Module-1 (Laser and Optical Fibers)

Laser

LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The interaction of radiation with
atoms leads to the following three distinct processes in the medium. 1. Absorption, 2. Spontaneous emission and
3. Stimulated Emission

Properties (or) Characteristics of LASER Beam:

Monochromaticity: The light from normal monochromatic sources spreads over a wavelength of the order 100
A0 to 1000 A0. The laser light is highly monochromatic. The spread is of the order of a few angstrom units
(<10A0) only. That is the line width associated with laser beams is extremely narrow.

Directionality: laser beam is highly directional. The conventional sources emit light in all directions. Lasers
emit light only in one direction. As the photons traveling along the optical axis of the system.
For ex: a laser beam having 10 cm diameter when beamed at the moon’s surface 3,84,000 km, deviation is not
more than 5 km wide.

Coherence: A conventional light source such as incandescent lamp or natural source such as sun produces
incoherent light since they emit random wavelength with no common phase. Therefore light generated by a
laser is highly coherent.

Intensity: The intensity of light from the conventional sources decreases rapidly with distance as it spreads in
the form of spherical waves. Laser emits light in the form of a narrow beam which propagates in the form of
plane waves. As the energy is concentrated in the narrow its intensity would be very high. It is estimated that
1mw laser is 10,000 times brighter than the light from sun at the earth surface.

Interaction of radiation with matter

Stimulated Absorption (or) Induced Absorption:
If the radiation (or) photons (E2-E1=hυ) interacts with atoms in
the lower energy state say E1, the atoms absorb the energy
and get excited to higher energy state E2 by process called “
Induced absorption: (or) “stimulated absorption”.
Photon + Atom = Atom*

Spontaneous Emission:
After stimulated absorption, the atoms are stay in the
higher energy level E2. The atoms will stay in higher
energy at certain time. This time is called “life time of
that atoms(10-8s)”. After completion of the life time, the
atoms automatically comes to the higher energy level
E2 to lower energy level E1. At this process, the atoms
emits the photon(E2-E1=hυ). This process is called
“spontaneous emission”.

Atom* = Atom + Photon

Radiation emitted in the spontaneous emission is not uniform. The direction of the photons is random and
radiation is in coherent. It contains a superposition of many waves of random phases.

Stimulated Emission:
Before completion of life time(10-8s) of the atoms,
the radiation (or) photons interact with atoms which are
already in the excited state E2, then de-excitation of
those atoms to lower energy state E 1 occures with
emission of photons of energy hυ. This process is
called stimulated emission”.

Photon + atom* = Atom + (photon + photon)

Let us suppose that an atom is present at higher energy

level having frequency υ. A photon of frequency υ is
incident on the atom, this incident photon stimulates
this atom to take downward transition. As a result two
photons are emitted in same direction and same
frequency as incident photon. These two photons
collide with the other atoms and four photons are
released same as previous photons. This process is
continued and more amplifying beam is emitted out.
This process is called stimulated emission.

In stimulated emission output light highly amplified because waves superimpose with same frequency and
constant phase difference.

Einstein Coefficients:

Let N1 be the number of atoms per unit volume with energy E 1 and N2 is the number of atoms per
unit volume with energy E2. Let ‘n’ be the number of photons per unit volume at frequency ‘υ’ such
that hυ= E2-E1. Then the energy density of interacting photons (υ) is given by (υ) = n hυ

Upward transition: Stimulated absorption rate transition from state 1 to 2 is proportional to the
number of atoms per unit volume N1 in E1 and energy density (υ) of incident radiation of frequency
υ on the atom.

 Stimulated absorption rate N1

(υ)

= B12 N1(υ) --------------------- (1)

B12 is proportionality constant known as Einstein’s coefficient of induced or stimulated absorption of

radiation.

