He – Ne Laser

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Helium – Neon Laser Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

Dr. ANANT KUMAR SINHA

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
DEPTT. OF PHYSICS
A.M. COLLEGE, GAYA
 Contents
• About Helium
• About Neon
• About Helium Neon LASER
• Construction of He-Ne LASER
• Working of He-Ne LASER
• Advantages of He-Ne LASER
• Disadvantages of He-Ne LASER
• Applications of He-Ne LASER
• References
 Helium
Symbol: He
Atomic mass: 4.002602 u
Atomic number: 2
Electron configuration: 1s²

WHY HELIUM IS USED IN LASER?

• The direct excitation of Neon gas is
inefficient, but the direct excitation of He gas REMEMBER
atoms is very efficient. Helium gas does not
• Also, An excited state of the He atom has an
energy level which is very similar to the energy
participate in the lasing
of an excited state of the Neon atom. process, but increases the
excitation efficiency
 Neon
Symbol: Ne
Atomic mass: 20.1797 u
Atomic number: 10
Electron configuration: [He] 2s²2p⁶

WHY NEON IS USED IN LASER?

Neon is used in laser to produce light as It
is capable to produce light when it gets
energy from Excitation of Helium.
 Helium Neon Laser
• Helium Neon Laser consists of 90%
Helium and 10% Neon atom inside it.
• It has pressure of about 1 torr inside of
a small electrical discharge.
• This Laser light gives light of 632.8 nm.
• It gives emission light in continuous
beam of laser.
• This is due to population inversion.
 Construction of He-Ne Laser

• The construction of laser consist of three essential components :

High Voltage PowerSource Gain Medium ResonatingCavity

( Mixture of He & Ne)
Construction of He-Ne LASER
 High Voltage Power Supply

• To produce Laser beam, Population

Inversion is essential.
• Population Inversion is process of
achieving more electrons in higher
energy states as compared to lower
energy states.
• As it is quite unstable condition, we
need to supply high enough energy
from source.
• This can be achieved by these high
voltage power supply.
 Gain Medium

• This is just a mixture of 90% He gas and

10% of Ne gas.
• Partial pressure of He is 1 mbar and that of
Ne is 0.1 mbar.
• As He is in more proportion we would have
to first excite the low energy states of
Helium atoms.
• In He-Ne Lasers , neon atoms are active
centers (atom which produces light).
• Thus, we try to excite Ne atoms by exciting
helium atoms.
 Resonating Cavity
• This cavity is a glass tube with two
mirrors placed opposite to each other.
• One mirror is partially silvered and
other one is fully silvered.
• This is called Resonating Cavity
because the small portion of produced
light oscillated between these two
mirrors.
• While oscillating this beam get
strengthen up and finally after getting
enough strength the ray comes out
from one side.
Working of He-Ne LASER
 Working of He – Ne Laser
1. As power switches on , a high voltage is
applied across gas mixture. ( 10kV
approx. )
1. This high voltage DC produces energetic
electrons that travel through gas mixer.
1. Thus, electrons accelerated between
anode and cathode through the gas
mixture.
2. Due to these Helium atoms get excited.
3. Lower state electrons of Helium atoms
gain enough energy and jumps into the
excited states or metastable states.
 Working of He – Ne Laser

1. Metastable state electrons of the helium

atoms cannot return to ground state by
spontaneous emission.
1. Thus ,They can return to ground state by
transferring energy to the lower energy
state of electrons of neon atoms.
2. The lower energy state electrons of neon
atoms gain enough energy and jumps
into higher energy states or metastable
states.
 Working of He – Ne Laser
1. When millions of electrons of neon excited to
the metastable states, we would achieve
population inversion state.
1. After this state ,electrons of neon atoms will fall
into next state with lower energy which is called
spontaneous emission.
2. Thus photons are emitted by this transition.
3. These photons oscillates back and fourth
between two mirrors until it stimulates other
excited electrons of the neon atoms and cause
them to emit light.
Finally Optical Gain isAchieved.
 Working of He – Ne Laser

This process of photon emission is called stimulated

emission of radiation.

The light or photons emitted

stimulated emission will
escape through the partially
reflecting mirror or output
coupler to produce laser light.
 Advantages of He-Ne Laser

• Operates without damages at high temperature.

• Highly Stable
• Economic (cheaper)
• Light emission in visible region.
 Disadvantages of He-Ne Laser

• Low Efficiency
• Low gain
• These lasers are limited to low power tasks.
 Application of He – Ne Laser

• These Lasers are used to

demonstrate optics
experiment in laboratories.
• These laser is also most
commonly used in
holography.
Pointing beams

Barcode Scanners
 Application of He – Ne Laser

Particle counting and Particle sorting

Non-contact
measuring and
monitoring

Tool alignment