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2.1 Lasers

The document discusses lasers and optical fibers. It describes the principles of lasers including stimulated emission and population inversion which are required for laser action. It also discusses optical fiber structure, modes of propagation, and applications in communication systems and medical endoscopy.

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18 views20 pages

2.1 Lasers

The document discusses lasers and optical fibers. It describes the principles of lasers including stimulated emission and population inversion which are required for laser action. It also discusses optical fiber structure, modes of propagation, and applications in communication systems and medical endoscopy.

Uploaded by

Vaibhavi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Module-2: Lasers and Optical fibers

 Lasers: Principle of laser, Einstein coefficients, conditions for


laser action, Types of Lasers, Construction and working principle
of CO2 laser, Applications of Laser: welding, cutting, drilling,
remote sensing.
 Self-Learning Topics: Semiconductor Lasers, Applications of
Laser: holography, laser cooling and trapping.
 Optical fibers: Structure, principle, acceptance angle,
acceptance cone and Numerical Aperture, types of optical fibers,
modes of propagation, losses in optical fibers. Applications - fiber
optic communication system, Medical Endoscope.
 Self-Learning Topic: Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors.
What is a LASER?
 LASER is the acronym for Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
 Laser is a light source of high intensity, monochromatic,
coherent and a parallel beam of light.
Characteristics / Properties of Laser
➢ Monochromatic :

Laser is a highly monochromatic beam of light as all the photons emitted are
from a single similar transition.

3
➢Directionality

➢The laser can travel as parallel beam up to a distance of d2 / l


➢ d- is the diameter of the aperture
➢ l is the wavelength of the laser
➢Coherent

➢ If the phase difference between the two waves is constant


with position and time then they are said to be coherent

➢Coherence is the most important property which


distinguish the laser light from other types of light.
➢Highly intense

➢The intensity of laser is so much high that, the light from 1 mW


He-Ne laser is 100 times more intense than the light starting
from the surface of the sun.

➢Focussability

 Laser can be focused using lens.


 The diameter of the focused spot will be close to the wavelength
of the focused light.
 Ex: He:Ne laser can be focused to nearly 6823Å spot.
Principle of LASER
 When radiation interacts with the matter, there will be a change in
the quantum system of the matter.

 When radiation of frequency, [ν = (E2 – E1)/h] interacts with the


system, there is a transition in the system.
 There are three possible ways of interaction of photon with matter.

 Absorption

 Spontaneous Emission

 Stimulated Emission
Absorption

 When an atom which is in E1 state absorbs the photon of


energy, i.e. hν = (E2 – E1), it excites to a higher energy
level (E2)
 atom + photon (h ν) = atom*
 atom* represents an atom in excited state.
Spontaneous Emission

 An atom which is in an excited state (E2) emits the photon


and makes a transition to a lower energy state (E1) without
any external aid.
 atom* = atom + photon (h ν )

 The emitted photons have random nature (Incoherent).


Stimulated Emission

 An atom which is in an excited state (E2) emits the photon under the
influence of stimulating photon of energy hν = (E2 – E1) and makes a
transition to a lower energy state (E1)
 atom* + photon (h ν) = atom+2 photons (h ν)
 The two photons (Stimulating photon and stimulated photon)
emerging out are in the same direction, phase, energy and frequency.
 Hence they are ‘Coherent Photons’.
Einstein’s coefficients: Expression for energy
density at thermal equilibrium.
 Consider a system of two energy levels E1& E2
containing N1& N2 number of atoms per unit volume,
respectively.

 Under thermal equilibrium, total energy of the system


remains constant.

 Number of transitions from E1 to E2 = Total number of


transitions from E2 to E1

 The rate of absorption = The rate of emission of light.

