmonic motion and the
oscillator is known as Harmonic Oscillator.
MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL SIMPLE HARMONIC
OSCILLATORS
16 | P a g e Riyaz Mohammed

Fig: Mechanical simple harmonic oscillators
Fig: electrical simple harmonic oscillators

DAMPED OSCILLATION
For a free oscillation the energy remains constant. Hence oscillation
continues indefinitely.
However in real fact, the amplitude of the oscillatory system gradually
decreases due to experiences of damping force like friction and resistance
of the media.
The oscillators whose amplitude, in successive oscillations goes on
decreasing due to the presence of resistive forces are called damped
oscillators, and oscillation called damping oscillation.

The damping force always acts in a opposite directions to that of motion of

oscillatory body and velocity dependent.
b = damping constant which is a positive quantity defined as damping

force/velocity,
called the natural frequency of oscillating body.

The above equation is second degree linear homogeneous equation.
The general solution of above equation is found out by assuming x(t), a function
which is given by


CRITICAL DAMPING
The general solution of equation in this case,
Here the displacement approaches to zero asymptotically for given value of initial
position and velocity a critically damped oscillator approaches equilibrium
position faster than other two cases.
Example: The springs of automobiles or the springs of dead beat galvanometer.
ENERGY DECAY IN A DAMPED HARMONIC OSCILLATOR

QUALITY FACTOR

MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL OSCILLATORS





Engineering Physics Unit – III Waves in one dimension
UNIT – III
WAVES IN ONE DIMENSION
SYLLABUS
Transverse wave on a string.
The wave equation on a string.
Standing waves.
Longitudinal waves.
Speed of sound.
TRANSVERSE WAVE ON A STRING
A wave sent along a stretched, that string is the simplest mechanical wave.
If you give one end of a stretched string a single up-and-down jerk, a wave
in the form of a single pulse travels along the string. This pulse and its
motion can occur because the string is under tension.
When you pull your end of the string upward, it begins to pull upward on
the adjacent section of the string via tension between the two sections.
As the adjacent section moves upward, it begins to pull the next section
upward, and so on. Meanwhile, you have pulled down on your end of the
string.
As each section moves upward in turn, it begins to be pulled back
downward by neighbouring sections that are already on the way down.
The net result is that a distortion in the string’s shape (a pulse, as in Fig. a)
moves along the string at some velocity v:

Fig: (a) A single pulse is sent along a stretched string. A typical string
element (marked with a dot) moves up once and then down as the pulse
passes. The element’s motion is perpendicular to the wave’s direction of
travel, so the pulse is a transverse wave. (b) A sinusoidal wave is sent along
the string. A typical string element moves up and down continuously as the
wave passes. This too is a transverse wave.
If you move your hand up and down in continuous simple harmonic
motion, a continuous wave travels along the string at velocity.
Because the motion of your hand is a sinusoidal function of time, the wave
has a sinusoidal shape at any given instant, that is, the wave has the shape
of a sine curve or a cosine curve.
We consider here only an “ideal” string, in which no friction-like forces
within the string cause the wave to die out as it travels along the string.
In addition, we assume that the string is so long that we need not consider
a wave rebounding from the far end.
One way to study the waves of Fig is to monitor the wave forms (shapes of
the waves) as they move to the right.
Alternatively, we could monitor the motion of an element of the string as
the element oscillates up and down while a wave passes through it.
We would find that the displacement of every such oscillating string
element is perpendicular to the direction of travel of the wave.
This motion is said to be transverse, and the wave is said to be a transverse
wave.

THE WAVE EQUATION ON A STRING

As a wave passes through any element on a stretched string, the element
moves perpendicularly to the wave’s direction of travel (we are dealing
with a transverse wave).
By applying Newton’s second law to the element’s motion, we can derive
a general differential equation, called the wave equation, that governs the
travel of waves of any type.
Figure 16-11a shows a snapshot of a string element of mass and length as
a wave travels along a string of linear density m that is stretched along a
horizontal x axis.
Let us assume that the wave amplitude is small so that the element can be
tilted only slightly from the x axis as the wave passes.
The force 2 on the right end of the element has a magnitude equal to tension
t in the string and is directed slightly upward.
The force 1 on the left end of the element also has a magnitude equal to the
tension t but is directed slightly downward.
Because of the slight curvature of the element, these two forces are not
simply in opposite direction so that they cancel.
Instead, they combine to produce a net force that causes the element to
have an upward acceleration ay.
Newton’s second law written for y components:


This is the general differential equation that governs the travel of waves of all
types.
STANDING WAVES
Figure 16-17 suggests the situation graphically.
It shows the two combining waves, one traveling to the left in Fig. 16-17a,
the other to the right in Fig. 16-17b. Figure 16-17c shows their sum,
obtained by applying the superposition principle graphically.
The outstanding feature of the resultant wave is that there are places along
the string, called nodes, where the string never moves.
Four such nodes are marked by dots in Fig. 16-17c.
Halfway between adjacent nodes are antinodes, where the amplitude of the
resultant wave is a maximum.
Wave patterns such as that of Fig. 16-17c are called standing waves
because the wave patterns do not move left or right; the locations of the
maxima and minima do not change.

If two sinusoidal waves of the same amplitude and wavelength travel in

opposite directions along a stretched string, their interference with each
other produces a standing wave.

LONGITUDINAL WAVES
Fig shows how a sound wave can be produced by a piston in a long, air-
filled pipe.
If you suddenly move the piston rightward and then leftward, you can send
a pulse of sound along the pipe.
The rightward motion of the piston moves the elements of air next to it
rightward, changing the air pressure there.
The increased air pressure then pushes rightward on the elements of air
somewhat farther along the pipe.
Moving the piston leftward reduces the air pressure next to it.
As a result, first the elements nearest the piston and then farther elements
move leftward.
Thus, the motion of the air and the change in air pressure travel rightward
along the pipe as a pulse.
If you push and pull on the piston in simple harmonic motion, as is being
done in Fig, a sinusoidal wave travels along the pipe.
Because the motion of the elements of air is parallel to the direction of the
wave’s travel, the motion is said to be longitudinal, and the wave is said to
be a longitudinal wave.
Both a transverse wave and a longitudinal wave are said to be traveling
waves because they both travel from one point to another, as from one end
of the string to the other end.

Fig: A sound wave is set up in an airfilled pipe by moving a piston back and
forth. Because the oscillations of an element of the air (represented by the
dot) are parallel to the direction in which the wave travels, the wave is a
longitudinal wave.
THE SPEED OF SOUND
The speed of any mechanical wave, transverse or longitudinal, depends on
both an inertial property of the medium (to store kinetic energy) and an
elastic property of the medium (to store potential energy).
Thus,
where (for transverse waves) t is the tension in the string and m is the string’s
linear density.

Fig: A sound wave travels from a point source S through a three-dimensional

medium. The wavefronts form spheres centered on S; the rays are radial to
S. The short, double-headed arrows indicate that elements of the medium
oscillate parallel to the rays.







Engineering Physics Unit – IV Wave Optics
UNIT – IV
WAVE OPTICS
SYLLABUS
Huygen’s principle.
Superposition of waves.
Interference of light.
Newton’s rings.
Michelson’s interferometer.
Mach-Zehnder interferometer.
Frunhofer diffraction from a single slit and circular aperture.
Diffraction grating- resolving power.
HUYGEN’S PRINCIPLE
It states that, “Every point on a wavefront acts as a secondary source of spherical
wavelets having the same frequency & same initial phase”. The wavefront formed
is a linear superposition of these wavelets as shown in below fig:

PRINCIPLE OF SUPERPOSITION OF WAVES

The principle of superposition of waves states that, “The resultant displacement
of a particle of the medium acted upon by two or more waves simultaneously is
the algebraic sum of the displacements of the same particle due to individual
waves in the absence of other wave”.
INTERFERENCE OF LIGHT
Definition: When two or more light waves superimpose in the medium then
according to the principle of super position the two waves added with each other.
The resultant wave amplitude is equal to the sum or difference of individual
waves. It results variation of intensity in the region of superposition. This
phenomenon is known as Interference. It can produce fringes or bands.
Introduction:
Wave Theory of light attempts to understand the various optical
phenomena exhibited by light waves.
Interference constituted the first proof of the wave nature of light.
Thomas Young first experimentally demonstrated interference in light
waves.
The superposition principle forms the conceptual basis for the explanation
of interference.
To produce interference, the light waves should be coherent, i.e., the light
waves should have constant phase difference and same frequencies.

