 The acronym LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

 LASER generates light by a process called STIMULATED EMISSION.

 Semiconducting laser is multilayer semiconductor device that generates a coherent beam of

light by laser action.

 A coherent beam resulted when all of the photons are in phase.

Absorption occurs when the atom absorbs a photon and an electron moves to a higher energy level.

When atoms are in an elevated energy state, they sometimes enter a lower energy state. When an
electron spontaneously transits to a lower energy level, emitting a random photon of energy E2 –E1= h.

The transition is spontaneous provided that the state with energy E1 is not already occupied by another
electron.

In stimulated emission, an incoming photon of energy stimulates the whole emission process by
inducing the electron to transit between E2 –E1= h. The emitted photon is in phase with the incoming
photon, it is in the same direction, it has the same polarization and it has the same energy.

Physical Interpretation of Stimulated Emission: One can think of the electric field of the incoming
photon coupling to the electron and thereby driving it with the same wavelength as the photon. The
forced oscillation of the electron at a frequency  = (E2 –E1)/h causes it to emit electromagnetic
radiation whose electric field is in total phase with that of the stimulating photon. When the incoming
photon leaves the site, the electron can return to E1 because it has emitted a photon of energy E2 –E1=
h.

Under the conditions of thermal equilibrium given by the Boltzmann distribution (Eqn. 1) the lower
energy level E1 contains more atoms than the upper energy level E2. This situation, which is normal for
structures at room temperature, is illustrated in the following figure:
To achieve optical amplification it is necessary to create a non equilibrium distribution of atoms such
that the population of the upper energy level is greater than that of the lower energy level (i.e.
N2>N1). This condition, which is known as population inversion, is illustrated in the following figure:

 In order to achieve population inversion it is necessary to excite atoms into the upper energy
level E2 and hence obtain a non equilibrium distribution. This process is achieved using an
external energy source and is referred to as ‘pumping’.

 A common method used for pumping involves the application of intense radiation (e.g. from
an optical flash tube or high-frequency radio field).

 In the former case atoms are excited into the higher energy state through stimulated
absorption.

 In a semiconductor laser, population inversion is accomplished by injecting electrons into the

material to fill the lower energy states of the conduction band.
A Fabry-Perot cavity consists of two flat, partially reflecting mirrors that establish a strong longitudinal
optical oscillator feedback mechanism, thereby creating a light-emitting function.

Wavelengths that are integer multiples of half the cavity’s length can resonate, interfering
constructively.Other wavelengths die out eventually.

The distance between the adjacent peaks of the resonant wavelengths in a Fabry-Perot cavity is the free
spectral range (FSR).

If D is the distance between the reflecting mirrors in a device of refractive index n, then at a peak
wavelength λ the FSR is given by

If D is the distance between the reflecting mirrors in a device of refractive index n, then at a peak
wavelength λ the FSR is given by
A Fabry-Perot resonator cavity for a laser diode. The cleaved crystal ends function as partially reflecting
mirrors. The unused end (the rear facet) can be coated with dielectric reflector to reduce optical loss in
the cavity. The light beam emerging from the laser forms a vertical ellipse, even though the lasing spot is
horizontal ellipse.

 Nanosecond & even picoseconds response time (GHz BW)

 Spectral width of the order of nm or less

 High output power (tens of mW)

 Narrow beam (good coupling to single mode fibers)

 In laser diodes, end mirrors provide strong optical feedback in longitudinal direction, so by
roughening the edges and cleaving (sharp cut) the facets, the radiation can be achieved in
longitudinal direction rather than lateral direction.

 The power out from an LED is proportional to cosθ (Lambert’s law).

 On the other hand the power output from a LASER diode is proportional to ‘n to the power of
cosθ’. Here n is a large number. The emission becomes highly directional for larger n.
(a) A double heterostructure diode has two junctions which are between two different band gap
semiconductors (GaAs and AlGaAs).

(b) Simplified energy band diagram under a large forward bias. Lasing recombination takes place in the
p-GaAs layer, the active layer.

(c) Higher band gap materials have a lower refractive index.

(d) AlGaAs Layers provide optical confinement.