III.

Types of lasers

1. CLASSIFICATIONS AND PROPERTIES OF LASER

Lasers come in many shapes and sizes. They are classified by various criteria:
 Gain medium is solid, liquid or gas
 Wavelength is in the infrared, visible or ultraviolet spectral region
 Mode of operation is continuous or pulsed
 End or side pumping processes
 Wavelength is fixed or tunable.
The present state of the art includes:
 Peak power > 1012 W;
 Pulses shorter than 10−15 s;
 Cheap, efficient diode lasers available at blue (400 nm), red (620–670nm),
and near-infrared wavelengths (700–1600nm;(

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Laser wavelength Ranges
 Infrared:
CO2 (10.6 μm), erbium (1.55 μm),
Nd:YAG (1.064 μm), Nd:glass (1.054 μm)
 Visible:
ruby (693nm), Kr+ (676, 647 nm),
HeNe (633 nm), Cu (578 nm),
Ar+ (514, 488 nm), HeCd (442 nm)
 Ultraviolet:
Ar+ (364, 351 nm), tripled Nd:YAG (355 nm),
N2 (337 nm) HeCd (325 nm),
quadrupled Nd:YAG (266 nm),
excimer (308, 248, 193, 150 nm
 Tuneable lasers: Is a laser whose wavelength of operation can be altered in a
controlled manner
• Dye (range ~ 100 nm, dyes available from UV to near infrared)
• Ti: sapphire (700–1000 nm, doubled: 350–500nm)
• Free electron (far infrared to ultraviolet).
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 Properties of Laser light
1. Monochromatic.
Laser light is monochromatic; it consists of one color or a
narrow range of colors. Ordinary light has a much wider
range of wavelengths of colors.
2. Coherent
Laser light is highest coherent (spatially and temporally) light present.
3. Directionality.
laser light is emitted as a narrow beam and in a specific
direction. This contrasts with light bulbs and discharge
lamps, in which the light is emitted in all directions.
The directionality is a consequence of the cavity.
4. Brightness
Light is emitted in a well-defined beam means that the power per unit area is very
high, even though the total amount of spectrum of the active atomic transition.
This means that the spectral brightness (i.e. the intensity in the beam divided by
the width of the emission line) is even higher in comparison with a white light
source like a light bulb. For example, the spectral brightness of a 1 mW laser beam
could easily be millions of time greater than that of a 100 W light bulb.

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 Continuous and Pulsed Lasers
Lasers can be made to operate continuously or in pulses. So far we have only
considered continuous lasers, but many lasers in fact operate in a pulsed mode.
Powerful pulsed flash lamps can give rise to very large pumping rates, with
correspondingly large output pulse energies, especially when using a trick called
Q-switching.

In pulsed laser, the losses in the cavity are kept artificially high by some external
method. This prevents lasing and allows the build up of very large population
inversion densities. If the losses are suddenly reduced, a very powerful pulse will
build up because of the very high gain in the cavity.

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 End and Side Pumping
In addition to the high beam quality, end
pumping also makes it possible to achieve
a high efficiency (usually higher than
achieved with side pumping). For these
reasons, most diode-pumped solid-state
lasers, particularly those with lower output
powers, are end-pumped.
Disadvantages of end-pumped laser designs are that pump light can be injected
only from only two directions, that the optical intensity and crystal temperature
vary along the beam direction, and that this approach leads to constraints on the
beam quality of the pump source. Therefore, end pumping often cannot be used
for high-power lasers
In side pumping, high laser output is produced.
This is because of the high area of the input photons
to excite atoms, allowing more atoms to be excited
and accordingly share in the lasing process. Another
advantage is that the absorbed pump power can be
smoothly distributed in the longitudinal direction.

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 2. Multi-level lasers
Three-Level Lasers
In a three-level laser,
consider a group of N atoms,
randomly exist in any of
three energy states, levels
E1<E2<E3, with populations
N1, N2, and N3, respectively.
At thermal equilibrium, the
majority of the atoms will be
in the ground state, i.e., N1 ≈
N, N2 ≈ N3 ≈ 0.
If the atoms are excited by light or electric discharge of a frequency
1
𝜐13 = 𝐸3 − 𝐸1
𝑕
will excite (pump) the atoms from the ground state to level 3, such that N3 > 0.
In a medium suitable for laser operation, we require these excited atoms to
quickly decay to level 2. The energy released in this transition may be emitted as a
photon (spontaneous emission).

