Physics 2113

Jonathan Dowling

Optics and Laser

 Optics
 Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and
properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the
construction of instruments that use or detect it

Light has both particulate and wavelike characteristics

– Photon - a quantum unit of light
hc
E  h 

E  energy of a photon
  wavelength of radiation

  frequency of radiation
h  Planck’ s constant (6.62 x 10 34 J  s)
c  speed of light in a vacuum (3.00 x 108 m/s)
 The Wave Nature of Light

c    E  h 
The speed of light is constant
 Refraction
 The change in direction of a wave (light) passing from one
medium to an other medium.
 Transmitted light distorts electron clouds.
electron
no cloud
transmitted transmitted
+ + distorts
light light

 The velocity of light in a material is lower than in a vacuum.

c (velocity of light in vacuum)
n = index of refraction 
v (velocity of light in medium)
-- Adding large ions (e.g., lead) to glass
decreases the speed of light in the glass. Material n
-- Light can be “bent” as it passes through a Typical glasses 1.5 -1.7
transparent prism Plastics 1.3 -1.6
PbO (Litharge) 2.67
Diamond 2.41
Selected values from Table 21.1,
Callister & Rethwisch 8e.
 Total Internal Reflectance
n1 sin2
n2 < n1 
2 n2 sin 1
n2 φ1 = incident angle
n1 φ2 = refracted angle
 φc = critical angle
c φc exists when φ2 = 90°
1 For φ1 > φc light is internally
reflected

 Fiber optic cables are clad in low n material so that light will experience total

internal reflectance and not escape from the optical fiber.
 Example: Diamond in air
 What is the critical angle c for light passing from diamond (n1 =
2.41) into air (n2 = 1)?

• Solution: At the critical angle, 1  c

and 2 90

n1 sin 2
Rearranging the equation 
n2 sin 1

n2 n2
sin 1  sin c  sin(90) 
n1 n1
Substitution gives


1
sin c  c  24.5
2.41
 Huygen’s Principle
 Every point on a propagating wavefront serves as the source of
spherical wavelets, such that the wavelets at sometime later is the
envelope of these wavelets.
 If a propagating wave has a particular frequency and speed, the
secondary wavelets have that same frequency and speed.

“Isotropic”
 Diffraction

 Diffraction – Bending of light into the shadow region

 Grimaldi - 17th Century observation of diffraction
a
 Diffraction vs. Refraction?
Superposition of waves

Constructive Destructive
Interference Interference
 Conditions for Interference

To observe interference in light waves, the

following two conditions must be met:
1) The sources must be coherent
 They must maintain a constant phase with respect to
each other
2) The sources should be monochromatic
 Monochromatic means they have a single wavelength
Young’s Experiment
 Young (1800) set up an experiment to
demonstrate the wave nature of light.

 A monochromatic beam of light is incident

on a single slit S0. This acts as a source of
wavefronts onto two slits S1 and S2.

 The coherent waves interfere with each

other forming a pattern of light and dark
bands on a screen some distance from the
two slits.
 Young’s Experiment
Maxima occur when:

S2 m  2   r1  r2  m
m  1

d m0 sin  
m  1
d
S1 m  2   dsin   m
maxima

Minima occur when:

 1
s   r1  r2   m   
r2  2
S2

y
d  1
S1 r1   d sin    m   
 2
  r1  r2
 Resulting Interference Pattern

 The light from the two slits

forms a visible pattern on a
screen
 The pattern consists of a series
of bright and dark parallel
bands called fringes
 Constructive interference
occurs where a bright fringe
occurs
 Destructive interference results
in a dark fringe
 Geometry of Young’s two slit experiment
 The triangle S1S2Q means that: S1Q = d sinθ
 If the screen is at a distance R which is much larger than the separation d of the
two slits (R could be a few metres and d a few millimetres) then r1 and r2 are
nearly parallel to each other and θ is small:
If R  d  r2  r1  d sin 
 y  R tan   R sin  if  is small

d sin  = r2- r1
S1
Q Intensity
d  
 r2
S2
y
r1
P

R
 Constructive interference: bright fringes

r2  r1  d sin  m  m 

ym  R sin  m  R  m , m  0,1,2,
d
Destructive interference: dark fringes

 1
r2  r1  d sin    m   
 2
 1
ym  R sin  m  R m   , m  0,1,2,
 2d
Example 35-1:
In a two slit interference experiment, the slits are 0.20 mm apart, and the screen at a
distance of 1.0 m. The third bright fringe (not counting the central bright fringe) is
displaced by 7.5 mm. Find the wavelength of light used.

Third fringe: m=3, R=1.0 m, d=0.2 mm, R>>d

 ym  d
ym  R  m    
d Rm
7.5  10 3  0.2  10 3
 500  10 9 m  500 nm
1.0  3
Another possibility: m= -3  ym= -7.5 mm

 7.5  10 3  0.2  10 3
 9
 500  10 m  500 nm
1.0  ( 3)
 Diffraction Grating
 A diffraction grating consists of a large number of equally spaced
narrow slits or lines. A transmission grating has slits, while a reflection
grating has lines that reflect light.
 The more lines or slits there are, the narrower the peaks.
 Diffraction Grating
The maxima of the diffraction pattern are defined
by
 Doppler Effect
 Doppler effect in physics is defined as the increase (or decrease) in the frequency of
sound, light, or other waves as the source and observer move towards (or away
from) each other.

