LASER

LIGHT AMPLIFICATION BY STIMULATED EMISSION OF

RADIATION

Dr.S.Revathi
 Laser Properties

 The light emitted from a laser is monochromatic, that is, it is of one

color/wavelength. In contrast, ordinary white light is a combination of many
colors (or wavelengths) of light.

 Lasers emit light that is highly directional, that is, laser light is emitted as a
relatively narrow beam in a specific direction. Ordinary light, such as from a
light bulb, is emitted in many directions away from the source.

 The light from a laser is said to be coherent, which means that the
wavelengths of the laser light are in phase in space and time. Ordinary
light can be a mixture of many wavelengths.

2
Incandescent vs. Laser Light

1. Many wavelengths 1. Monochromatic

2. Multidirectional 2. Directional
3. Incoherent 3. Coherent

3
 Laser - Characteristics
o The term Laser stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission
of Radiation.
o Could be mono-chromatic (one colour).
o It is coherent in nature. (I.e. all the wavelengths contained within the
Laser light have the same phase).The main advantage of Laser over other
light sources
o A pumping source

o It had well defined threshold current beyond which lasing occurs

o At low operating current it behaves like LED

o Mostly operates in the near-infrared region

 Laser - Basic Operation
o Based on stimulated light emission

mirror 1 mirror 2

“LED” coherent light

R = 0.99 R = 0.90

Three steps required to generate a laser beam

are:
• Absorption
• Spontaneous Emission Current density:
• 104 A/cm2 down to 10 A/cm2
• Stimulated Emission
 Absorption

When a photon with certain energy is incident on an electron in a semiconductor

at the ground state(lower energy level E1 the electron absorbs the energy and
shifts to the higher energy level E2.
The energy now acquired by the electron is Ee = hѵ= E2 - E1.

E2 E2

E1 E1
Initial state
E2

E1
Excited electron
final state
 Spontaneous Emission
• E2 is unstable and the excited electron(s) will return back to the
lower energy level E1

• As they fall, they give up the energy acquired during absorption

in the form of radiation, which is known as the spontaneous emission
process.

E2 E2
Photon
E1 E1
Initial state
 Stimulated Emission
• But before the occurrence of this spontaneous emission process, if external
stimulation (photon) is used to strike the excited atom then, it will stimulate the
electron to return to the lower state level.

• By doing so it releases its energy as a new photon. The generated photon(s) is

in phase and have the same frequency as the incident photon.

• The result is generation of a coherent light composed of two or more

photons.

• In quantum mechanic – Two process: Absorption and Stimulated emission

E2 E2 Ee = hf

Ee = hf Ee = hf
Coherent light
Ee = hf
E1 E1
Principles of Laser
h 32
E E E E
3 3 3 3

h 13
E E E E
2 2 2 2
Metastable IN OUT
state
h 21 h 21

E Coherent photons
E 1 E E
1 1 1

(a) (b ) (c) (d )

• In actual case, excite atoms from E1 to E3.

• Exciting atoms from E1 to E3 optical pumping .
• Atoms from E3 decays rapidly to E2 emitting h3
• If E2 is a long lived state, atoms from E2 will not decay to E1 rapidly
• Condition where there are a lot of atoms in E2 population inversion achieved!
i.e. between E2 and E1.
 Lasing Action Diagram

Excited State

Spontaneous
Energy Emission

Metastable State
Introduction

Stimulated Emission
of Radiation
Energy

Ground State
10
 Condition for stimulated emission
• Under thermal equilibrium the lower energy level E1 of the two-level atomic
system contains more atoms than the upper energy level E2
• 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 is known as population inversion
 Achieving stimulated emission
• To achieve population inversion it is necessary to excite atoms into the upper
energy level E2. This process is called pumping
• Pumping takes many forms, including flash tube, light from other lasers and
electrical current
• The two-level system is not suitable for population inversion
• When the two levels equally degenerate (or non degenerate), then B12 = B21
the probabilities of absorption and stimulated emission are equal, providing
equal populations in the two levels
 Population Inversion

Three level system: Ruby Laser Four level system: He-Ne Laser
Population Inversion
• Non equilibrium distribution of atoms among the
various energy level atomic system
• To induce more atoms in E2, i.e. to create
population inversion, a large amount of energy is
required to excite atoms to E2
• The excitation process of atoms so N2 > N1 is called
pumping
• It is difficult to attain pumping when using two-
level-system.
• Requires 3-level system instead
Population Inversion in
Diode Laser More electrons in
the conduction
band near EC
CB
EFn
Electrons in CB

eV Eg
Than electrons in
Holes in VB the valance band
EFp near EV
VB

EFn-EfP = eV
There is therefore a population inversion between
eV > Eg
energies near EC and near EV around the junction.
eV = forward bias voltage
This only achieved when degenerately doped p-n
Fwd Diode current pumping  junction is forward bias with energy > Egap
injection pumping
Population Inversion in Diode Laser
Energy