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 • An atom in level 2 may decay by spontaneous emission to the ground state,
releasing a photon of frequency ν12 (given by E2 – E1 = hν12), which is shown
as the transition L, called the laser transition in the diagram.
• If the lifetime of the transition, 2 → 1 τ21 is much longer than the lifetime of
the 3 → 2 transition τ32 (τ21 ≫ τ32), the population of the E3 will be
essentially zero (N3 ≈ 0) and a population of excited state atoms will
accumulate in level 2 (N2 > 0).
• If over half the N atoms can be accumulated in this state, this will exceed the
population of the ground state N1. A population inversion (N2 > N1 ) has thus
been achieved between level 1 and 2, and optical amplification at the
frequency ν21 can be obtained.

Because at least half the population of atoms must be excited from the ground
state to obtain a population inversion, the laser medium must be very strongly
pumped. This makes three-level lasers rather inefficient, despite being the first
type of laser to be discovered (based on a ruby laser medium, by Theodore
Maiman in 1960). In practice, most lasers are four-level lasers, described below.

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Four-Level Lasers
In this system, there are four energy
levels, E1<E2<E3<E4, and
populations N1, N2, N3, N4,
respectively. The pumping transition
P excites the atoms in the ground
state (level 1) into the pump band
(level 4). From level 4, the atoms
again decay by a fast transition Ra
into the level 3.
Since the lifetime of the laser transition L is long compared to that of Ra (τ32 ≫
τ43), a population accumulates in level 3 (the upper laser level), which may relax
by spontaneous or stimulated emission into level 2 (the lower laser level). This
level likewise has a fast decay Rb into the ground state.
In a four-level system, any atom in the lower laser level E2 quickly de-excite,
leading to a negligible population in that state (N2 ≈ 0). This is important, since
any appreciable population accumulating in level 3, the upper laser level, will
form a population inversion with respect to level 2. That is, as long as N3 > 0, then
N3 > N2 and a population inversion is achieved. Thus optical amplification, and
laser operation, can take place at a frequency of ν32 (E3-E2 = hν32).

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 JAVA
Applet for
LASER
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 3. Gas lasers
He-Ne Laser
A helium–neon laser or He-Ne laser, is a type of gas laser whose gain medium consists of a
mixture of helium and neon inside of a small bore capillary tube, usually excited by a DC
electrical discharge. The best known and most widely used He-Ne laser operates at a
wavelength of 632.8 nm in the red part of the visible spectrum.

The gain medium of

the laser, as suggested
by its name, is a
mixture of helium and
neon gases, in
approximately a 10:1
ratio, contained at low
pressure in a glass
envelope.

The gas mixture is mostly helium, so helium atoms can be excited. The excited helium
atoms collide with neon atoms, exciting some of them to the state that radiates 632.8 nm. A
neon laser with no helium can be constructed but it is more difficult. The energy source of
the laser is provided by a high voltage electrical discharge pass through the gas between
anode and cathode.

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 A DC current of 20 mA is required for CW operation.
The optical cavity of the laser consists of two concave
mirrors or one plane and one concave mirror. When
electrical discharge pass through the gas, electrons
accelerates through the tube and collide with helium
and neon atoms and excite them to higher energy levels.

The helium atoms are excited to levels F2 and

F3. Since the levels E4 and E6 of neon atoms
have almost the same energy as F2 and F3,
excited helium atoms colliding with neon
atoms in the ground state can excite the neon
atoms to E4 and E6. Since the He atoms are 10
times Ne atoms, then population inversion
occurs in the Ne atoms and lasing action
happens by transition of Ne electrons in
• E6 to E5 with wavelength 3.391 µm IR
• E6 to E3 with wavelength 633 nm Red
• E4 to E3 with wavelength 1.152 µm IR

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 Usage of He-Ne Laser
• Interferometry, holography and spectroscopy
• barcode scanning,
• Scientific and optical systems alignment,
• optical demonstrations.
• internal laser surgery against polyps and other growths
• Stimulating hair growth
• cutaneous applications (related to skin medical treatments)
Related Lasers: Helium cadmium
The population inversion scheme in He-Cd is similar to that in He-Ne except that the active
medium is Cd+ ions. The laser transitions occur in the blue and the ultraviolet at 442, 354
and 325 nm. The UV lines are useful for high precision printing on photosensitive
materials. Examples include lithography of electronic circuitry and making master copies
of compact disks.
Argon ion (Ar+) Lasers
Population inversion is achieved in a two-step process. First, the electrons in the tube collide
with argon atoms and ionize them. The Ar+ ground state has a long lifetime and some of the
Ar+ ions are able to collide with more electrons before recombining with slow electrons. This
puts them into the excited states. Due to fine structure (spin-orbit coupling) this is actually a
doublet. The two emission lines are at 488 nm (blue) and 514.5 nm (green). Several other
visible transitions are also possible, making Ar+ lasers very good for colorful laser light
shows.

