2.

Laser physics - basics

Spontaneous and stimulated processes

Einstein A and B coefficients

Rate equation analysis

Gain saturation
 What is a laser?
LASER: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
"light" could mean anything from microwaves to x-rays
Essential elements:
1. A laser medium - a collection of atoms, molecules, etc.
2. A pumping process - puts energy into the laser medium
3. Optical feedback - provides a mechanism for the light to interact
(possibly many times) with the laser medium
 The two-level atom
Quantum
energy levels
excited state

ground state

Absorption: promotes an electron from the ground to the excited state

Emission: drops the electron back to the ground state

"spontaneous emission" - the decay of an excited state to the ground state

with the corresponding emission of a photon

Conservation of energy: Eexcited - Eground = Ephoton

 Three things can occur

Absorption
•Promotes molecule to a higher energy state
•Decreases the number of photons

Spontaneous Emission
•Molecule drops from a high energy state to a lower state
•Increases the number of photons
•This is the only one that does NOT require a photon in
the initial state

Stimulated Emission
•Molecule drops from a high energy state to a lower state
•The presence of one photon stimulates the emission of a
second one
 Relaxation of the two-level atom
An atom in the excited state can relax to the ground state by:
 spontaneous emission: rate is rad
 any of a variety of non-radiative pathways: rate = nr

All of these processes are single-atom processes;

each atom acts independently of all the others.

Thus, evolution of the excited state population only depends

on the number of atoms in the excited state:

dN e
  rad N e   nr N e   10 N e
dt
10 = total spontaneous relaxation rate from state 1 to state 0
 A collection of two-level atoms
"Stimulated transitions" - a collective process involving many two-level atoms

stimulated absorption: light induces a transition from 0 to 1

stimulated emission: light induces a transition from 1 to 0
In the emission process, the emitted photon is
identical to the photon that caused the emission!

Stimulated transitions: likelihood depends on the number of photons around

 How did it all begin?
Rayleigh-Jeans law (circa 1900):
energy density of a radiation field u() = 82kT/c3
Note: the units of this expression are correct. Strictly speaking, u()
is an energy density per unit bandwidth, such that the integral  u   d
gives an answer with units of energy/volume.

Total energy radiated from a black body:  u   d  

uh-oh… the "ultraviolet catastrophe"
Solution: quantum mechanics
Time-dependent perturbation theory
As a result of a perturbation h(t), a system in quantum state 1 makes a
transition to quantum state 2 with probability given by:
t 2
Notation :
1
P12  2 e
iE21t ' 
h  t ' dt ' 21 
E21
 

 Harmonic perturbation
Key example: suppose we subject a two-level system, initially in state 1,
to a harmonic perturbation, of the form:

 0 t0 (and suppose that the frequency of

h t    the perturbation, , is close to 21)
2 A0 sin t t  0
Transition probability to state 2 is:
t 2
2
P12 
A
0


2  e i21t '
 e it '
 e  it '
 dt ' RWA
0
2
sin 21    t / 2   e sin 21    t / 2 
i 21  t / 2 i 21  t / 2
4A 2 e
 0
  
 2 
 21     
  21    

P12  P21
4 A02 sin 21    t / 2  Note that
2

 2 
 21   
2
Absorption and stimulated
emission are equally likely!
 Einstein A and B coefficients
Consider a radiation field and a collection of two-level
systems, in thermal equilibrium with each other.
stimulated emission probability: proportional to the number of atoms in
upper state N2, and also to the number of photons
spontaneous emission probability: proportional to N2, but does not depend
on the photon density!
Note: this is the
W21  A  N 2  B  u   N 2 same as rad
stimulated absorption probability: proportional to the number of atoms in
lower state N1, and also to the number of photons
spontaneous absorption: there is no such thing
W12  B  u   N1

Quantum mechanics says that these two coefficients must be equal!

But: in thermal equilibrium, the upward and

downward transition rates must balance: W12  W21
 Einstein A and B coefficients
N1 A  B  u  
Equate these two rates: 
N2 B  u  
N1
 e 2 1 
E  E kT
But Boltzmann's Law tells us that
(in equilibrium) N2
Recognizing that E2  E1 = h, we solve for u():

AB
u    h
e kT
1
Also has units of energy
This must correspond to the Rayleigh-Jeans result in the density per unit bandwidth
classical limit (h  0), which implies:
A 8 h3

B c3
 rad c3
Since A = rad, we can now solve for B also: B
8 h 3
 Transition rates
Our expression for the downward transition rate is now:
W21  A  N 2  B  u   N 2 Bose-Einstein
distribution
 B 
 A  N 2 1  u   
 A 
But since u   
AB  1
we therefore have W21  A  N 2  1  h kT

h 
e kT
1  e  1 

In other words, W21 is proportional to: 1 + the number of photons.

It is easy to see that the upward transition rate, W12, is

proportional to the number of photons:
 1 
W12  B  u   N1  AN1  h kT 
 e  1 
 Rate equation analysis

e spontaneous emission:
proportional to initial state population

g stimulated transitions:
stimulated spontaneous proportional to initial state population
proportional to photon density np
the same for upwards, downwards transitions

dN e dN g
  eg N e  KnP N e  KnP N g  
dt dt

  eg N e  KnP  N g  N e 
dN e
dt
Note: the constant K is simply
given by h·B, where B is the
Einstein B coefficient
 Rate equation analysis, continued

  eg N e  KnP  N g  N e 
dN e
dt

emitted photons go emitted photons go only into the

in all directions direction of the incident light

So, photon number varies according to:

  KnP  N g  N e    KnP  N
dnP
dt

Number of photons grows exponentially if Ne > Ng

A LASER!
 Rate equation analysis, part 3

In thermal equilibrium:

N e  e E kT  N g  N g

Population inversion is impossible in equilibrium.

In a steady-state situation:

  eg N e  KnP  N g  N e   0
dN e
dt
KnP
Ne  Ng  Ng
 eg  KnP

Population inversion is impossible in steady-state.

 So how do you make a laser?
Four-level system Steps 1 and 2:
Combine to give an effective
3
Non-radiative pumping rate for level 2: Rp
decay
Step 3:
2
stimulated transitions due to np
Pump Lasing transition
spontaneous decay rate: 21
1
Non-radiative Step 4:
decay spontaneous decay rate: 10
0

dN 2
 R p   21 N 2 + Kn p ( N 1  N 2 )
dt
dN1
  21 N 2  Kn p ( N 1  N 2 )   10 N 1
dt
dN 0
  10 N 1  R p
dt
 The four-level model
Steady-state solution:
RP   21   10 
N  N1  N 2   
 10   21  KnP 

Population inversion (i.e., N < 0) is assured if 10 > 21

(even if np = 0, and even if Rp is small)

A necessary condition for lasing

Other necessary conditions:

• a resonant cavity - provides feedback
• net gain per round trip > net loss per round trip - “threshold”
 Saturation in the four-level atom

RP   21   10   21   10  1 
N        RP 1  W  
 10   21  KnP  21 10  sig 21 

• population inversion when 2 > 1
• small signal inversion is proportional to N 0 Knp 1/21
the pump rate
• inversion level drops when Wsig > 21
1
• the characteristic intensity for this effect is
independent of pump rate Rp

N/N0
0.8

0.6
"gain saturation" 0.4

Note: Wsig is proportional to nP and therefore to the 0.2

intensity of the light in the medium. Thus, we can
0
define a saturation intensity Isat such that: 0 2 4 6 8 10

Wsig 21
Wsig 21  I I sat