Classification [or] Types: It is classified into two types:

1. Constructive Interference.
2. Destructive Interference.
1. Constructive Interference: When the resultant wave amplitude is equal to the
sum of amplitude of individual waves then such interference is known as
constructive Interference.
2. Destructive Interference: When the resultant wave amplitude is equal to the

difference of amplitude of individual waves then such interference is known as
destructive Interference.
NEWTON’S RINGS
Newton’s rings are one of the best examples for the interference in a
nonuniform thin film.
When a Plano-convex lens with its convex surface is placed on a plane
glass plate, an air film of increasing thickness is formed between the two.
The thickness of the film at the point of contact is zero.
If monochromatic light is allowed to fall normally and the film is viewed
in the reflected light, alternate dark and bright rings concentric around the
point of contact between the lens and glass plate are seen.
These circular rings were discovered by Newton and are called Newton’s
rings.

To study the interference in a non-uniform thin film Newton’s rings

experiment is used.
Experimental Arrangement:
Fig Newton’s rings (Experimental set up)

The experimental arrangement is as shown in fig.
The Plano-convex lens (L) of large radius of curvature is placed with its
convex surface on a plane glass plate P).
The lens makes the contact with the plate at ‘O’.
The monochromatic light falls on a glass plate G held at an angle of 45°
with the vertical.
The glass plate G reflects normally a part of the incident light towards the
air film enclosed by the lens L and the glass plate P.
A part of the light is reflected by the curved surface of the lens L and a part
is transmitted which is reflected back from the plane surface of the plate.
These reflected rays interfere and give rise to an interference pattern in the
form of circular rings.
These rings are seen near the upper surface of the air film through the
microscope.
Explanation of Newton’s Rings:
Fig Formation of Newton’s rings

Newton’s rings are formed due to interference between the light rays
reflected from the top and bottom surfaces of air film between the plate and
the lens.
The formation of Newton’s rings can be explained with the help of Fig.
A part of the incident monochromatic light AB is reflected at B (glass-air
boundary) in the form of the ray (1) with any additional phase (or path)
change.
The other part of light is refracted along BC.
Then at C (air-glass boundary), it is again reflected in the form of the ray
(2) with additional phase change of 𝜋 or path change of 𝜆/2.
Path difference = δ = 2 μt cosr + λ /2
For air, μ=1 then path difference = δ = 2t cos r + λ /2
The rays are incidenting normally, r = 0 then = δ = 2t cos r+ λ /2
Path difference = δ = 2t + λ/2
At point of contact, t = 0, so δ = λ /2
i.e, at point of contact t = 0, path difference = λ/2, i.e., the reflected light rays at
the point of contact has a phase change of π. Hence, the incident and reflected
light rays are out of phase. So, it will form dark region at the center.
The condition for bright ring is:
2𝑡 + 𝜆/2 = 𝑛𝜆
2𝑡 = (2𝑛 − 1) 𝜆/2 [𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛 = 1, 2, 3, ….]
The condition for dark ring is:
2𝑡 +𝜆/2 = (2𝑛 + 1) 𝜆/2
2t = nλ, [𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 n = 0, 1, 2, 3, ….]
For monochromatic light, the bright and dark rings depend on thickness of
the air film.
For a Newton’s rings system, the focus of points having same thickness lie
on a circle having its centre at the point of contact.
Thus, we get bright and dark circular rings with the point of contact as the
centre.

Theory of Newton’s Rings [or] Diameter of Newtons Rings:
Fig: Theory of Newton’s rings

To find the diameters of dark and bright rings, let L be a lens placed on a
glass plate P.
The convex surface of the lens is the part of spherical surface (Fig) with
center at C.
Let R be the radius of curvature and r be the radius of Newton’s ring
corresponding to the film thickness t.
From the property of a circle, NA * NB = NO * ND
From fig. NA = NB = r and NO = t using these in the above fig. we get,
r * r = t * (2R – t)
r2 = 2Rt – t2
if thickness is very small, t2 becomes very very small t so it can be neglected.
r2 = 2Rt
𝑡 = 𝑟2/2𝑅

Applications of Newtons Rings:

1. Determination of Wavelength of a Light Source:
Fig Plot of D2 with respect to number of rings

Newton’s rings are formed with suitable experimental setup. With the help of
travelling microscope, the readings for different orders of dark rings were noted
from one edge of the rings to the other edge. The diameters of different orders of
the rings can be known. A plot between 𝐷2 and the number of rings gives a
straight line as shown in the fig. From the graph,

The radius R of the Plano-convex lens can be obtained with the help of a
Spherometer. Substituting these values in the formula, 𝜆 can be calculated.
2. Determination of Refractive Index of a Liquid:
The experiment is performed when there is an air film between glass plate and
the Plano-convex lens. The diameters of mth and nth dark rings are determined
with the help of travelling microscope. We have
The system is placed into the container which consists of the liquid whose
refractive index (𝜇) is to be determined. Now, the air film is replaced by the liquid
film. Again, the diameters of the same mth and nth dark rings are to be obtained.
Then we have
Using the above formula, ’μ’ can be calculated.

INTERFEROMETER
An interferometer is a measuring instrument, which makes use of light wave
interference. The use of interferometer is faster & easier than that of optical flats,
& these are considered to be the most accurate measuring instrument.
MICHELSON’S INTERFEROMETER
Michelson’s interferometer is the older device. It utilizes monochromatic light
from an extended source & works on the principle of interference.

Construction:
MACH – ZEHNDER INTERFEROMETER

It is a simple device which works on the principle of interference by division of
amplitude.
Construction:

Phase shift:
DIFFRACTION
Definition: When light is incident on an obstacle whose size is comparable with
the wavelength of light then the incident light bend around the edges (or) corners.
This bending phenomenon of light is known as diffraction. It results bright and
dark shadow regions known as diffraction pattern.
Fig: Diffraction
Introduction to Diffraction:
The wave nature of light is further confirmed by the optical phenomenon
of diffraction.
The word diffraction is derived from the Latin word diffractus which
means to break to pieces.
It is common experience that waves bend around obstacles placed in their
path.
When light waves encounter an obstacle, they bend round the edges of the
obstacle.
This bending is predominant when the size of the obstacle is comparable
to the wavelength of light.
The bending of light waves around the edge of an obstacle is diffraction.
It was first observed by Gremaldy.
Classification [or] types: It is classified into two types. They are:
1. Fresnel diffraction.
2. Fraunhofer diffraction.