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 CO2 Laser
The CO2 laser is one of the best examples of a molecular laser invented in 1964. Carbon
dioxide lasers are the highest-power continuous wave lasers that are currently available.
The active laser medium is a gas discharge which is air-cooled (water-cooled in higher
power applications).
The filling gas within the discharge tube consists primarily of:
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) (around 10–20%)
• Nitrogen (N2) (around 10–20%)
• Hydrogen (H2) and/or xenon (Xe)
• Helium (He) (The remainder of the gas mixture)
CO2 laser uses the transitions occurring between different vibrational states of the carbon
dioxide molecule. The carbon dioxide molecule consists of a central carbon atom with
two oxygen atoms attached one on either side. Such a molecule can vibrate in the three
independent modes of vibration shown. These correspond to the symmetric stretch, the
bending, and the asymmetric stretch modes. Each of these modes is characterized by a
definite frequency of vibration. These vibrational degrees of freedom are quantized.

Symmetric stretching Bending Asymmetric stretching

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 Thus if we call ν1 the frequency corresponding to the symmetric stretch mode then the
molecule can have energies of 𝐸1 = 𝑚 + 1 𝑕𝜈1 , m=0, 1 ,2 , . .
2
only when it vibrates in the symmetric stretch mode.
Thus the degree of excitation is
characterized by the integer m when the
carbon dioxide molecule vibrates in the
symmetric stretch mode. In general,
since the carbon dioxide molecule can
vibrate in a combination of the three
modes the state of vibration can be
described by three integers (mnq); the
three integers correspond, respectively,
to the degree of excitation in the
symmetric stretch, bending, and
asymmetric stretch modes.

When stimulated by an electric current, nitrogen molecules in the gas mixture become
excited. Nitrogen is used because it can hold this excited state for long periods of time
without discharging the energy. The high-energy of the nitrogen in turn excite the carbon
dioxide molecules by collision. At this point, the laser achieves population inversion. For
the laser to produce a beam of light, the CO2 atoms must lose their excited state by releasing
energy in the form of photons.

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 The CO2 laser possesses an extremely high efficiency of ∼30%. This is because of efficient
pumping to the (001) level. Thus the atomic quantum efficiency which is the ratio of the
energy difference corresponding to the laser transition to the energy difference of the pump
transition, i.e.,
𝐸5 − 𝐸4
𝜂=
𝐸5 − 𝐸1

Output powers of several watts to several kilowatts can be obtained from CO2 lasers. High-
power CO2 lasers find applications in materials processing, welding, hole drilling, cutting,
etc., because of their very high output power. In addition, the atmospheric attenuation is low
at 10.6 μm which leads to some applications of CO2 lasers in open air communications.

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 4. Solid-State lasers
Ruby Laser
A ruby laser is a solid-state laser that uses a synthetic ruby crystal as its gain medium. The
first working laser was a ruby laser made by Maiman on 1960.
• Ruby lasers produce pulses of visible light at a wavelength of 694.3 nm, with a very
narrow linewidth of 0.53 nm, which is a deep red color.
• Typical ruby laser pulse lengths are on the order of a millisecond.
• The ruby laser is a three level solid state laser. The active laser medium (laser
gain/amplification medium) is a synthetic ruby rod that is energized through optical
pumping, typically by a xenon flashtube.
• Ruby, which is the lasing medium, consists
of a matrix of aluminum oxide in which
some of the aluminum ions are replaced by
chromium ions around 0.05% of the
crystal. It is the energy levels of the
chromium ions which take part in the lasing
action.

