PHY 109 ( LASERS AND APPLICATIONS) UNIT-II

Light Amplification by Stimulated

Emission of Radiation

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 Unit-II (Lasers and Applications)
What we got here?

Principle of Production of Laser.

Absorption and emission of Light.
Concept of spontaneous and stimulated emission.
Population Inversion and Resonant Cavity.
ND-YAG, He-Ne and semiconductor Laser.
Applications of Laser.
Holography and applications of hologram.
Radiation interaction with matter :
Absorption and emission, stimulated
emission, Einstien’s A and B coefficients

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 Absorption of Radiation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgzynezPiyc
 Spontaneous Emission

• Statistical process (random phase) – emission by an isolated

atom or molecule. The excited atom/electron naturally
comes down to lower level by emitting a photon.
 Stimulated Emission
E2 A Photon stimulates an atom/electron to come
down to it’s lower energy level and thus emitting
a photon. But now, we got two photons, the
2hn original one and the other one due to emission
hn process. Both photons are alike, completely in
same phase. This is the beauty of stimulated
E1 emission. It is an artificially designed process
and never happens naturally.
• Same phase as “stimulating” optical field

• Same polarization
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHmGNDMV1cY

• Same direction of propagation

 Putting it all together…
• Assume that we have a two state system in equilibrium with a
blackbody radiation field.
After Stimulated emission

Photon assisting E2
Stimulated emission
After spontaneous emission
Spontaneous
emission Absorption
Photon causing
E1 absorption

Stimulated emission
 Einstein Coefficients of radiation
• For two energy levels 1 (lower) and 2 (upper) we have 2
• A21: Einstein’s coefficient of spontaneous emission.

• B21: Einstein’s coefficient of stimulated emission.

1

• B12 : Einstein’s coefficient of absorption.

• Bij is the coefficient for stimulated emission or absorption between

states i and j.
Einstein Coefficients
2

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 Relation between Einstein Coefficients

At thermal equilibrium, the emission and absorption probabilities must be equal,

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 Relation between Einstein Coefficients
Therefore,

------------(A)

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 Relation between Einstein Coefficients
According to Boltzmann distribution law number of atoms N1 and N2 in energy states E1
and E2 in thermal equilibrium at temperature T are given by
2

1
=
Using the above expression in equation (A), we got the following:

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 Relation between Einstein Coefficients
From Planck’s law of radiation, we know that
Comparing this expression with B, we can write,

This is the relationship between Einstein’s A and B

coefficients. 13
 Characteristics of LASER Lights

 Coherence.
 Directionality.
 Monochromaticity.
 High intensity
Coherence: All the photons emitted in LASER transition got same phase in time and space. Is
it possible from any natural light sources? No, Not possible. One can only generate coherent
light by artificial techniques (stimulated emission) and thus, LASER is coherent. In ordinary
light sources (lamp, sodium lamp and flash light etc), the electron transition occurs naturally.
In other words, electron transition in ordinary light sources is random in time.
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The photons emitted from ordinary light sources have different energies, frequencies and
they are not in phase. In laser, the electron transition occurs artificially. In other words, in
laser, electron transition occurs in specific time. All the photons emitted in laser have the
same energy, frequency, or wavelength (due to stimulated emission). Hence, the light waves
of laser light have single wavelength or color and they are in phase.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWTxf5dSUBE
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aE02BAPlRk

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Directionality: In conventional light sources (lamp, sodium lamp and flashlight), photons
travel in random direction. Therefore, these light sources emit light in all directions.
On the other hand, in laser, all photons travel in same direction. Therefore, laser emits light
only in one direction. This is called directionality of laser light. The width of a laser beam is
extremely narrow. Hence, a laser beam can travel to long distances without spreading much.
If an ordinary light travels a distance of 2 km, it spreads to about 2 km in diameter. On the
other hand, if a laser light travels a distance of 2 km, it may spread to a diameter less than 2
cm.