Distinction Between Fresnel & Fraunhoffer Diffraction:

SNO. Fresnel Diffraction Fraunhoffer Diffraction
1. In this diffraction, the source and In this diffraction, the source and
screen are kept at finite distances screen are kept at finite distances
from the obstacle. from the obstacle.
2. Hence, lenses are not required to Hence, lenses are required to see
see the diffraction. the diffraction.
3. It can be studied in the direction It can be studied in any direction.
of propagation of light.
4. Here the incident wave fronts are Here the incident wave fronts are
either spherical or cylindrical. plane wave fronts.
FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION AT A SINGLE SLIT

Consider a plane wave front coming from monochromatic light and
incident on the slit AB of width ‘e’.
The incident light get diffracted and focused on the screen.
According to Hiegen’s principle, every point on the plane wavefront in the
plane of slit is a secondary wavelet.
These wavelets travelling in all directions.
The waves travelling normal to the slit i.e., along ‘OP’ focus at ‘P’.
It produce a bright image at ‘O’ on the screen; while the waves diffracted
or making an angle ‘θ’ focus at P1.
Depending on the path difference between ‘OP’ and ‘OP 1’, the point P1
may have maximum or minimum intensity.
So, to find intensity at P1, draw a normal line ‘AC’ to the line ‘BC’.
path difference = BC =AB sin θ

slit width = AB = e then BC = e sin θ

If the slit width is divides into ‘n’ equal parts then amplitude of each wave is ‘a’.
Then the phase difference between two continuous waves is written as
According to vector addition of amplitude, the resultant wave amplitude is,

Thus, we obtain minimum intensity positions on either side of principal

maximum. For m = 0, sin θ = 0. It represents principal maximum positions.
Secondary Maxima: In between secondary minima, we can get secondary
maxima. The positions can be obtained by differentiating the Eq. (1) and equating
to zero.
In this Eq, either sin α = 0 or α cos α – sin α = 0

If sin α = 0, it gives the positions of minima.
So, the positions of secondary maxima can be obtained by:
α cos α – sin α = 0
α = tan α
the values of α satisfying the above equations are determined graphically by
drawing the curves y = α and y = tan α. The curves are obtained as shown in the
fig. The intersection of two curves gives values of α.

FRUNHOFER DIFFRACTION FROM A CIRCULAR APERTURE


DIFFRACTION GRATING
An arrangement which consists of a large number of parallel slits of the
same width and separated by equal opaque spaces is known as diffraction
grating.
Fraunhofer used the first grating consisting of a large number of parallel
wires placed side by side very closely at regular intervals.
Now gratings are constructed by ruling equidistant parallel lines on a
transparent material such as glass with a fine diamond point.
The ruled lines are opaque to light while the space between any two lines
is transparent to light and acts as a slit.
Commercial gratings are produced by taking the cast of an actual grating
on a transparent film like that of cellulose acetate.
Solution of cellulose acetate is poured on the ruled surface and allowed to
dry to form a thin film, detachable from the surface.
These impressions of a grating are preserved by mounting the film between
two glass sheets.
Fig: Diffraction Grating

Let ‘e’ be the width of the line and ‘d’ be the width of the slit. Then (e + d) is
known as grating element. If ‘N’ is the number of lines per inch on the grating,
then

There will be nearly 30,000 lines per inch of a grating. Due to the above fact, the
width of the slit is very narrow and is comparable to the wavelength of light.
When light falls on the grating, the light gets diffracted through each slit. As a
result, both diffraction and interference of diffracted light gets enhanced and
forms a diffraction pattern. This pattern is known as diffraction spectrum.
Grating Spectrum: The condition to form the principal maxima in a grating is
given by
(e + d) sin Ѳ = nλ
Where (e + d) is the grating element and the above equation is known as grating
equation.
From the grating equation, the following is clear.
1. For a particular wavelength λ, the angle of diffraction Ѳ is different for
principal maxima of different orders.
2. As the number of lines in the grating is large, maxima appear as sharp,
bright parallel lines and are termed as spectral lines.
3. For white light and for a particular order of n, the light of different
wavelengths will be diffracted in different directions.
4. At the center, Ѳ = 0 gives the maxima of all wavelengths which coincides
to form the central image of the same colour as that of the light source.
This forms zero order.
5. The principal maxima of all wavelengths forms the first, second, etc order
spectra for n=1,2, …
6. The longer the wavelength, greater is the angle of diffraction. Thus, the
spectrum consists of violet being in the innermost position and red being
in the outermost positions.

Fig: Grating Spectrum

7. Most of the intensity goes to zero order and the rest is distributed among
other orders.
8. Spectra of different orders are situated symmetrically on both sides of zero
order.
9. The maximum number of orders available with the grating is nmax = 𝑒+𝑑/𝜆
RESOLVING POWER OF A GRATING

The ability of n diffraction grating to separate the maxima of diffraction of two
neighbouring wavelength is called resolving power of a grating.











Engineering Physics Unit – V (Chapter – I) Lasers
UNIT – V
CHAPTER – I
LASERS
SYLLABUS
Introduction to interaction of radiation with matter.
Coherence.
Principle and working of Laser.
Population inversion.
Pumping.
Types of Lasers: Ruby laser, Carbon dioxide (CO2) laser, He-Ne laser.
Applications of laser.
INTRODUCTION TO LASERS
Laser is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of
Radiation.
In 1917, based on thermodynamic equilibrium between atoms and
radiation, Albert Einstein predicted that there are two kinds of light
emission from matter, namely spontaneous and stimulated emissions.
He further proved that both spontaneous emission and stimulated emission
are necessary to derive Planck’s Quantum theory of radiation, which is the
basis for theoretical prediction of Laser.
In 1960, Charles Towner demonstrated experimentally stimulated
emission for first time at Microwave frequencies as MASER and received
Noble prize in 1964.
In the same year, Theodore Maiman demonstrated stimulated emission
based LASER in optical frequencies using Ruby rod as lasing medium, and
Ali Javan and his co-workers constructed laser device using He-Ne gas as
lasing medium.
In 1962, lasing action using semiconductor medium was invented. Since
then a variety of materials were used to demonstrate lasing action using
liquids, ionized gases, dyes etc.
Characteristics of Laser: Some of the unique characteristics of lasers
which are different from ordinary incoherent light are:
1. Directionality.
2. High intensity.
3. Monochromacity.

4. High degree of coherence.

1. Directionality:
Any conventional light source like incandescent light emits radiations in
all direction whereas a laser source emits radiation only in one direction.
The directionality of the laser beam is generally expressed in terms of full
angle beam divergence which is twice the angle that the outer edge of the
beam makes with the axis of the beam.
The outer edge is defined as a point at which the intensity (I) of the beam
drops to 1/e times its value at the centre.
Fig: Gaussian beam

A Gaussian shape of laser beam is shown above and the full angle divergence in
terms of minimum spot size of radius w0 is given by
where  is the wavelength of the beam. For a typical planar wavefront emerging
from an aperture of diameter d, it propagates as a parallel beam for a distance of
d2/ called the Rayleigh’s range, beyond which the beam due to diffraction
diverges with an angular spread of  = /d. For a typical laser the beam
divergence is less than 0.01 milliradian, i.e. a laser beam spreads less than 0.01
millimeter for every metre. However, on the other hand, for ordinary light the
spread is 1m for every 1m of travel. If a1 & a2 are the diameters of laser radiation
at distances d1 and d2 from a laser source respectively, then the angle of beam
divergence in degrees is given by

2. Intensity:
A laser emits light radiation into a narrow beam, and its energy is
concentrated in a small region.
This concentration of energy both spatially and spectrally accounts for the
great intensity of lasers.
It can be shown that even a one-watt laser would appear many thousand
times more intense than a 100 watt ordinary lamp.
If we compare the number of photons emitted in one second from a square
centimetre of a surface of a laser source with those from an ordinary source,
the ratio is of the order of l028 to 1012.
3. Monochromacity:
The light from a laser source is highly monochromatic compared to light
from a conventional incoherent monochromatic source.
The monochromacity is related to the wavelength spread of radiation given
by
The value of  is in the order of 300 nm for white light, 0.01 nm for gas
discharge lamp, while it is 0.0001 nm for laser.
4. Coherence:
Laser radiation is characterized by a high degree of ordering of the light
field compared to radiation from other sources.
In other words, laser light has a high degree of coherence, both spatial and
temporal.
Spatial coherence, also called transverse coherence, describes how far
apart two sources or two portions of the same source can be located in a
direction transverse to the direction of observation and still exhibit
coherent properties over a range of observation points.
The high degree of coherence of laser radiation makes it possible to realise
a tremendous spatial concentration of light power such as 1013 watt in a
space with linear dimensions of only 1m.
The temporal coherence on the other hand, normally refers to the relative
phase or the coherence of two waves at two separate locations along the
propagation direction of the two beams.