• Ruby has very broad and powerful absorption bands in the visual spectrum, at 400 and
550 nm, and a very long fluorescence lifetime of 3 milliseconds. This allows for very
high energy pumping

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 • One of the first applications for the ruby laser was in rangefinding.
• The ruby laser is used to optically pump tunable dye lasers.
• Ruby lasers are rarely used in industry, mainly due to low efficiency. One of the main
industrial uses is drilling holes through diamond

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 Nd-YAG and Nd-Glass Laser
Neodymium ions form the basis for a series
of high power solid state lasers. In the two
most common variants, the Nd3+ ions are
doped into either Yttrium Aluminium
Garnet (YAG) crystals or into a phosphate
glass host. These two lasers are known as
either Nd:YAG or Nd:Glass. The main laser
transition is in the near infrared at 1.06 μm
which are four-level lasers.
This Laser can operate in either continuous or pulsed lasers.
Nd:YAG lasers are used in ophthalmology in cataract surgery, and in patients with
acute angle-closure glaucoma. Frequency-doubled Nd:YAG lasers (wavelength
532 nm) are used for pan-retinal photocoagulation in patients with diabetic
retinopathy. Nd:YAG lasers emitting light at 1064 nm are used for laser-induced
thermotherapy, in which benign or malignant lesions in various organs are ablated
by the beam.
In oncology, Nd:YAG lasers can be used to remove skin cancers. They are also
used to reduce benign thyroid nodules, and to destroy primary and secondary
malignant liver lesions.
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 Dye Lasers
One of the most widely used tunable
lasers in the visible region is the organic
dye laser. The dyes used in the lasers are
organic substances which are dissolved
in solvents such as water, ethyl alcohol,
methanol, and ethylene glycol. These
dyes exhibit strong and broad absorption
and fluorescent spectra and because of
this they can be made tunable. By
choosing different dyes one can obtain
tenability from 3000 Å to 1.2 μm.
The levels acting in the absorption and lasing correspond to the various vibrational
sublevels of different electronic states of the dye molecule. Typical energy level
diagram of a dye is shown in which S0 is the ground state, S 1 is the first excited
state, and T1, T2 are the excited states of the dye molecule. Each state consists of a
large number of closely spaced vibrational and rotational sublevels. Because of
strong interaction with the solvent, the closely spaced sublevels are collision
broadened to such an extent that they almost form a continuum

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 Semiconductor Laser (Laser Diode )
The laser diode is the most common type of laser produced. Laser diodes have a
very wide range of uses that include, but are not limited to, fiber optic
communications, barcode readers, laser pointers, CD/DVD/Blu-ray reading, laser
printing, scanning, etc.
A semiconductor is a material which has electrical
conductivity to a degree between that of a conductor
(such as copper) and that of an insulator (such as
glass). A bandgap is an energy range in a solid where
no electron states can exist. The band gap is the
energy difference (in electron volts) between the top
of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction
band in insulators and semiconductors.
Semiconductor conductivity
increases with increasing
temperature or by light
because this energy gives
electrons energy to move
from valence to conduction
band
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 Properties of Semiconductor Laser
• Variable conductivity: A pure semiconductor is a poor electrical conductor.
Through doping, the semiconductor can be modified to have an excess of
electrons (becoming an N-type semiconductor) or a deficiency of electrons
(becoming a P-type semiconductor). In both cases, the semiconductor becomes
much more conductive).
• Depletion Layer: This layer forms when P- and
N- regions are brought in contact. The two parts
are then called P-N junction. If a potential
difference is applied on the junction, electrons
in the N- moves to the positive side, and P-
moves to the negative side. The region between
the P- and N- is called Depletion Layer.
• Light emission: If energy is given to the P-N
junction, electron are excited and could move
across the depletion layer. These excited
electrons can relax by emitting light instead of
producing heat. If photon could bounce
between the two reflecting surfaces as shown,
Laser is produced from the Laser Diode

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 Questions (Homework II)
1. Write down an equation by which we can calculate the population of level
2 at any time t, knowing the spontaneous lifetime of the electron tsp.
2. What do we mean by halfwidth of spectral line.
3. Describe the operating method of three level laser and give an example of a
laser produced by such method.
4. Describe the operating method of four level laser and give an example of a
laser produced by such method.
5. What are the properties of Laser
6. Describe the operating principle and wavelength emitted of each of the
following Laser (answer only 3 from these questions)
1. Describe the operation theory of HeNe Laser
2. Describe the operation theory of Co2 Laser
3. Describe the operation theory of Ruby Laser
4. Describe the operation theory of Nd:YAG Laser
5. Describe the operation theory of Dye Laser
6. Describe the operation theory of Semiconductor Laser

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