Downward transition:
Spontaneous emission rate from state 2 to 1 is independent of energy density of incident radiation
(υ)and depends on number of atoms per unit volume in E2 i.e., N2.
 Spontaneous emission rate N2

= A21 N2 --------------------- (2)

Where A21 is called Einstein coefficient of spontaneous emission of radiation.

Stimulated emission rate transition from state 2 to 1 is proportional to the energy density (υ) of the
stimulated radiation of incident radiation and dependent on number of atoms per unit volume N2 in E2.
 Stimulated emission rate N2
 (υ)
= B21 N2(υ)----------------- (3)
Where B21 is called Einstein’s coefficient of stimulated emission of radiation.
The total probability per an atom in the state 2 to 1 drop to the lower state is
A21 + B21(υ) ---------------------------- (4)
The Einstein coefficients are related by
N1B12 (υ) = N2 A21 + N2 B21 (υ) or
(N1B12 – N2B21) (υ)= N2 A21
N 2 A21 A21
(υ) = = ----------- (5)
N1 B12  N 2 B21  N1  B12 
B21     1
 2  21 
N B
(Dividing numerator & denominator by N2 and B21 as common factor in denominator)
E2  E1 h
N
According to Boltzmann’s distribution law 1 = e K BT
=e K BT
----------- (6)
N2
A21
 (υ) = h
--------------(7)
  B  
B21  e  12   1
K BT
  B21  

as B12 = B21 , the probability of stimulated emission is same as absorption at thermal equilibrium
B12
= 1 ----------- (8) or B12 = B21
B21
Then equation (7) become
A21
(υ) = -------------(9)
 KhT 
B21  e B 1
 
 
8h 3 1
According to Plank’s radiation formula, (υ) = h
-------------(10)
c3
e K BT
1
Compare equations (9) and (10), we get
A21 8h 3
= ----------- (11) and
B21 c3
 A21
  3 i.e the ratio of spontaneous emission and stimulated emission increases rapidly with the energy
B21
difference between two levels.
A21
To get good laser action, the ratio << 1
B21
POPULATION INVERSION: No. of atoms present in the energy levels is
called population. To get laser action more atoms will be present at higher
energy level than ground level

At thermal equilibrium more atoms are in ground level than excited level. If E 1
is ground level, E2 is excited level having populations N1 and N2 respectively.
Then

N1  E  E1 
= exp  2  -------- (1)
N2  K BT 

Since E2 > E1, N1 will be greater than N2 at normal conditions, the system absorbs sufficient electromagnetic
radiation incident on it. For laser action to take place stimulated emission predominant over spontaneous
emission and this is possible when N2 > N1 .

If N0 be the no. of atoms in the ground level, the population is maximum in

the ground levlel and decreases exponentially to higher level. During the
thermal excitation the no. of atoms in the higher level increases which is
shown in fig.b. That is higher energy levels are more populated than the lower
energy levels when such a condition is fulfilled we say that population
inversion is achieved.

Meta stable state: Metastable state is an excited state of an atom or other system with a longer lifetime than
the other excited states. However, it has a shorter lifetime than the stable ground state. Atoms in the metastable
state remain excited for a considerable time in the order of 10 -6 to 10-3 sec

Requisites of laser system:

The component of laser system are i) Active medium ,ii) pumping Source, iii) Optical resonator

1. Active Medium: A medium in which light gets amplified is

called active medium. The medium may be solid, liquid or
gas. Out of the different atoms in the medium only small
fraction of the atoms are responsible for stimulated
emission and consequent light
amplification. They are called active centers. The remaining bulk of the medium
supports the active centers.

2. Energy Source: It raises the system to an excited state.

3. Optical Resonator: It consists of two mirrors facing each other. The active medium
is enclosed by this cavity. Out of two mirrors one is fully reflective while the other is
partially transparent.

Semiconductor laser: Semiconductor laser diode is a specially fabricated p-n junction device
that emits coherent radiations when it is forward biased.

