Gas laser

A gas laser is a laser in which an electric current is discharged through a gas to produce coherent light. The
gas laser was the first continuous-light laser and the first laser to operate on the principle of converting
electrical energy to a laser light output. The first gas laser, the Helium–neon laser (HeNe), was co-invented
by Iranian-American physicist Ali Javan and American physicist William R. Bennett, Jr. in 1960. It
produced a coherent light beam in the infrared region of the spectrum at 1.15 micrometres.

Contents
Types of gas laser
Chemical lasers
Excimer lasers
Ion lasers
Metal-vapor lasers
Advantages
Applications
See also
References

Types of gas laser

Gas lasers using many gases have been built and used for many purposes.

Carbon dioxide lasers, or CO2 lasers can emit hundreds of kilowatts[1] at 9.6 µm and 10.6 µm, and are often
used in industry for cutting and welding. The efficiency of a CO2 laser is over 10%.

Carbon monoxide or "CO" lasers have the potential for very large outputs, but the use of this type of laser is
limited by the toxicity of carbon monoxide gas. Human operators must be protected from this deadly gas.
Furthermore, it is extremely corrosive to many materials including seals, gaskets, etc.

Helium–neon (HeNe) lasers can be made to oscillate at over 160 different wavelengths by adjusting the
cavity Q to peak at the desired wavelength. This can be done by adjusting the spectral response of the
mirrors or by using a dispersive element (Littrow prism) in the cavity. Units operating at 633 nm are very
common in schools and laboratories because of their low cost and near perfect beam qualities.

Nitrogen lasers operate in the ultraviolet range, typically 337.1 nm, using molecular nitrogen as its gain
medium, pumped by an electrical discharge.

TEA lasers are energized by a high voltage electrical discharge in a gas mixture generally at or above
atmospheric pressure. The acronym "TEA" stands for Transversely Excited Atmospheric.

Chemical lasers
Chemical lasers are powered by a chemical reaction, and can achieve high powers in continuous operation.
For example, in the hydrogen fluoride laser (2.7–2.9 µm) and the deuterium fluoride laser (3.8 µm) the
reaction is the combination of hydrogen or deuterium gas with combustion products of ethylene in nitrogen
trifluoride. They were invented by George C. Pimentel.

Chemical lasers are powered by a chemical reaction permitting a large amount of energy to be released
quickly. Such very high power lasers are especially of interest to the military. Further, continuous wave
chemical lasers at very high power levels, fed by streams of gasses, have been developed and have some
industrial applications.

Excimer lasers

Excimer lasers are powered by a chemical reaction involving an excited dimer, or excimer, which is a short-
lived dimeric or heterodimeric molecule formed from two species (atoms), at least one of which is in an
excited electronic state. They typically produce ultraviolet light, and are used in semiconductor
photolithography and in LASIK eye surgery. Commonly used excimer molecules include F2 (fluorine,
emitting at 157 nm), and noble gas compounds (ArF [193 nm], KrCl [222 nm], KrF [248 nm], XeCl
[308 nm], and XeF [351 nm]).[2]

Ion lasers

Argon-ion lasers emit light in the range 351–528.7 nm. Depending on the optics and the laser tube a
different number of lines is usable but the most commonly used lines are 458 nm, 488 nm and 514.5 nm.

Metal-vapor lasers

Metal-vapor lasers are gas lasers that typically generate ultraviolet wavelengths. Helium-silver (HeAg)
224 nm neon-copper (NeCu) 248 nm and helium-cadmium (HeCd) 325 nm are three examples. These lasers
have particularly narrow oscillation linewidths of less than 3 GHz (500 femtometers),[3] making them
candidates for use in fluorescence suppressed Raman spectroscopy.

The Copper vapor laser, with two spectral lines of green (510.6 nm) and yellow (578.2 nm), is the most
powerful laser with the highest efficiency in the visible spectrum.[4]

Advantages
High volume of active material
Active material is relatively inexpensive
Almost impossible to damage the active material
Heat can be removed quickly from the cavity

Applications
He-Ne laser is mainly used in making holograms.
In laser printing He-Ne laser is used as a source for writing on the photosensitive material.
He-Ne lasers were used in reading Bar Codes, which are imprinted on products in stores. They
have been largely replaced by laser diodes.
Nitrogen lasers and excimer laser are used in pulsed dye laser pumping.[5]
 Ion lasers, mostly argon, are used in CW dye laser pumping.[5]

See also
Gas dynamic laser
Brewster window
List of laser types

References
1. "Air Force Research Lab's high power CO2 laser" (https://web.archive.org/web/200706071012
50/http://www.afrlhorizons.com/Briefs/Feb04/ML0315.html). Defense Tech Briefs. Archived
from the original (http://www.afrlhorizons.com/Briefs/Feb04/ML0315.html) on 2007-06-07.
2. Schuocker, D. (1998). Handbook of the Eurolaser Academy. Springer. ISBN 0-412-81910-4.
3. "Deep UV Lasers" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070701004933/http://www.photonsystems.c
om/pdfs/duv-lasersource.pdf) (PDF). Photon Systems, Covina, Calif. Archived from the original
(http://www.photonsystems.com/pdfs/duv-lasersource.pdf) (PDF) on 2007-07-01. Retrieved
2007-05-27.
4. Endo, Masamori; Walter, Robert F. Gas Lasers. p. 451. ISBN 9781420018806.
5. Duarte, F. J. (2003). Tunable Laser Optics. Elsevier Academic. ISBN 0-12-222696-8.

Yariv, Amnon (1989). Quantum Electronics (3rd ed.). Wiley. ISBN 0-471-60997-8.
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=r2pmAAAAEBAJ&dq=3,149,290 Patent #3,149,290

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