Optical gain EF n  EF p
CB
EF n
Electrons
Ec in CB
eV 0 h
Eg
Ev Holes in VB
= Empty states At T > 0
EF p
VB At T = 0
Optical absorption
Density of states
(a) (b)

(a) The density of states and energy distribution of electrons and holes in
the conduction and valence bands respectively at T  0 in the SCL
under forward bias such that E Fn  E Fp > E g . Holes in the VB are empty
states. (b) Gain vs. photon energy.
© 1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
Laser Diode Principle

Consider a p-n junction

In order to design a laser diode, the p-n
junction must be heavily doped.
In other word, the p and n materials must
be degenerately doped
By degenerated doping, the Fermi level of
the n-side will lie in the conduction band
whereas the Fermi level in the p-region will
lie in the valance band.
Diode Laser Operation
p+ Junction n+
E
c
p+ n+
E
g eV E E
o c Fn
Inversion E
E region c
E
Ev Holes in VB E g eV
Fp Electrons Electrons in CB E Fn
c
E
Fp

E
( a) v (b)

•P-n junction must be degenerately doped. V

•Fermi level in valance band (p) and
conduction band (n).
•No bias, built n potential; eVo barrier to stop
electron and holes movement
•Forward bias, eV> Eg
•Built in potential diminished to zero
•Electrons and holes can diffuse to the space
charge layer
Application of Forward Bias

Suppose that the degenerately doped p-n

junction is forward biased by a voltage
greater than the band gap; eV > Eg
The separation between EFn and EFp is now
the applied potential energy
The applied voltage diminished the built-in
potential barrier, eVo to almost zero.
Electrons can now flow to the p-side
Holes can now flow to the n-side
 For Successful Lasing Action:
1. Optical Gain (not absorb)
Achieved by population inversion

2. Optical Feedback
Achieved by device configuration
Needed to increase the total optical amplification by making
photons pass through the gain region multiple times
Insert 2 mirrors at each end of laser
This is termed as an oscillator cavity or Fabry Perot cavity
Mirrors are partly transmitted and party reflected
 Optical Feedback
• Light amplification in the laser occurs when a photon colliding with an atom
in the excited energy state causes the stimulated emission of a second
photon and then both these photons release two more.

• Continuation of this process effectively creates avalanche multiplication

• when the electromagnetic waves associated with these photons are in

phase, amplified coherent emission is obtained.
Optical resonator

Active Region
Output light

M1 M2

Excitation
mechanism
 Optical Feedback
• To achieve this laser action it is necessary to contain photons within the laser
medium and maintain the conditions for coherence.

• This is accomplished by placing or forming mirrors (plane or curved) at either

end of the amplifying medium.

• The optical cavity formed is more analogous to an oscillator than an amplifier

as it provides positive feedback of the photons by reflection at the mirrors at
either end of the cavity.
 Laser Threshold
• To start stimulated emission photons
must be present, normally provided by
spontaneous emission

• However lasing does not take place at all

pump energies, because cavity loss can
reduce net gain below 1.

• Cavity losses include absorption and

scattering in the active material and at
the mirrors, as well as light output from
the mirrors.

• To overcome this the pump energy must

reach a threshold, the so-called laser
threshold
 Lasing action and frequency
• Ultimately as stimulated emission and gain builds up in the Laser, a saturation
point is reached and the optical output is constant.

• Saturation is reached when the gain in the medium exactly equals the losses
in the medium (such as absorption etc.)

• Gain only occurs over a narrow range of frequencies, centred on the

stimulated emission transition energy Et, also called the broadened laser
transition

• Other oscillation frequencies within the spectral band result from frequency
variations due to thermal motion of atoms (Doppler broadening) and atomic
collisions.
 Longitudinal Modes
• Since this structure forms a resonant cavity, when sufficient population
inversion exists in the amplifying medium the radiation builds up and
becomes established as standing waves between the mirrors.

