CO

2
Laser
Sung Park
Partner: Cassandra VanOutryve
December 12, 2005
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this lab is to generate a laser using CO
2
. The CO
2
laser emission
comes from the transition between dierent vibrational modes: asymmetric stretch to
symmetric stretch (001 to 100) and asymmetric stretch to symmetric bending (001
to 020). Each vibrational mode has multiple rotational energy levels. During the
vibrational transition, rotational angular momentum can lose (R branch transition)
or gain (P branch transition). The laser output power vs. wavelength plot shows
dierent population of transition in CO
2
laser.
1. Introduction
The purpose of this lab is to understand lasing mechanism and generate a continuous-wave
(CW) carbon dioxide laser. The word laser stands for The Light Amplication by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation. Photons stimulate excited electrons to emit another photon of same fre-
quency and phase. The photons will amplied and create an intense narrow beam of coherent
monochromatic light.
In order to achieve the optical gain, the gas medium must satisfy the population inversion. It
is when there is more population on the ground state then excited state. This lab will use carbon
dioxide as a laser medium and the nitrogen molecules as a buer. Nitrogen molecule is a diatomic
particle which only has one vibrational mode that is almost same energy level as CO
2
s asymmetric
stretch mode of vibration (state 001). So in a collision between N
2
and CO
2
, N
2
s vibrational
energy can be translated to CO
2
s 001 state. N
2
molecules make more excite CO
2
molecules at the
end.
The CO
2
laser involves transition between its vibrational-rotational transitions. CO
2
vibra-
tional energy levels are very close to the ground state it provides better quantum eciency. Each
vibration energy level has rotational energy level which is ner. Rotational energy level at higher
vibrational energy will de-excite to the lower vibration energy of dierent rotation energy level.
When change of the rotational energy level is + is P branch transition and is called R branch
transition.
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Fig. 1. The Simplied Rotation Energy Level Transitions
The gas mixture inside the tube has more CO
2
population on the asymmetric stretch mode
of vibration (001 state). Two stimulated emissions can occur. One of the stimulated emission at
10.6m, that is asymmetric CO
2
(001 state) go to symmetric stretch mode of vibration (100 state).
The other emission at 9.6m which CO
2
molecule goes to symmetric bending mode of vibration
(020 state).
Fig. 2. The Vibration Energy Level Transitions
By placing mirrors each end of the laser tube, photons will reect back to the tube and
oscillate. This feedback will drive the photon amplication in the laser system. In order to make
the system oscillate in coherent manner, the optical cavity created by two mirrors must match
the wavelength of the laser.
To decrease the loss of photons from reection, two Brewsters angled windows are placed end
of the tube. Only one polarization of light passes through the Brewsters angled window and it has
no loss, therefore, the laser system can maintain more gain then its loss from the reection.
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So far, the CO
2
laser is conned inside the optical cavity. By simply replacing one of the
mirrors to a partially reecting mirror, some amount of the CO
2
laser can ow outside the optical
cavity. When too much photon leaves the system, the laser system cannot maintain high gain and
stop lase. So the partially reecting mirror must reect more light than how much photons can
pass through.
2. Equipments
The CO
2
laser equipments are in 287 LeConte. Next to the window side of the wall, two
current regulators and the high voltage (HV) power supply are in a large rack. These equipments
will provide current through the laser tube. CO
2
and N
2
mixture gas tanks are next to the window
too. Next to the entrance, there are water ow levers and its power. Before power up the CO
2
laser equipments, water must ow to cool the equipments.
A large air bearing table located center of the room. On the table, a spectrum analyzer, three
mirrors, a helium-neon(HeNe) laser, UV light, beam nders, a power meter, and the laser system
inside a thick plastic case.
Two mirrors are used to direct HeNe laser to the CO2 laser tube and one mirror is the back
mirror to create the optical cavity. A black light (UV) lamp is used to nd the infrared laser beam
using the beam nders. The spectrum analyzer is used to see dierent waves that construct the
laser beam.
Fig. 3. The Laser Tube Image (from the lab manual)
Following equipments are inside the plastic case: an output mirror, a diraction grating, and
the laser tube. The output mirror is a partially reecting mirror that reects the most of photons
back to the optical cavity and output some of the beam. The diraction grating is used to separate
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and focus on selected wavelengths. The laser tube has two NaCl Brewster-angle windows on the
each ends. The laser tube has two cavities inside. The inner cavity has gas input, gas output,
cathode, and anode. So electrons can travel through the gas and collide. Outer cavity is lled with
water for cooling purpose and it has water input and water output.
3. Procedures
The CO
2
laser experiment requires precise alignment. First, align every component linear and
level. The CO
2
laser is invisible and dangerous to work with, so it is good to use the HeNe laser to
align the CO
2
laser equipments. The most important parts of the equipments are two mirrors that
create the optical cavity. The two mirrors at the ends of the optical cavity must reect a beam
back-and-forth many times without striking the other part of the components.
Fig. 4. Gas Lines and Valves (Image from the lab manual)
Next step is to pump in the CO
2
and N
2
gas mixture into the tube. The laser tube is not
perfectly vacuum tight so the system must be ushed before feed in the gas mixture. To ush
the system, close the gas tank valve and open up valve 1, 2, and 3. The pressure gauge shows
the pressure inside the tube and it can go down to 1.0mm of mercury (Hg). Now feed in the gas
mixture; close the valve 1 and 2, and then open the gas tank valve. The valve 2 can control how
much of gas to feed into the tube and valve 1 controls how much of gas pumped out from the tube.
Open the valve 2 and valve 1 in same time, and then adjust pressure to settle between 8mm Hg
5
and 20 mm Hg.
The laser tube generates a lot of heat; tube must be cooled using the water. Turn on the
water-supply faucet in 286 LeConte. In the CO2 laser room, turn Red outow valve then turn Blue
inow valve. Now push the red button on the gray metal box on the wall, hold it until the red light
on the box turns on. Now water is owing through the walls of the laser tube to cool.
Turn on the both current regulators set the currents around the 10mA on both regulators.
Make sure the power stat knob on the high voltage power supply is all the way down to zero, and
then turn on the power supply. Wait about 30 seconds, and then press the HV interlock buttons
on both of the regulators. The red light next to the HV interlock button will come on.
Slowly turn up the power stat knob on the HV power supply. At some point, the voltmeters
on the current regulators jump up and the laser tube glows in purple or pink. Continue to turn the
power stat knob so the whole tube glows without ickering. In order to lase, tube should glow in
pink. If tube glows in purple, increase the ow of the gas by open up both valve 1 and 2.
By placing the power meter in front of the output mirror, you can measure the output power
of CO
2
laser. Adjust the output mirror and the back mirror once again to maximize the output
power of the CO2 laser.
The CO
2
laser have laser emission on many wavelengths due to its vibrational and rotational
mode. The spectrum analyzer displaces what wavelength emissions are in the laser. Remove the
power meter and let the laser fall into the spectrum analyzer. Use the beam nder to nd the CO
2
laser beam. Turn on the UV light and turn o other lights. Beam nders glow under UV light, but
when CO
2
laser heats up the beam nder, heat prevents beam nders from glowing.
A diraction grating inside the plastic case let you select what wavelength to focus. Vary the
wavelengths and measure the output power and make a plot of output vs. wavelength.
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4. Analysis
In a normal resistor, resistance is linear (V=IR) but the gas discharge doesnt act the same
way as an ordinary resistor. No matter what the current is voltage remains constant even in the
dierent gas pressures.
Fig. 5. I-V Curves
Higher HV power input is needed when the laser medium has high pressure and when the
mirrors are not aligned well. At 10mm Hg pressure, back-mirror-side of the tube is on at 6kV,
at 7kV output-mirror-side of the tube is on and the tube glows unstably. At 14mm HG, 8kV HV
power input is require making the tube glow. Higher the gas pressure, higher voltage threshold.
At the same pressure but with slightly miss-aligned mirrors, 10kV of HV power input is required
to lase. The threshold voltage increases when mirrors are not aligned.