Rate of absorption / emission : The number of transitions per sec. per unit volume
 Transition from E1 to E2 can occur through Induced absorption

 Transition from E2 to E1 can occur either through spontaneous


emission or stimulated emission

 Case -1: Absorption

 Rate of induced absorption, 𝑅12 ∝ 𝑁1


 ∝ 𝜌𝜈 ρv - Energy density of radiation

 Thus, 𝑅12 = 𝐵12 𝜌𝑣 𝑁1 …….. (1)

 B12 - Einstein’s coefficient of absorption. ( the probability of


absorption per unit time.)
Case -2: Spontaneous emission

Rate of spontaneous emission, 𝑅21 (𝑆𝑃) ∝ 𝑁2

𝑅21 (𝑆𝑃) = 𝐴21 𝑁2 …….. (2)

Where, A21 - Einstein’s coefficient of spontaneous emission.

𝐴21 is the probability per unit time that the atoms will
spontaneously fall to the ground state.
 Case -3: stimulated emission

 Rate of stimulated emission, 𝑅 (𝑆𝑇) ∝ 𝑁2


21

∝ 𝜌𝑣

 𝑅21 (𝑆𝑇) = 𝐵21 𝜌𝑣 𝑁2 ------- (3)


 B21 - Einstein’s coefficient of stimulated emission.
 𝐵21 is the probability per unit time that the atoms undergo transition
from E2 to E1 by stimulated emission.
 Under thermal equilibrium condition
 Rate of absorption = Rate of emission

 B12N1 𝜌𝑣 = A21N2 + B21N2 𝜌𝑣


 𝐵12 𝜌𝑣 𝑁1 − 𝐵21 𝜌𝑣 𝑁2 = 𝐴21 𝑁2
𝐴21 𝑁2
 𝜌𝑣 = …….. (4)
𝐵12 𝑁1 −𝐵21 𝑁2

Dividing both Nr and Dr by 𝑁2 𝐵21

𝐴21
𝐵21
 𝜌𝑣 = 𝐵12 𝑁1 ……. (5)
−1
𝐵21 𝑁2
From Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics, number of atoms (N) in a
given energy level is given by

−𝑬𝟏ൗ −𝑬
( 𝟐ൗ𝒌𝑻)
𝑵𝟏 = 𝒆 𝒌𝑻 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝟐 = 𝒆
𝑵𝟏 −𝐄 +𝐄 )
( 𝟏 𝟐 ൗ𝒌𝑻)
=𝒆
𝑵𝟐
𝐄 −𝐄
= 𝒆( 𝟐 𝟏ൗ𝒌𝑻)
(𝐡𝝂ൗ𝒌𝑻)
=𝒆 ----------- (6)

Substituting equation (6) in (5), we get


𝑨𝟐𝟏 𝟏
𝜌𝑣 = 𝒉𝝂 --------------- (7)
𝑩𝟐𝟏 𝑩𝟏𝟐
𝑩𝟐𝟏
𝒆 𝒌𝑻 −𝟏
 From Planck’s law of Radiation

𝑨𝟐𝟏 𝟏
𝟖𝝅𝒉𝝂𝟑 𝟏 𝜌𝑣 =
 𝜌𝑣 = 𝒉𝝂 ---------- (8) 𝑩𝟐𝟏 𝑩𝟏𝟐 𝒉𝝂
𝑪𝟑
𝒆 𝒌𝑻 −𝟏
𝑩𝟐𝟏 𝒆 𝒌𝑻 − 𝟏

 Comparing with Planck’s law of radiation


 Comparing equations (7) & (8), we find
𝑨𝟐𝟏 𝟖𝝅𝒉𝝂𝟑

𝑩𝟐𝟏
= 𝒄𝟑
and
𝑩𝟏𝟐

𝑩𝟐𝟏
=𝟏
 i.e. B12= B21

 which means the number of stimulated emission is generally


equal to number of induced absorption.
Conditions for laser operation
 Meta stable state
 In the excited state, atoms stay only for 10-8s.
 Metastable states are intermediate states
where the lifetime of atoms is ≈ 10-3s.
 This property will help in achieving population inversion.
 Population inversion
 The condition where the number of atoms in the higher energy level
exceeds number of atoms in lower level.

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