The highly directional characteristics of

LASER is associated with the way it is
produced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKVMw4jpDZw

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Monochromaticity: Monochromatic light means a light containing a single color or
wavelength. The photons emitted from ordinary light sources have different energies,
frequencies, wavelengths, or colors Because electrons transit from different energy levels
very close to each other). On the other hand, in laser, all the emitted photons have the same
energy, frequency, or wavelength. Because, all the electrons transit from same energy level
all the time.

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High intensity: The intensity of a wave is the energy per unit time flowing through a unit
normal area. In an ordinary light source, the light spreads out uniformly in all directions.
In laser, the light spreads in small region of space. Hence, laser light has greater intensity when
compared to the ordinary light.
If you look directly along the beam from a laser (caution: don’t do it without a recommended
safety glass), then all the power in the laser would enter your eye. Thus, even a 1 Watt laser
would appear many thousand times more intense than 100 Watt ordinary lamp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC0sqqzq-BM

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 Population Inversion
Normally the population of the lower energy levels is larger than that of the higher levels.
The processes of stimulated radiation/absorption and spontaneous emission are going on in
the same time. The process of creating (artificially) more population of atoms/electrons in
higher energy levels than that of lower energy level, is known as population inversion. This is
a mechanism by which we can add more atoms to the metastable state and keep them there
long enough, thereby allowing the population of metastable state higher than that of lower
energy state.

To do this, we pump atoms into the metastable level at a rate that exceeds the rate at which
they leave. A large number of atoms are therefore excited to and held in this level, leaving an
almost empty level at ground state. The atoms stay in this metastable level without de-
exciting quickly while the population builds up, giving rise to a population inversion.
In practise laser action cannot be achieved for only two levels, as described above. Three
and four level systems work.

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Life-time of a state: The maximum amount of time an excited atom/electron can stay in a
state (energy level) without jumping back to lower energy state/ground state.
Metastable state: It is an intermediate state between two energy levels, where
atoms/electrons can stay longer than they could at the highest energy state. The life-time
of a metastable state is higher than that of it’s immediate higher energy state.
Metastable State
Lifetime

Population of metastable state

more than that of lowest energy
state.

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 Methods of Achieving Population Inversion
In order to achieve population inversion, we need to supply energy to the laser medium. The
process of supplying energy to the laser medium is called pumping. The source that supplies
energy to the laser medium is called pump source. The type of pump source used depends on
the laser medium. Different pump sources are used for different laser mediums to achieve
population inversion. Some of the most commonly used pump sources are as follows:
Optical pumping: As the name suggests, in this method, light is used to supply energy to the
laser medium. An external light source like xenon flash lamp is used to produce more
electrons (a high population) in the higher energy level of the laser medium.
Electric discharge or excitation by electrons: Electric discharge refers to flow of electrons or
electric current through a gas, liquid or solid. In this method of pumping, electric discharge
acts as the pump source or energy source. A high voltage electric discharge (flow of electrons,
electric charge, or electric current) is passed through the laser medium or gas. The intense
electric field accelerates the electrons to high speeds and they collide with neutral atoms in
the gas. As a result, the electrons in the lower energy state gains sufficient energy from
external electrons and jumps into the higher energy state. This method of pumping is used in
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gas lasers such as argon lasers.
Inelastic atom-atom collisions: Like the electric discharge method, here also a high voltage
electric discharge acts as a pump source. However, in this method, a combination of two types
of gases, say X and Y are used. The excited state of gas X is represented as X+ whereas gas Y is
represented as Y+. Both X and Y gases have the same excited states (X+ and Y+), same energy
levels.
Initially, during electric discharge, the lower energy state electrons in gas X or atom X gets
excited to X+ due to continuous collision with electrons. The excited state electrons in gas
X+ now collide with the lower energy state electrons in gas Y. As a result, the lower energy
state electrons in gas Y gains sufficient energy and jump into the excited state Y+. This method
is used in the Helium–Neon (He-Ne) laser.