At the lasing threshold, laser output power is very unstable (jumpy). It uctuated about 1.
Using the spectrum analyzer, I observe bright line appears on 10.52m, 10.58/mum, 10.6m, and
10.64m alternatively. This must the source of the unstable power output. When I increase the
HV input power, only 10.58m line appears and of course power output is stable too.
At 14.5mm Hg gas pressure, only 10.58m line appears in the spectrum analyzer. At 10.8mm
Hg, only 10.58m line can be observed. Occasionaly other lines ashes: 10.6m, 10.52m, and
10.64m. When the table is pressed, nothing changes.
With the diraction grating, I am select lines to measure its power output. Without using
the diraction grating, only 10.58m line appeared. Replace the back mirror with the diraction
grating; it is possible to focus on more than 40 dierent lines. Due to inaccurate measurements, it is
dicult to see the trend. Luckly, there are 4 clear peaks: 9.28m, 9.58m, 10.28m, and 10.6m.
9.28m wavelength corresponds to the R branch transition (lose /hbar) of vibrational transition
from 001 to 020. 9.58m wavelength is the P branch (gain /hbar) of vibrational transition from
001 to 020. 10.28m and 10.6m corresponds to R and P branch transtion of vibrational transition
from 001 to 100.
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Fig. 6. Maximum Power Output vs. Lasing Wavelength
Total 44 lines are observed and it is very tedious work. Each line requires re-alignment of the
output mirror to maximize its output power. 4 hours of lab time is not enough to go through all
the lines. My plot is combined data of two days worth of measurements. On the rst day, line from
10.16m to 10.82m are measured. On the second day, line from 9.26m to 9.71m are measured.
For some reason, even with the same settings, higher HV power is required to lase on the second
day. Line 10.6m line have 9W power output and on the rst day it was 6W. By multiplying 3/2
on every data points on the rst day, I can get the power output corrected data of the day 1.
Data point of 9.3m line is supposed to be around 8W instead of 1W that I have measured.
There are couple data points with large errors. The main source of the error must be related with
the interference pattern created by the diraction grating. What I have observed must be the one
of the higher order maxima.
9.28m 9.54m
.6W 3.7W
3.5W 6.6W
4.7W 6.8W
5W 7.5W
8W 7.8W
8.3W 8.4W
Table 1: Interference Maximas Power Output
The second largest source of the error is from reading the power output. Two errors are related
to the reading. I wont be able to measure exactly same line with exactly same power output. I
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notice the power output varies over the time. In this case, power output can continue to decrease
or reach the stable power output. Lets measure 10.57m line and its power output over and over
again.
Initial Reading 5.2W 5.5W 5.2W 5.2W 5.6W 5.4W 5.6W
After 1 minute 4.4W 4.2W 4.8W 5.2W 4.7W 5.3W 4.3W
P 0.8W 1.3W 0.4W 0W 0.9W 0.1W 1.3W
Table 2: Output Power Variation Over 1 Minute
The power output of the line 10.57m is 5.39 0.07W. After 1 minute the power output
decrease by 0.69 0.2W.
The CO
2
laser has poor eciency that is less than 5%. For 10.58m lines (P(18) line)
eciency drops as input power increases. But for 10.59m line (P(20) line), eciency increases as
input power increases and reach the maximum eciency of 4.5% and decrease rapidly.
Fig. 7. Eciency Curves
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5. Conclusion
The CO
2
laser uses photons from the vibrational energy level transition. N
2
makes CO
2
population inversion on an asymmetric stretch mode of vibration. CO
2
quickly drops to the lower
vibrational energy state and release photons: to symmetric stretch mode (10.6m emission line), or
to symmetric bending mode (9.6m emission line). Each vibrational level contains ner rotational
energy level to produce many more emission lines. During the vibraitional transition, rotational
energy can be change by . These are P and R branch transitions.
6. References
1. CO
2
Laser Lab Manual
2. High Power Carbon Dioxide Lasers, Patel, C.K.N.;Scientic American: Aug.1968,pp.23-34
3. Laser Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser
4. Stimulated Emission Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stimulated emission