The relationship between coherence length, wavelength and wavelength

spread is given by:
The above characteristics of lasers supported their unprecedented scientific and

technological application. Thus lasers have been used in telecommunications,
meteorology, metrology, biology, cybernetics, optical computations etc.
INTRODUCTION TO INTERACTION OF RADIATION WITH MATTER
[OR] INTERACTION BETWEEN MATTER AND LIGHT [OR]
ABSORPTION, SPONTANEOUS & STIMULATED EMISSION
In lasers, the interaction between matter and light is of three different types.
They are:
1. Absorption.
2. Spontaneous emission.
3. Stimulates emission.
Let E1 and E2 be ground and excited states of an atom. The dot represents
an atom.
Transition between these states involves absorption and emission of a
photon of energy E2 – E1 = hν12. Where ‘h’ is Planck’s constant.
1. Absorption: As shown in fig, if a photon of energy hν12(E2 – E1) collides with
an atom present in the ground state of energy E1 then the atom completely absorbs
the incident photon and makes transition to excited state E2. It is represented as
follows,
Photon + Atom = Atom*.
2. Spontaneous emission: As shown in fig, an atom initially present in the

excited state makes transition voluntarily on its own. Without any aid of external
stimulus or an agency to the ground. State and emits a photon of energy h = ν

12(E2 – E1). This is called spontaneous emission. These are incoherent.

Spontaneous emission is represented as follows,
Atom* = Atom + Photon.
3. Stimulated emission: As shown in fig, a photon having energy hν12(E2 – E1)

impinges on an atom present in the excited state and the atom is stimulated to
make transition to the ground state and gives off a photon of energy hν 12. The
emitted photon is in phase with the incident photon. These are coherent. This type
of emission is known as stimulated emission. Stimulated emission can be
represented as follows.
Photon + atom* = Atom + (photon + photon).
Differences Between Spontaneous Emission & Stimulated Emission of

Radiation:
SNO. Spontaneous emission Stimulated emission
1. Polychromatic radiation. Monochromatic radiation.
2. Less intensity. High intensity.
3. Less directionality, more angular High directionality, so less
spread during propagation. angular spread during
propagation.

4. Spatially and temporally in Specially and temporally coherent

coherent radiation. radiation.
5. Spontaneous emission takes Stimulated emission takes place
place when excited atoms make when a photon of energy equal to
a transition to lower energy level hν12 = E2 – E1 stimulates an
voluntarily without any external excited atom to make transition to
stimulation. lower energy level.
6. One photon released. Two photons released.
7. It is independent of incident It is dependent on incident
radiation. radiation.
8. It was postulated by Bohr. It was postulated by Einstein.
9. Ex: Light from sodium. Ex: Light from a laser source.
PRINCIPLE AND WORKING OF LASER [OR] PRINCIPLE AND

PRODUCTION OF LASER
1. Absorption: As shown in fig, if a photon of energy hν12(E2 – E1) collides with
an atom present in the ground state of energy E1 then the atom completely absorbs
the incident photon and makes transition to excited state E2. It is represented as
follows,
Photon + Atom = Atom*.
2. Spontaneous emission: As shown in fig, an atom initially present in the

excited state makes transition voluntarily on its own. Without any aid of external
stimulus or an agency to the ground. State and emits a photon of energy h = ν
12(E2 – E1). This is called spontaneous emission. These are incoherent.
Spontaneous emission is represented as follows,
Atom* = Atom + Photon.

3. Stimulated emission: As shown in fig, a photon having energy hν12(E2 – E1)

impinges on an atom present in the excited state and the atom is stimulated to
make transition to the ground state and gives off a photon of energy hν 12. The
emitted photon is in phase with the incident photon. These are coherent. This type
of emission is known as stimulated emission. Stimulated emission can be
represented as follows.
Photon + atom* = Atom + (photon + photon).
4. Einsteins Equations [Or] Einstains Co – Efficients

Let N1 be the number of atoms per unit volume with energy E1 and N2 the number
of atoms per unit volume with energy E2. Let ‘n’ be the number of photons per
unit volume at frequency ν such that hν=E2 – E1. Then the energy density of
interacting photons ρ (v) is given by
ρ(ν) = nhν (1)
When these photons interact with atoms, both upward (absorption) and downward
(emission) transitions occur. At equilibrium these transition rates must be equal.
Upward Transition: Stimulated absorption rate depends on the number of atoms
available in the lower energy state for absorption of these photons as well as the
energy density of interacting radiation. i.e. stimulated absorption rate α N1

α ρ (ν)
= B12N1 ρ (ν) (2)
Where the constant of proportionality B12 is the Einstein coefficient of stimulated
absorption
Downward transition: Once the atoms are excited by stimulated absorption,
they stay in the excited state for a short duration of time called the lifetime of the
excited state. After their life time they move to their lower energy level
spontaneous by emitting photons. This spontaneous emission rate depends on the
number of atoms in the excited energy state. i.e., spontaneous emission rate α N2
= N2 A21 (3)
Where the constant of proportionality A21 is the Einstein coefficient of
spontaneous emission.
Stimulated emission: Before excited atoms de excites to their lower energy
states by spontaneous emission they may interact with photons resulting in
stimulated emission of photons. Therefore stimulated emission rate depends on
the number of atoms available in the excited state as well as energy density of
interacting photons. i.e., stimulated emission rate α N2
α ρ(ν)
= N2ρ (ν) B21 (4)
Where the constant of proportionality B21 is the Einstein coefficient of stimulated
emission.
During stimulated emission, the interacting photon called the stimulating photon
and the photon due to stimulated emission are in phase with each other. Please
note that during stimulated absorption, the photon density decreases where as
during stimulated emission it increases. For a system in equilibrium, the upward
and down word transition rates must be equal and hence we have

The population of various energy levels in thermal equilibrium is given by

Boltzmann distribution law.
Fig: Boltzmann distribution for several energy levels
Where Ni is the population density of the energy level Ei, N0 is the population
density of the ground state at temperature T1, g1 is the degeneracy of the ith level
and k is the Boltzmann constant (=1.38x10-23 joule/k). The concept of degeneracy
occurs since more than one level has the same energy.
Equation’s (10) and (11) are referred to as the Einstein relations.

The ratio of spontaneous emission rate to the stimulated emission rate is given by
In practice, the absorption and emission phase occur simultaneously. Let us

calculate the rates of spontaneous emission and stimulating emission for a
tungsten filament lamp operating at a temperature of 2000k. Taking the average
frequency to be 5x1014 Hz, this ratio is
This confirms that under conditions of thermal equilibrium, even for sources
operating at higher temperatures and lower frequencies, spontaneous emission
predominates.
From equation (12), we understand that to make R smaller ρ(ν) the energy density
of interacting radiation has to be made larger. Let us consider the relation of
stimulated emission rate to stimulated absorption rate.
Thus at thermal equilibrium stimulated absorption predominates over stimulated
emission. Instead if we create a situation that N2 > N1. Stimulated emission will
predominate over stimulated absorption. If stimulated emission predominates the
photon density increases and light amplifies the photon density increases and light
amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER) occurs. Therefore, in
order to achieve more stimulated emission, population of the excited state (N 2)
should be made larger than the population of the lower state (N1) and this
condition is called population inversion. Hence if we wish to amplify a beam of
light by stimulated emission, then we must create population inversion and
increase the energy density of interacting radiation.
POPULATION INVERSION & PUMPING
The no of atoms in higher energy level is less than the no of atoms in lowest
energy level.
The process of making of higher population in higher energy level than the
population in lower energy level is known as population inversion.
Population inversion is achieved by pumping the atoms from the ground
level to the higher energy level through optical (or) electrical pumping.

It is easily achieved at the matastable state, where the life time of the atoms
is higher than that in other higher energy levels.
The states of system, in which the population of higher energy state is more
in comparision with the population of lower energy state, are called
“Negative temperature state”.
A system in which population inversion is achieved is called as an active
system.
The method of raising the particles from lower energy state to higher
energy state is called “Pumping”.
Population inversion is associated with three Phenomenon:
1. Stimulated emission.
2. Amplification.
3. Pumping Process.
1. Stimulated Emission: If majority of atoms are present in higher energy state
than the process becomes very easy.
2. Amplification: If ‘N’, represents number of atoms in the ground state and ‘N2’
represents number of atoms in the excited state than the amplification of light
takes place only when N2 > N1.
3. Pumping Process:
This process is required to achieve population inversion.
Pumping process is defined as: “The process which excites the atoms from
ground state to excited state to achieve population inversion”.
Pumping can be done by number of ways:
i. Optical Pumping: Excitation by strong source of light (flashing of
a Camera).
ii. Electrical Pumping: Excitation by electron impact.
iii. Chemical Pumping: Excitation by chemical reactions.
iv. Direct Conversion: Electrical energy is directly converted into
radiant Energy in devices like LED’s, population Inversion is
achieved in forward bias.

v. Inelastic atom-atom collision: In electric discharge one type of

atoms are raised to their excited state. These atom collide
inelastically with another type of atoms. The latter atom provide the
population inversion needed for laser emission. The example is He–
Ne laser.
Explanation:
Consider two energy levels E1 and E2 in a system.
Let N1, N2 be the populations (number) of atoms per unit volume in the
energy levels E1, E2.
According to the Boltzmann’s distribution law, the population of atoms in
E1, E2 levels written as,
But to get stimulated emission continuously, N2 > N1i.e the population of

higher energy level should be more than in the population in the lower
energy level.
The process of sending more atoms in the higher energy level than in the
population of atoms in the lower energy level is known as population
inversion.
In a three level system, E1 < E2 < E3 and N1 > N2 > N3
Where,
E1 is the lower energy state with more lifetime of atoms.
E3 is the highest energy state with less lifetime of atoms.
E2 is the intermediate energy state with more lifetimes an atom (10 -3 sec) and is
known as metastable state.

This state provides necessary population inversion for the emission of laser
radiation.
When a sufficient energy is supplied to the system then, the ground atoms
excited to the E3 level and then transit to the E2 level which has more
lifetime of atoms.
Due to the continuous pumping, at one stage the E 2 level becomes more
populated than lower energy level.
It is the desired condition to get laser radiation.
TYPES OF LASERS: RUBY LASER, CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) LASER,
HE – NE LASER
Lasers are divided into different types based on the lasing materials used.
Accordingly the important types of lasers are Solid state lasers, gas lasers,
and semiconductor lasers.
Most of the lasers emit light in IR or visible region, work in Continuous
wave (CW) mode or in pulsed mode.
Table gives some important types of Lasers with examples:

Ruby Laser
Introduction:
Ruby Laser is a solid state pulsed, three level lasers.
It consists of a cylindrical shaped ruby crystal rod of length varying from
2 to 20 cms and diameter varying 0.1 to 2 cms.
This end faces of the rod are highly flat and parallel.
One of the faces is highly silvered and the other face is partially silvered
so that it transmits 10 to 25% of incident light and reflects the rest so as to
make the rod-resonant cavity.
Basically, ruby crystal is aluminum oxide [Al2O3] doped with 0.05 to 0.5%
of chromium atom.
These chromium atoms serve as activators.
Due to presence of 0.05% of chromium, the ruby crystal appears in pink
color.
The ruby crystal is placed along the axis of a helical xenon or krypton flash
lamp of high intensity.
Fig: Ruby laser

Construction:
Ruby (Al2O3 + Cr2O3) is a crystal of Aluminum oxide in which some of
Al+3 ions are replaced by Cr +3 ions.
When the doping concentration of Cr+3 is about 0.05%, the color of the rod
becomes pink.
The active medium in ruby rod is Cr+3 ions.
In ruby laser a rod of 4cm long and 5mm diameter is used and the ends of
the rod are highly polished.
Both ends are silvered such that one end is fully reflecting and the other
end is partially reflecting.

The ruby rod is surrounded by helical xenon flash lamp tube which
provides the optical pumping to raise the Chromium ions to upper energy
level (rather energy band).
The xenon flash lamp tube which emits intense pulses lasts only few
milliseconds and the tube consumes several thousands of joules of energy.
Only a part of this energy is used in pumping Chromium ions while the rest
goes as heat to the apparatus which should be cooled with cooling
arrangements as shown in fig.
The energy level diagram of ruby laser is shown in fig:
Fig: Energy level diagram of chromium ions in a ruby crystal

Working:
Ruby crystal is made up of aluminum oxide as host lattice with small
percentage of Chromium ions replacing aluminum ions in the crystal
chromium acts as do pant.
A do pant actually produces lasing action while the host material sustains
this action.
The pumping source for ruby material is xenon flash lamp which will be
operated by some external power supply.
Chromium ions will respond to this flash light having wavelength of
5600A0.
When the Cr+3 ions are excited to energy level E3 from E1 the population
in E3 increases.
Chromium ions stay here for a very short time of the order of 10-8 seconds
then they drop to the level E2 which is mat stable state of life time 10-3s.
Here the level E3 is rather a band, which helps the pumping to be more
effective.
The transitions from E3 to E2 are non-radioactive in nature.

During this process heat is given to crystal lattice.

Hence cooling the rod is an essential feature in this method.
The life time in mete stable state is 105 times greater than the lifetime in
E3.
As the life of the state E2 is much longer, the number of ions in this state
goes on increasing while ions.
In this state goes on increasing while in the ground state (E 1) goes on
decreasing.
By this process population inversion is achieved between the exited Meta
stable state E2 and the ground state E1.
When an excited ion passes spontaneously from the metastable state E 2 to
the ground state E1, it emits a photon of wave length 6943A0.
This photon travels through the rod and if it is moving parallel to the axis
of the crystal, is reflected back and forth by the silvered ends until it
stimulates an excited ion in E2 and causes it to emit fresh photon in phase
with the earlier photon.
This stimulated transition triggers the laser transition.
This process is repeated again and again because the photons repeatedly
move along the crystal being reflected from its ends.
The photons thus get multiplied.
When the photon beam becomes sufficiently intense, such that part of it
emerges through the partially silvered end of the crystal.
Drawbacks of ruby laser:
1. The laser requires high pumping power to achieve population inversion.
2. It is a pulsed laser.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) Laser
Construction and Working:
We know that a molecule is made up of two or more atoms bound together.
In molecule in addition to electronic motion, the constituent atoms in a
molecule can vibrate in relation to each other and the molecule as a whole
can rotate.
Thus the molecule is not only characterized by electronic levels but also by
vibration and rotational levels.
The fundamental modes of vibrations of CO2 molecule shown fig.

CO2 Laser is a gas discharge, which is air cooled.

The filling gas within the discharge tube consists primarily of, CO 2 gas
with 10 – 20%, Nitrogen around 10 – 20 % H2 or Xenon (Xe) a few percent
usually only in a sealed tube.
The specific proportions may vary according to the particular application.
The population inversion in the laser is achieved by following sequence:
1. Electron impact excites vibration motion of the N2. Because N2 is a
homo nuclear molecule, it cannot lose this energy by photon
emission and it is excited vibration levels are therefore metestable
and live for long time.
2. Collision energy transfer between the N2 and the CO2 molecule
causes vibration excitation of the CO2, with sufficient efficiency to
lead to the desired population inversion necessary for laser
operation.
Because CO2 lasers operate in the infrared, special materials are necessary
for their construction.
Typically the mirrors are made of coated silicon, molybdenum or gold,
while windows and lenses are made of either germanium or zinc sulenide.
For high power application gold mirrors and zinc selenide windows and
lenses are preferred.
Usually lenses and windows are made out of salt NaCl or KCl.
While the material is inexpensive, the lenses windows degraded slowly
with exposure to atmosphere moisture.
The most basic form of a CO2 laser consist of a gas discharge (with a mix
close to that specified above) with a total reflector at one end and an output
coupler (usually a semi reflective coated zinc selendine mirror) at the
output end.
The reflectivity of the output coupler is typically around 5 – 15 %.
The laser output may be edge coupled in higher power systems to reduce
optical heating problems.