Thermal pumping: Sometime we can achieve population inversion by heating the laser
medium. In thermal pumping, heat acts as the pump source or energy source. In this method,
population inversion is achieved by supplying heat into the laser medium. The process of
achieving population inversion in thermal pumping is almost similar to the optical pumping or
electric discharge method, except that in this method heat is used as pump source instead of
light or electric discharge.
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Chemical Reactions: If an atom or a molecule is produced through some chemical reaction and
remains in an excited state at the time of production, then it can be used for pumping. The
hydrogen fluoride molecule is produced in an excited state when hydrogen and fluorine gas
chemically combine. The number of produced excited atoms or molecules is greater than the
number of normal state atoms or molecules. Thus, population inversion is achieved.
For example, H2 + F2 → 2HF, in this chemical reaction, hydrogen (H2) and fluorine (F2) molecules
are chemically combined to produce hydrogen fluoride molecule (2HF) in an excited state.

LASER Construction and production of LASER

A typical LASER or laser system consists of three important components: a pump source, laser
medium and optical resonator.

The pump source or energy source is the part of a laser system that provides energy to the
laser medium. To get laser emission, first we need to produce population inversion. Detailed
about several pumping mechanism have already been discussed.

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The laser medium is a medium or material where spontaneous and stimulated emission of
radiation takes place. It is also known as active medium.
The laser medium is surrounded by two parallel mirrors which provides feedback of the light or
reflects the light. One mirror is fully reflective (100 % reflective) whereas another one is
partially reflective (<100 % reflective; 92%-98%). These two mirrors as a whole is called optical
resonator. Optical resonator is also known as optical cavity or resonating cavity.

Optical resonator is a very important part in a LASER system and without it, neither population
inversion nor the amplification of LASER is possible. We will learn detailed about it soon.
Schematic of an optical resonator

100 % reflective

98 % reflective

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 Multiplication/Amplification Schematic of an optical resonator
of coherent photons happen
inside optical resonator, by
stimulated emission.

Why We need Optical Resonator??????????

 The optical resonator is made of two parallel mirrors (one is 100 % reflective and another
one is partially reflective). Optical resonator is also known as optical cavity or resonating
cavity.
 When pumping is done in the laser medium, the lower energy state electrons/atoms in the
laser medium move to the excited state and quickly return back to the ground state by
releasing energy in the form of photons or light, also known as spontaneous emission.

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 Why We need Optical Resonator??????????
 The light generated within the laser medium will bounce back and forth between the two
mirrors. This light cause stimulated emission and thus help releasing photons of same
phase.
 These photons will also bounce back and fourth inside the resonant cavity and again cause
stimulated emission.
 By these process (continuous stimulated emission), there will be multiplication of photons
(all same phase) by stimulated emission.
 So, light amplification is done inside resonant cavity by stimulated emission.
 When there is enough amount of photons, some light gets out of the resonant cavity
through the partially reflective mirror…….this light is LASER…..All photons having same
phase, amplified and very intense.

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Pictorial description of basic Laser operation
 Principle of working of a LASER Videos:
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oswmij538Q
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ05XOJiaDY
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JOchLyNO_w
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LmcUaWuYao
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_QOWbkc7UI

Now, we got some idea about resonant cavity and it’s importance.
We also learnt how light amplification is done inside a resonant
cavity…..we are ready to proceed towards the rest of the topics in
this unit.

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 Two-Level System

Em, Nm Em, Nm

En, Nn En, Nn

Even with very a intense pump source, the best one can achieve with a two-level
system is
excited state population = ground state population
Continuous wave (CW) Laser: A CW laser operates in a steady state regime. This
actually places severe requirements on the laser gain medium, as the fundamental
requirement for achieving laser action is achieving a population inversion. That means a
steady input of power gives a steady output. The requirement that a gain medium possesses
the appropriate rate characteristics for CW operation restricts a lot of materials. Suitable
materials for CW laser operation have four levels.

Pulsed Laser: In contrast, pulsed lasers don't need to operate in the steady state regime.
This relaxes the requirements on the gain medium and the pump medium. The original ruby
laser is just a three-level system so is not suitable for CW operation. However, pulse
operation is possible because the use of flash lamps can dump a lot of energy into the
medium in a short time, achieving a temporary population inversion and hence lasing action.
In general, pulsed lasers can have much higher peak powers than CW lasers.
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 Continuous Wave Laser

Pulse
Laser
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 Laser Types
• According to the active material:
solid-state, liquid, gas, or semiconductor lasers.
Gas: HeNe laser, excimer lasers, CO2 lasers
Liquid:dye lasers
Solid: Nd:YAG laser, Ti:sapphire laser
Diode (semiconductor) lasers
. According to the wavelength:
infra-red, visible, ultra-violet (UV) or x-ray lasers.
 Types of Laser
Based on the mode of operation
(i) Pulsed Laser systems
(ii) Q-switched systems
(iii) Continuous wave Laser systems

Based on the mechanism in which Population Inversion is achieved

(i) Three level lasers

(ii) Four level lasers

Based on state of active medium used

(i) Gas Laser

(ii) Solid state Laser
(iii) Semiconductor Laser
(iv) Tunable dye Laser
 Types of Laser
•Gas Laser: He-Ne, Argon ion and CO2
•Solid state Laser : Ruby, Nd:YAG, Nd:glass
•Semiconductor Laser
•Tunable dye Laser
 Gain Media
• Can be a solid, liquid or gas.
Name Gain Medium Lasing Wavelength Uses
Nd:YAG Neodinium ions in a 1064nm, can be Pump source for dye
yitrium aluminium frequency doubled to lasers, spectroscopy,
garnet crystal. 532nm, 355nm etc. desorption.
Ruby Chromium ions in 694 nm (red) Medical applications,
aluminium oxide eg. Tattoo repoval.
crystal.
Helium Neon Helium Neon gas 632 nm Usually low power,
mixture Laser Pointers
Carbon CO2, N2, He and CO 10.6 m Very high power,
dioxide mixture desorption, laser
cutting, laser etching.
Dye Lasers Organic dyes, e.g. Range of Spectroscopic
Rhodamines and 200nm1000nm applications mainly.
Coumarins
 Helium-neon Laser

It was invented by Javan et. al. in 1961 and his

coworkers at Bell Telephone Laboratories
 Introduction
• A helium-neon laser (He-Ne laser) is a type of small gas laser.
HeNe lasers have many industrial and scientific uses, and are
often used in laboratory demonstrations of optics.
• He-Ne laser is a four-level laser.
• Its usual operation wavelength is 6328Å in the red portion of
the visible spectrum.
• This was the first gas laser to be operated successfully.
 Construction of He-Ne laser
• This consists of a mixture of helium and neon gases in a ratio of
about 10:1
• The setup consists of a discharge tube of length 80 cm and bore
diameter of 1.5cm.
• The pressure inside the tube is about 1mm of Hg.
• The energy or pump source of the laser is provided by an electrical
discharge of around 1000 volts through an anode and cathode at
each end of the glass tube. A current of 5 to 100 mA is typical for CW
operation.
• The optical cavity of the laser typically consists of a plane, high-
reflecting mirror at one end of the laser tube, and a partially
transparent mirror of approximately 1% transmission at the other
end.
Schematic of a Helium-Neon Laser
E4 (18.7eV )and E6 (20.66eV )

F2 (19.81eV ) and F3 ( 20.61eV )

 Working of He-Ne Laser
• Electric discharge is passed through the gas. As electrons have a smaller
mass than ions, they acquire a higher velocity.
• The He atoms are more readily excitable than Neon as they are lighter.
• Electrons collides with the He atoms, excite them to the metastable states
F2 (19.81eV ) and F3 ( 20.61eV ) and stay for a sufficiently long time.
• The excited He atoms losses energy through collision with unexcited Ne
atoms, Ne atoms are excited to the metastable states E4 (18.7eV )and E6 (20.66eV )
which have nearly the same energy as the levels of F2 and F3 of He.
• The probability of energy transfer from He atoms to Neon atoms is more
as there are 10 He atoms to 1 Neon atoms in the medium
• Population inversion is achieved between E6 and E5 , E6 andE3 , E4 and E3
• E6  E3transition generates a laser beam of red color of wavelength
6328Å
• E4  E3transition produces laser beam of wavelength 1.15µm (not in visible
region)
• E6  E5 transition results in a laser beam of 3.39µm (not in visible region)
• E  E transition generates incoherent light due to
3 2

spontaneous emission (~6000Å)