 Waves emitted by a source travelling towards an observer get compressed. In

contrast, waves emitted by a source travelling away from an observer get stretched
out. Doppler first proposed the Doppler Effect (Doppler Shift) in 1842.
Example:
A police car is parked by the side of the highway, sounding its 1000 Hz siren. If you are
also parked by the highway, you will hear that same frequency. However, if there is
relative motion between you and the police car, either toward or away from each
other, you will hear a different frequency. For example, if you are driving toward the
police car at 120 km/h, you will hear a higher frequency (1096 Hz, an increase of 96
Hz). If you are driving away from the police car at that same speed, you will hear a
lower frequency (904 Hz, a decrease of 96 Hz).
 The LASER
 The laser generates light waves that are in phase (coherent)
and that travel parallel to one another

– LASER
• Light
• Amplification by
• Stimulated
• Emission of
• Radiation

 Operation of laser involves a population inversion of energy

states process
 Population Inversion
 More electrons in excited energy states than in ground states

Fig. 21.14, Callister & Rethwisch 8e.

 Types of Laser
 Solid state Laser : Ruby, Nd:YAG, Nd:glass
 Gas Laser: He-Ne, Argon ion and CO2
 Semiconductor Laser
 Tunable dye Laser
 Ruby Laser
 First laser to be operated successfully
 Lasing medium: Matrix of Aluminum oxide doped with chromium ions
 Energy levels of the chromium ions take part in lasing action
Working:
Ruby is pumped optically by an intense flash lamp
This causes Chromium ions to be excited by absorption of Radiation around 0.55
µm and 0.40µm
 Ruby lasers…..
 Chromium ions are excited to levels E1 and E2
 Excited ions decay non-radiatively to the level M – upper lasing level
 M- metastable level with a lifetime of ~ 3ms
 Laser emission occurs between level M and ground state G at an output wavelength
of 0.6943 µm
 One of the important practical lasers
 Has long lifetime and narrow linewidth
 (Linewidth – width of the optical spectrum or width of the power Spectral density )
 He-Ne laser
 Laser medium is mixture of Helium and Neon gases in the ratio 10:1
 Medium excited by large electric discharge, flash pump or continuous
high power pump
 In gas, atoms characterized by sharp energy levels compared to solids
 Actual lasing atoms are the Neon atoms

Pumping action:
Electric discharge is passed through the gas, Electrons are accelerated,
collide with He and Ne atoms and excite them to higher energy levels
 He-Ne laser
 Helium atom accumulates at levels F2 and F3
 Levels E4 and E6 of neon atoms have almost same energy as F2 and F3
 Excited Helium ions collide with Neon atoms and excite them to E4 and E6
 Transitions:
 Transition between E6 and E3 produce 6328 A line output
 From E3 to E2 spontaneous emission takes place – 6000 A
 E2 – metastable state – tends to collect atoms
 From E2 atoms relax back to ground level
 The CO2 Laser
 Lasers discussed above – use transitions among various excited electronic
states of an atom or ion

 CO2 laser – uses transition between different vibrational states of CO2

molecule

 One of the earliest Gas lasers

 Highest power continuous wave laser currently available

 The filling gas within the discharge tube consists primarily of:
 Carbon dioxide
 Hydrogen
 Nitrogen
 Helium
 (proportions vary according to a specific laser)
 The CO2 Laser
 Electron impact excites vibrational motion of the nitrogen.
 Collision energy transfer between the nitrogen and the CO2 molecule causes
vibrational excitation of the carbon dioxide.
 Excite with sufficient efficiency to lead to the desired population inversion
necessary for laser operation.
 Laser transition occurs at 10.6µm
 CO2 laser possesses an extremely high efficiency
 Atomic quantum efficiency
 Ratio of energy difference corresponding to the laser transition to
the energy difference of the pump transition
 Atomic quantum efficiency is very high for a CO2 laser
 Large portion of input power is converted into useful output power
 Output power of several watts to several kilowatts can be obtained
 Continuous Wave Lasers
 Continuous wave (CW) lasers generate a continuous (rather than pulsed) beam
 Materials for CW lasers include semiconductors (e.g., GaAs), gases (e.g.,
CO2), and yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG)
 Wavelengths for laser beams are within visible and infrared regions of the
spectrum
 Uses of CW lasers
1. Welding
2. Drilling
3. Cutting – laser carved wood, eye surgery
4. Surface treatment
5. Scribing – ceramics, etc.
6. Photolithography
 Semiconductor Lasers
 Apply strong forward bias across
semiconductor layers, metal, and
heat sink.
 Electron-hole pairs generated by
electrons that are excited across
band gap.
 Recombination of an electron-
hole pair generates
a photon of laser light

electron + hole  neutral + h

recombination ground state

photon of light
 Semiconductor Laser Applications
 Compact disk (CD) player
– Use red light
 High resolution DVD players
– Use blue light
– Blue light is a shorter wavelength than red light so it
produces higher storage density
 Communications using optical fibers
– Fibers often tuned to a specific frequency
 Banks of semiconductor lasers are used as flash lamps to
pump other lasers