CO2 lasers output power is very high compared to Ruby laser or He – Ne

lasers.
All CO2 lasers are rated in Watts or kilowatts where the output power of
Ruby laser or He – Ne laser is rated in mill watts.
The CO2 laser can be constructed to have CW powers between mill watts
and hundreds of kilowatts.
Helium – Neon Laser [Or] He–Ne Laser

Introduction:
The Helium-Neon laser was the first continuous wave (CW) laser.
It was invented by Ali Javan and his co-workers in 1961 at the Bell
Telephone Laboratory, New Jersey.
The most common and inexpensive gas laser, the helium-neon laser is a
four level laser and usually constructed to operate in the red at 632.8 nm.
It can also be constructed to produce laser action in the green at 543.5 nm
and in the infrared at 1523 nm.

The collimation of the beam is accomplished by mirrors on each end of the

evacuated glass tube which contains about 85% helium and 15% neon gas
at 1/300 atmospheres pressure.
Principle:
The Helium-Neon laser is a four level laser.
The energy level diagram is shown in below figure.
The left side of the representation shows the lower levels of the helium
atoms.
A characteristic of helium is that its first states to be excited, 21S1 and 21S0
are metastable, i.e. optical transitions to the ground state 11S0 are not
allowed.
The atoms can be excited to metastable state by means of electron collision
provided by electric discharge.
Apart from the electron collision, the electric discharge pumping also
supports the atomic collision in which, an excited helium atom reaches
back to the ground state by transferring its energy to excite Ne atom and
creates population inversion in the Ne system.
The population inversion in Ne leads to laser transition.
Fig: Excitation and laser process for the visible laser emission
Construction:
The setup consists of a discharge tube of length 50 cm and bore diameter
of 0.5 cm.
The gain medium of the laser, as suggested by its name, is a mixture of
helium and neon gases, in a ratio 5:1, contained at low pressure (an average
of 1 torr) in a glass envelope.

The energy or pump source of the laser is provided by an electrical

discharge of around 1000 volts 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.
Fig: Diagrammatic representation of He-Ne laser

Working: He-Ne excitation process can be explained in terms of the following
four steps:
1. When the power is switched on, an energetic electron of electric discharge
collisionally excites a He atom to the state labeled 2 1S0. This excited state
is often written as He*(21S0), where the asterisk means that the He atom is
in an excited state.
2. The excited He*(21S0) atom collides with an unexcited Ne atom and
transfers internal energy to it, resulting an excited Ne atom written as
Ne*(3S2). This energy exchange process occurs with high probability only
because of the accidental near equality of the two excitation energy levels
of these two atoms. The excited Ne atom Ne*(3S2) is metastable and no
spontaneous transition directly to the ground state is allowed. Thus,
population inversion is created.
3. When the excited Ne atom passes from metastable state (3s) to lower level
(2p), it emits photon of wavelength 632.8nm. This photon travels through
the gas mixture parallel to the axis of the tube, reflected back and forth by
the mirror ends until it stimulates an excited Ne atom and causes it to emit
a photon of 632.8 nm with the stimulating photon.
4. The stimulated transition from (3s) level to (2p) level is laser transition.

This process is continued and when a beam of coherent radiation becomes

sufficiently strong, a portion of it escape through partially silvered end. The Ne
atom passes to lower level (1s) by spontaneous emission and finally the Ne atom
comes to ground state through collision with tube wall and undergoes radiation
less transition.
Applications:
1. The Narrow red beam of He-Ne laser is used in supermarkets to read bar
codes.
2. The He-Ne Laser is used in Holography in producing the 3D images of
objects.
3. He-Ne lasers have many industrial and scientific uses, and are often used
in laboratory demonstrations of optics.
APPLICATIONS OF LASER
1. Laser is used in optical fiber communication to transmit more information
in less time without any losses.
2. LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is used in calculation of distance
between two long range objects.
3. Due to high intensity of laser beam, it can be used in laser guns, laser
weapons, etc in army, military troops.
4. Laser is used in the cutting technology in large industries to cut thick/hard
materials due to high intensity.
5. The laser technique is used for detection and analysis of finger prints in
documentation.
6. Laser is used for measurement of water vapor concentration, temperature,
humidity, pressure in the atmosphere.
7. Laser is used to detect internal defects in medical field.
8. Laser is used in CD-ROM etc. to record large information.
9. Laser is used in computer printers to get high quality prints.
10.Laser is widely using in the medical field like eye operations, cancer
treatment etc.
11.Laser is used in the holography technique to record 3D pictures.

APPLICATIONS OF LASERS IN VARIOUS FIELDS

Depending on the special characteristics of laser light, it is having tremendous
applications in various filed. The details are as follows:
1. In Communications:
i. Lasers are used in optical fiber communications. In optical fiber
communications, lasers are used as light source to transmit audio, video
signals and data to long distances without attention and distortion.
ii. The narrow angular spread of laser beam can be used for communication
between earth and moon or to satellites.
iii. As laser radiation is not absorbed by water, so laser beam can be used in
under water (inside sea) communication networks.
2. Industrial Applications:
i. Lasers are used in metal cutting, welding, surface treatment and hole
drilling. Using lasers cutting can be obtained to any desired shape and the
curved surface is very smooth.
ii. Welding has been carried by using laser beam.
iii. Dissimilar metals can be welded and micro welding is done with great
case.
iv. Lasers beam is used in selective heat treatment for tempering the desired
parts in automobile industry.
v. Lasers are widely used in electronic industry in trimming the components
of ICs
3. Medical Applications:
i. Lasers are used in medicine to improve precision work like surgery. Brain
surgery is an example of precision surgery Birthmarks, warts and
discoloring of the skin can easily be removed with an unfocussed laser. The
operations are quick and heal quickly and, best of all, they are less painful
than ordinary surgery performed with a scalpel.
ii. Cosmetic surgery (removing tattoos, scars, stretch marks, sun spots,
wrinkles, birthmarks and hairs) see lasers hair removal.
iii. Eye surgery and refracting surgery.
iv. Soft tissue surgery: Co2 Er: YAG laser.
v. Laser scalpel (general surgery, gynecological, urology, laparoscopic).
vi. Dental procedures.

vii. Photo bio modulation (i.e. laser therapy).

viii. “No-touch” removal of tumors, especially of the brain and spinal cord.
ix. In dentistry for caries removal, endodontic/periodontic, procedures, tooth
whitening, and oral surgery.
4. Military Applications: The various military applications are:
i. Death rays: By focusing high energetic laser beam for few seconds to
aircraft, missile, etc can be destroyed. So, these rays are called death rays
or war weapons.
ii. Laser gun: The vital part of energy body can be evaporated at short range
by focusing highly convergent beam from a laser gun.
iii. LIDAR (Light detecting and ranging): In place of RADAR, we can use
LIDAR to estimate the size and shape of distant objects or war weapons.
5. In Computers: By using lasers a large amount of information or data can be
stored in CD-ROM or their storage capacity can be increased. Lasers are also
used in computer printers.
6. In Thermonuclear fusion: To initiate nuclear fusion reaction, very high
temperature and pressure is required. This can be created by concentrating large
amount of laser energy in a small volume. In the fusion of deuterium and tritium,
irradiation with a high energy laser beam pulse of 1 nano second duration
develops a temperature of 10170c, this temperature is sufficient to initiate nuclear
fusion reaction.
7. In Scientific Research: In scientific, lasers are used in many ways including:
i. A wide variety of interferometrie techniques.
ii. Raman spectroscopy.
iii. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy.
iv. Atmospheric remote sensing.
v. Investigating non linear optics phenomena.
vi. Holographic techniques employing lasers also contribute to a number of
measurement techniques.
vii. Laser (LADAR) technology has application in geology, seismology,
remote sensing and atmospheric physics.
viii. Lasers have been used abroad spacecraft such as in the cassini-huygens
mission.




Engineering Physics Unit – V (Chapter – II) Fibre Optics
UNIT – V
CHAPTER – II
FIBRE OPTICS
SYLLABUS
Introduction.
Optical fibre as a dielectric wave guide.
Total internal reflection.
Acceptance angle.
Acceptance cone and Numerical aperture.
Step and Graded index fibres.
Losses associated with optical fibres.
Applications of optical fibres.
INTRODUCTION TO OPTICAL FIBER
Optical fiber is a long cylindrical hair thin structure, which guides the
information carrying light waves.
It consists of three parts: Core, Cladding & Polyurethane protective jacket.
The innermost part is called as core (denser) the next part is called as a
cladding (rarer) and the outer part is called as shield.
Here, the selection of core and cladding depends on their refractive indices.
The refractive index of the core is greater than the refractive index of the
cladding.
The transmission of signal through optical fiber is depends upon the
principle called total internal reflection.

Advantages:
1. Higher band width: Optical fibers can support higher bandwidth and
hence can transfer data at a higher rate.
2. Less signal attenuation: In optical fibers, the signal transmission distance
is greater than the other transmission mediums and signal can travel 60 km
without regeneration.
3. Optical fibers are immune to electromagnetic interference.
4. Optical fiber cables are much lighter than the copper cables.
5. Optical fiber cables are more immune to tapping than the copper cables.
Disadvantages:
1. Installation or maintenance: Since the technology is new and hence
needs expertise to installation and maintenance.
2. Unidirectional: Propagation of light in optical fiber is unidirectional and
hence need two fibers for bidirectional communication.
3. Costly: The optical fiber cables and interconnectors used are relatively
expensive.
PROPAGATION OF LIGHT THROUGH FIBER (OPTICAL FIBER AS A
LIGHT GUIDE [OR] OPTICAL FIBRE AS A DIELECTRIC WAVE
GUIDE)
The main function of the Optical fiber is to accept maximum light and
transmit the same with minimum attenuation.
The incident light enters the core and strikes the interface of the Core and
Cladding at large angles as shown in fig.
Since the Cladding has lower RI than Core the light suffers multiple Total
Internal Reflections.
This is possible since by geometry the angle of incidence at the interface is
greater than the Critical angle.
Since the Total internal reflection is the reflection at the rarer medium there
is no energy loss.
Entire energy is transmitted through the fiber.
The propagation continues even if the fiber is bent but not too sharply.
Since the fiber guides light it is called as fiber light guide or fiber
waveguide.

PRINCIPLE OF OPTICAL FIBER [OR] TOTAL INTERNAL

REFLECTION
The operation of an optical fiber is based on the principle of total internal
reflection.
We know that, when a ray of light passes from one medium to another
medium then at the separation between two mediums the incident ray
bends and travels into another medium. It is called refraction.
Here, the refracted bends towards or away from the normal is depends on
the denser and rarer medium.
In this case, if the incidence angle is increases then refracted angle also
increases; at a particular angle of incidence the angle of refraction becomes
normal or 900. The respective angle of incidence is called critical angle.
If the angle of incidence is increased above the critical angle then there is
no refraction into another medium but there is reflection into same
medium. This phenomenon is called as total internal reflection.
Consider an optical fiber consisting of a core and cladding of refractive
indices n1 and n2 (here n1 > n2).
Let a light ray passes from core to cladding with an angle of incidence ‘i’
and the get refracted with angle of refraction ‘r’.
The refracted ray bends away from the normal as it travels from core to
cladding.
If the angle of incidence is increases then angle of refraction also increases.
Cases:
1. When i < θc, then the incident ray refracts into the core.
2. When i = θc, then the incident ray passes along the interface of core
and cladding.
3. When i > θc, then the light ray will be reflected back into the core
i.e undergoes total internal reflection.

Conditions for total internal reflection:

1. The ray of light must travel from denser medium towards rarer medium.
2. The angle of incidence in the denser medium must be greater than the
critical angle for the pair of the media in contact.
Relation between refractive index and critical angle: Let a ray of light travels
from denser medium of refractive index n1 towards rarer medium of refractive
index n2 with an angle of incidence ic and angle of refraction 90° as shown in Fig
below. Applying Snell’s
Fig: Representation of critical angle
To confine the optical signal in the core, the refractive index of the core must be
greater than that of the cladding to support total internal reflection.

ANGLE OF ACCEPTANCE [OR] ACCEPTANCE ANGLE &

ACCEPTANCE CONE
Consider an optical fiber consisting core of refractive index n1 and cladding

of refractive index n2.
Let a ray of light AO coming from air and is incident at ‘O’ and makes an
angle of incidence θo.
This ray is refracted into the core and passes along the path OB; here the
angle of refraction is θ1.
The ray OB is incident on core-cladding interface with an angle of incident
90 – θ1.
If this angle of incidence is equal to the critical angle in core – cladding
then the angle of refraction is 900.
If the angle of incidence is less than θo then angle of refraction is less than
θ1 and angle of incidence at the core-cladding interface is larger than
critical angle then that ray suffers total internal reflection at the core-
cladding interface.
Hence, all the rays which the core at an angle of incidence less than θo will
have refracting angles less than θ1.
As a result their angles of incidence at the interface between core and
cladding will be more than critical angle.
Then total internal reflection is occurs and the ray propagates through the
fiber.
Equation for acceptance angle can be obtained by applying snell’s law at
the point ‘O’ then,


In order to maintain  to be greater than Critical angle, the angle of

incidence relative to Axis of the fiber (At the launching face) should not be
greater than a value 0.
The ray corresponding to 0 can be used to describe a Conical surface. The
cone formed is called Acceptance cone
NUMERICAL APERTURE
The light gathering capacity of optical fiber is called numerical aperture. It is also
defined as the sine of acceptance angle is called as numerical aperture.

STEP AND GRADED INDEX FIBRES

Depending on the refractive indices of the core and cladding again they are
classified in to two types:
1. Step-index optical fibers.
2. Graded index optical fibers.
1. Step-index optical fiber:
The refractive index is uniform throughout the core of the fiber.
As we go radially in this fiber, the refractive index under goes a step-
changes at the core-cladding interface.
Again, depending on the propagation of light through the fiber it is further
classified into two types:
i. Single mode step-index optical fiber.
ii. Multimode step-index optical fiber.
i. Single mode step index optical fiber:
The core diameter of this fiber is about 8 to 10 μm and outer diameter of
cladding is 60 to 70 μm.
There is only one path for ray propagation. So, it is called single mode step-
index optical fiber.
In this fiber the transmission of light is by successive total internal
reflection.
ii. Multi mode step-index optical fiber
The construction of multimode step index optical fiber is same as that of
single mode optical fiber except that its core and cladding refractive indices
are much larger than single mode.
The core diameter changes from 50 to 200 nm and outer diameter of
cladding is changes from 100 to 250 nm.
The construction of multimode step index optical fiber is shown below:

The number of possible propagation modes in the core is given by the V- number
as,
V = (2π/λ) * a * (N.A)
Where,
λ = wavelength of the light
a = radius of the core
N.A = numerical aperture
2. Graded index fiber:
In this type optical fiber the refractive index core decreases continuously
from the fiber axis to the cladding interface in a parabolic manner.
The refractive index is maximum at the centre and minimum at the surface
of the core.
When light ray enters into the core and moves towards the cladding
interface, then it encounters a more and more rarer medium due to decrease
of refractive index.
As a result, the light ray bends more away from the normal and finally
bends towards the axis and moves the core-cladding interface at the
bottom.
Again, it bends in the upward direction.
Thus, the light due to refraction takes sinusoidal paths.
This fibre is of refractive type.