•From the level E2 , the Ne atoms are brought back to the

ground state through collisions with the walls.
Applications of He-Ne laser
• The Narrow red beam of He-Ne laser is used in supermarkets to read bar codes.
• The He- Ne Laser is used in Holography in producing the 3D images of objects.
• He-Ne lasers have many industrial and scientific uses, and are often used in
laboratory demonstrations of optics.
Ruby Laser

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 Ruby Laser

Gain Media: Ruby Crystal (Al2O3 : Cr3+), a small amount of Cr3+ are doped in sapphire
(Al2O3 )
Active Medium: Cr3+ ions

First Developed in 1960 by Maiman

Wavelength of this red color visible LASSER is 6943 Angstrom (Pulsed Laser)

Construction of ruby laser

A ruby laser consists of three important elements: laser medium, the
pump source, and the optical resonator.
 Ruby Laser
Xenon Flash Lamp

6943 Angstrom

Three Level LASER

 Ruby Laser
Working of ruby LASER

Life-time: 10-8 sec

Life-time: 10-3 sec (Metastable State)

Lasing Action (6943 Angstrom)

E1 < E 2 < E 3
 Ruby Laser
Working of ruby LASER

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 Ruby Laser
Applications of ruby LASER

Research
Recording Holograms
Double pulse ruby LASER is used to record
deformation of test material by using each of the
two closely spaced pulses to record holographic
images.
Any deformation or movement is recorded as an
interference pattern between the two images.
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Nd-YAG LASER
 Nd-YAG LASER
Nd (Neodymium) – YAG (Yttrium Aluminium Garnet) LASER
 Doped Insulator laser. Type : Doped Insulator Laser
 Refers to yttrium aluminium Active Medium : Yttrium Aluminium Garnet
garnet doped with
neodymium. Active Centre : Neodymium
 The Nd ion has many energy Pumping : Optical Pumping
levels and due to optical Method
pumping these ions are raised Pumping Source : Xenon Flash Pump
to excited levels.
Optical : Ends of rods silver coated
 It’s a four level LASER. Resonator Two mirrors partially and totally
 It can be both pulsed and CW reflecting
in nature. Power Output : 20 kWatts

Nature of : Pulsed and CW both

Output
Wavelength : 1.064 μm
Emitted
 Nd-YAG LASER

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 Nd-YAG LASER

Gain Media: Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd: YAG)

Active Medium: Neodymium (Nd)

These lasers have many different applications in the medical and scientific field for
processes such as Lasik surgery and laser spectroscopy
Nd: YAG laser generates laser light commonly in the near-infrared region of the
spectrum at 1064 nanometers (nm). It also emits laser light at several different
wavelengths including 1440 nm, 1320 nm, 1120 nm, and 940 nm.
Construction of Nd-YAG laser
Nd:YAG laser consists of three important elements: an energy source,
active medium, and optical resonator. Can be both pulsed and
continuous (CW).
 Nd-YAG LASER

Four Level LASER

Applications of ND-YAG LASER

Cutting, drilling and trimming.

It is an ultras-short pulsed LASER. During drilling it can drill the material
without heating it up.
HOMOJUNCTION SEMICONDUCTOR LASER
(Ga-As Laser)

Type : Homojunction Semiconductor

laser
Principle
Active Medium : P – N junction
• The electron in the
conduction band combines Active Centre : Recombination of electrons and
with a hole in the valence holes
band and the
recombination produces Pumping : Direct Pumping
radiant energy. This photon Method
induces another electron in Optical : Polished junction of diode
the CB to combine with a Resonator
hole in the VB and thereby
stimulate the emission of Power Output : 1 mW
another photon.
Nature of : Continuous or pulsed
Output
Wavelength : 8400 – 8600 Angstrom Units
Emitted
Applications
• Compact & used in fibre optic communications
• CD writer
• Laser printers