Source of Energy: Forward Biased p-n junction

Active medium: p-n Junction
Excitation Mechanism: Direct Conversion
Optical Cavity: p-n Junction enclosed b/n two mirrors

Construction: A typical semiconductor laser diode is shown a rectangular block of GaAs

semiconductor is converted in to p and n type by proper doping of impurities in to the block.
The upper regions, we have a p-n junction. To achieve population inversion p and n regions are
heavily doped with the impurities. The p-n junction served as active medium. The two faces of
the block, one fully polished and the other partially polished, act as an optical resonator or
cavity.

Working:

When the p-type is connected to the positive terminal of the battery and the n-type is connected to
the negative terminal of the battery then the p-n junction will be in forward biased condition. The
recombination of electron hole pairs takes place across the junction. Thus, semiconductor laser
radiation will be emitted through the p-n junction

When a p-n junction is formed across a p and n-type semiconductor, then it results in the
formation of a depletion region across the junction. When the junction is forward biased, the
width of the depletion region decreases, allowing more number of electrons from n type to across
the junction and recombine with hole in the p-type. Thus, recombination of electron hole pairs
across the junction emits the radiation.

(or)

Energy level diagram

From the energy band diagram, it is clear that when electrons from the conduction
band recombines with the hole in the valance band then the energy of the emitted
radiation (photons) is given by

E= hυ=Eg

υ= Eg/h, c/λ = Eg/h

λ=hc/Eg

where h is planck’s constant, c is the velocity of light and Eg is the band gap energy

The above relation shows that the frequency and wavelength of emitted radiations depend on Eg.
When Eg remains constant all the emitted photons strengthen with each other. As a result, we get
laser radiation.

In an indirect band gap semiconductor like Ge and Si, the recombination of electron holes will
result in incoherent radiation and will not be in the optical region. In direct band gap
semiconductors like GaAs, the recombination process result in coherent radiation and lies in the
optical region. Due to the above fact, a GaAs semiconductor is used for semiconductor laser
device.

For GaAs semiconductor Eg =1.4 eV, the wavelength of emitted laser is about λ=8400Å, in the
infrared region.

Laser Barcode Scanner: A bar code is a printed series of parallel bars or lines of varying width
that is used for entering data into computer system. A bar code/scanned reader is a device with
light, lenses and a sensor that decodes and captures the information contained in barcodes

Fig: Barcode Reader Fig: Bar Code

Laser scanners use a laser beam as light source and typically employ oscillating mirrors to scan
the laser beam back and forth across the barcode. A photodiode then measures the reflected light
from the barcode. An analog signal is created from the photodiode, and is then converted into a
digital signal.

Laser Printing: The laser printers were invented at XEROX in 1969 by researcher Gary
Starkweather. Laser printers are digital printing devices that are used to create high quality text
and graphics on plain printer. A diode laser is used in the process of printing in laser printers

Construction
Working:
1. A laser printer projects an image of the page to be printed onto an electrically charged
rotating photo sensitive drum coated with selenium.

2. Photo conductivity allows charge to leak away from the areas which exposed to light and
the area gets positively charged.
3. Toner particles are then electrostatically picked up by the drum’s charged areas, which
have been exposed to light.
4. The drum then prints the image onto paper by direct contact and heat, which fuses the ink
to the paper.

Laser cooling:
Principle of LASER Cooling Laser cooling is the use of dissipative light forces for reducing the
random motion and thus the temperature of small particles, typically atoms or ions. Depending on
the mechanism used, the temperature achieved can be in the millikelvin, microkelvin, or even
nanokelvin regime.

If an atom is traveling toward a laser beam and absorbs a photon from the laser, it will be slowed
by the fact that the photon has momentum p = E/c = ℎ/ .

It would take a large number of such absorptions to cool the sodium atoms to near 0K. The
follwing are the types of laser cooling

• Doppler Cooling, Sisyphous Cooling