Differences between Step Index & Graded Index Optical Fibre:

SNO. Step Index Fibre Graded Index Fibre
1. It is of reflective type. It is of refractive type.
2. In this fibre, signal distortion is In this type fibre, signal distortion
high. is very low.
3. Refractive of the core is Refractive index of the core
constant. decreases parabolically.
4. Numerical aperture is more for Numerical aperture is less.
multimode step index fiber.
LOSSES ASSOCIATED WITH OPTICAL FIBRES [OR] ATTENUATION

IN FIBERS
Usually, the power of light at the output end of optical fiber is less than the power
launched at the input end, then the signal is said to be attenuated.
Attenuation: It is the ratio of input optical power (Pi) in to the fiber to the power
of light coming out at the output end (Po).
Attenuation coefficient is given as, α = 10/L log10 Pi/Po db/km.
Attenuation is mainly due to:
1. Absorption.
2. Scattering.
3. Bending.

1. Absorption Losses: In glass fibers, three different absorptions take place.

i. Ultra violet absorption: Absorption of UV radiation around 0.14μm
results in the ionization of valence electrons.
ii. Infrared absorption: Absorption of IR photons by atoms within the glass
molecules causes heating. This produces absorption peak at 8μm, also
minor peaks at 3.2, 3.8 and 4.4μm.
iii. Ion resonance/OH- absorption: The OH- ions of water, trapped during
manufacturing causes absorption at 0.95, 1.25 and 1.39μm.
2. Scattering Losses: The molten glass, when it is converted in to thin fiber
under proper tension creates sub microscopic variations in the density of glass
leads to losses. The dopents added to the glass to vary the refractive index also
leads to the inhomogenities in the fiber. As a result losses occur. Scattering losses
are inversely proportional to λ4
3. Bending Losses: In a bent fiber, there is a loss in power of the transmitted
signal called as Bending Loss. According to the theory of light, the part of the
wave front travelling in cladding (rarer medium) should travel with more velocity
than the wave front in the core (denser medium).
APPLICATIONS OF OPTICAL FIBERS
1. Fiber Optic Communications: Optical fiber is the basic building block for a
fiber optic based network. A model of this simple link is shown in Fig:
Fig: Block diagram of point to point fiber optic communication

The above illustration indicates the Source-User pair, Transmitter and Receiver.
It also clearly shows the fiber optic cable constituting the Transmission Medium
as well as the connectors that provide the interface of the Transmitter to the
Transmission Medium and the Transmission Medium to the Receiver. All of
these are components of the simple fiber optic data link.
Optical fiber can be used as a medium for telecommunication and networking
because it is flexible and can be bundled as cables. It is especially advantageous
for long-distance communications, because light propagates through the fiber

with little attenuation compared to electrical cables. This allows long distances to
be spanned with few repeaters. Additionally, the per-channel light signals
propagating in the fiber have been modulated at rates as high as 111 gigabits per
second. Each fiber can carry many independent channels, each using a different
wavelength of light using a technique called wave length division multiplexing
(WDM).
2. Fiber Optic Sensors: Fibers have many uses in remote sensing. In some
applications, the sensor is itself an optical fiber. In other cases, fiber is used to
connect a non-fiberoptic sensor to a measurement system. Depending on the
application, fiber may be used because of its small size, or the fact that no
electrical power is needed at the remote location, or because many sensors can be
multiplexed along the length of a fiber by using different wavelengths of light for
each sensor, or by sensing the time delay as light passes along the fiber through
each sensor. Time delay can be determined using a device such as an optical time-
domain reflectometer.
Optical fibers can be used as sensors to measure strain, temperature, pressure and
other quantities by modifying a fiber so that the quantity to be measured
modulates the intensity, phase, polarization, wavelength or transit time of light in
the fiber. Sensors that vary the intensity of light are the simplest, since only a
simple source and detector are required. A particularly useful feature of such fiber
optic sensors is that they can, if required, provide distributed sensing over
distances of up to one meter.
Extrinsic fiber optic sensors use an optical fiber cable, normally a multi-mode
one, to transmit modulated light from either a non-fiber optical sensor, or an
electronic sensor connected to an optical transmitter. A major benefit of extrinsic
sensors is their ability to reach places which are otherwise inaccessible. An
example is the measurement of temperature inside aircraft jet engines by using a
fiber to transmit radiation into a radiation pyrometer located outside the engine.
Extrinsic sensors can also be used in the same way to measure the internal
temperature of electrical transformers, where the extreme electromagnetic fields
present make other measurement techniques impossible. Extrinsic sensors are
used to measure vibration, rotation, displacement, velocity, acceleration, torque
and twisting.
3. Applications in medicine and industry: Optical fibers are also useful for
medical applications for visualization of internal portions of the human body.
They can also be used for the examination of visually inaccessible regions for

engineering applications. A typical example of a flexible fiberscope (endoscope)

is shown in Fig.
Use of laser in combination with optical fibers is being exploited not only for the
observation of internal portions but also in the treatment of malignant tissues. A
similar equipment will also be useful to examine parts of machinery which are
otherwise inaccessible to observation.
Optical fibers also find application in the fabrication of sensors which are devices
used to measure and monitor physical quantities such as displacement, pressure,
temperature, flow rate etc.
4. Other Applications of Optical Fibers:
i. Illumination: Fibers are widely used in illumination applications. They are
used as light guides in medical and other applications where bright light needs to
be shone on a target without a clear line-of-sight path. In some buildings, optical
fibers are used to route sunlight from the roof to other parts of the building.
Optical fiber illumination is also used for decorative applications, including signs,
art, and artificial Christmas trees.
ii. Imaging Optics: Optical fiber is also used in imaging optics. A coherent
bundle of fibers is used, sometimes along with lenses, for a long, thin imaging
device called an endoscope, which is used to view objects through a small hole.
Medical endoscopes are used for minimally invasive exploratory or surgical
procedures (endoscopy). Industrial endoscopes (like fiberscope or borescope) are
used for inspecting anything hard to reach, such as jet engine interiors.
iii. Spectroscopy: In spectroscopy, optical fiber bundles are used to transmit light
from a spectrometer to a substance which cannot be placed inside the
spectrometer itself, in order to analyze its composition.
iv. Laser Gain Medium: An optical fiber doped with certain rare earth elements
such as erbium can be used as the gain medium of a laser or optical amplifier.







Engineering Physics Notes - 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Engineering Physics Notes - 2

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Engineering Physics Notes - 2

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

www.android.universityupdates.in | www.universityupdates.in | www.ios.universityupdates.

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Fibre Optics: Introduction, Optical fibre as a dielectric wave guide, Total

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – I Introduction to Mechanics

1|Page Riyaz Mohammed

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – I Introduction to Mechanics

TRANSFORMATION OF VECTORS UNDER ROTATION

Equations for transformation of vectors under rotation about z-axis:

2|Page Riyaz Mohammed

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – I Introduction to Mechanics

2. Electromagnetic force: When an electric charge is moving, it produces

3|Page Riyaz Mohammed

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – I Introduction to Mechanics

NEWTON’S LAWS AND ITS COMPLETENESS IN DESCRIBING

4|Page Riyaz Mohammed

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – I Introduction to Mechanics

FORM INVARIANCE OF NEWTON’S SECOND LAW

5|Page Riyaz Mohammed

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – I Introduction to Mechanics

SOLVING NEWTON’S EQUATIONS OF MOTION IN POLAR

Just as we did with with rectangular and normal-tangential coordinates, we

6|Page Riyaz Mohammed

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – I Introduction to Mechanics

7|Page Riyaz Mohammed

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – II Harmonic Oscillations

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – II Harmonic Oscillations

Fig: Mechanical simple harmonic oscillators

Fig: electrical simple harmonic oscillators

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – II Harmonic Oscillations

The damping force always acts in a opposite directions to that of motion of

b = damping constant which is a positive quantity defined as damping

called the natural frequency of oscillating body.

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – II Harmonic Oscillations

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – II Harmonic Oscillations

The general solution of equation in this case,

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – II Harmonic Oscillations

www.android.previousquestionpapers.com | www.previousquestionpapers.com | www.ios.previousquestionpapers.com

Engineering Physics Unit – II Harmonic Oscillations