• To exist, a standing wave must have a frequency such that the optical path
length between the mirrors is an integer number of half wavelengths.
• The optical path length is nL, where L is the physical path length and n is the
cavity refractive index
• These standing waves, called cavity longitudinal modes, are at frequencies
derived from the relationship between L and the wavelength given by:
when L is along the longitudinal
axis of the structure and the frequencies are known as the longitudinal or axial modes
Reflection of Photons Back and
Forth, Higher Gain
Fabry-Parrot Cavity

The photons vibrates

to and forth with
resonant wavelength
Complete laser Spectrum
Threshold condition for Laser
Oscillation
1. The steady state condition for laser oscillation is
Achieved when gain in the amplifying medium exactly
balances the total losses.(by population inversion)

2. For initiated and sustained laser oscillations

A minimum or threshold gain within the amplifying medium
must be attained.
This threshold gain may be determined by considering the
energy of a light beam as it passes through.
Threshold condition for Laser
Oscillation
All the losses except due to transmission through the mirrors
may be included in the single loss coefficient per unit length

r1 and r2 reflectivities of the two

mirrors L Length of the amplifying
medium

gain coefficient per unit length produced by stimulated

emission

• Hence the threshold gain per unit length is reduced to

• Second term represents transmission loss through the mirrors

 The threshold current density for stimulated emission is related to the threshold
gain coefficient for the laser cavity as

gth= βJth

The mirror reflectivities r1 and r2 may be calculated using Fresnel reflection relationship.
Spectrum from a laser Diode

 (  0 ) 
g ( )  g (0) exp    : spectral width
 2 
2
 Semiconductor injection Laser
• Also called the injection laser diode (ILD) or simply the injection
laser
• Stimulated emission by recombination of injected carriers is
encouraged in the semiconductor injection Laser by the provision
of an optical cavity in the crystal structure in order to provide the
feedback of photons
Advantages
• High radiance due to the amplifying effect of stimulated emission(mW of
output power).
• Narrow linewidth of 1nm or less which reduces the effects of material
dispersion.
• Modulation capabilities which extend upto GHz range.
• Relative temporal coherence which is considered essential to allow
heterodyne(coherent) detection in high capacity systems.
• Good spatial coherence which allows the output to be focused by a lens into a
spot.
 GaAs homojunction injection laser
• The cleaved ends of the crystal acts as partial mirrors in order to
encourage stimulated emission in the cavity when electrons are
injected into the p-type region.
• These devices have a high threshold current density (greater than 104
A cm-2) due to their lack of carrier containment and proved inefficient
light sources
• Devices operated at 300K were utilized for Pulsed mode operations
 Heterojunction structures
• Improved carrier containment and thus lower threshold current
densities (around 103 A cm-2)

• Provides both carrier and optical confinement

• The devices are thus enabled with appropriate heat sinking and to be
operated in a continuous wave mode at 300 K

• Stripe geometry DH laser configurations are used to provide reliable

CW operation and provides further carrier and optical confinement.
A broad-area DH injection laser
 DH Laser
• The DH Laser provides optical confinement in the vertical
direction.
• Lasing takes place across the whole width of the device.
• The sides of the cavity are simply formed by roughening the edges
of the device- to reduce unwanted emission in these directions
and limit the number of horizontal transverse modes
• Problems
 Difficult heat sinking
 Lasing from multiple filaments in the relatively wide area
 Unsuitable light output geometry for efficient coupling to the fibers.

• How to overcome these problems?

 By using laser structures in which active region does not extend to
the edges of the device.
 Introduce stripe geometry to the structure to provide optical
confinement in the horizontal plane.
Stripe geometry
 Stripe geometry
• In a DH stripe contact laser the major current flow through the
device and hence the active region is within the stripe.

• The stripe is formed by the creation of high resistance areas on

either side by proton bombardment or oxide isolation.

• The stripe therefore acts as a guiding mechanism which

overcomes the major problems of broad area device.

• The output beam divergence is typically 45o perpendicular to the

plane of the junction and 9o parallel to it.
• The typical stripe width may be 2 to 65 µm.

• DH stripe geometry structure has been widely utilized for optical

fiber communications.
 Stripe geometry
• With correct balance of guiding, strip geometry provides single
transverse mode operation , whereas the broad area device tends to
allow multimode operation in the horizontal plane.
 Efficiency
• Differential Quantum efficiency - Ratio of increase in the photon output
rate for a given increase in the number of injected electrons.
Pe optical power emitted from the device
I  current, echarge on the electron hf
photon energy
Egbandgap energy expressed in eV.

• For CW semiconductor laser usually has values in the range 40 to 60 %.

• Internal Quantum efficiency

• Ranges between 50 to 100%.

 Efficiency
• Total efficiency
 Problem

Solution: