OPTOMETRY – Part VIII

LASER TYPES

ER. FARUK BIN POYEN

DEPT. OF AEIE, UIT, BU, BURDWAN, WB, INDIA
FARUK.POYEN@GMAIL.COM
Contents: 2
1. Nd – YAG Laser
2. Ruby Laser
3. He - Ne Laser
4. Carbon Dioxide Laser
5. Semiconductor Laser
Types of LASER: 3
 Solid state lasers have lasing material distributed in a solid matrix.
E.g. the ruby or neodymium-YAG (Nd-YAG) lasers.
 Gas lasers have a primary output of a visible red light.
E.g. He, He-Ne, CO2 laser.
 Excimer lasers (the name is derived from the terms excited and dimers) use reactive gases
such as chlorine and fluorine mixed with inert gases such as argon, krypton, or xenon. When
electrically stimulated, a pseudo molecule or dimer is produced and when lased, produces
light in the ultraviolet range.
 Dye lasers use complex organic dyes like rhodamine 6G in liquid solution or suspension as
lasing media. They are tunable over a broad range of wavelengths.
 Semiconductor lasers, sometimes called diode lasers, are not solid-state lasers. These
electronic devices are generally very small and use low power. They may be built into larger
arrays, e.g., the writing source in some laser printers or compact disk players.
Nd: YAG Laser: 4
 Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd: YAG) laser is a solid state laser in
which Nd: YAG is used as a laser medium.
 Nd: YAG laser is a four-level laser system, which means that the four energy levels are
involved in laser action.
 These lasers operate in both pulsed and continuous mode.
 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.
 Nd:YAG laser consists of three important elements: an energy source, active medium,
and optical resonator.
Nd: YAG Laser: 5
 The energy source or pump source supplies energy to the active medium to achieve
population inversion.
 In Nd: YAG laser, light energy sources such as flashtube or laser diodes are used as
energy source to supply energy to the active medium.
 In the past, flashtubes are mostly used as pump source because of its low cost.
 However, nowadays, laser diodes are preferred over flashtubes because of its high
efficiency and low cost.
Nd: YAG Laser: 6
 The active medium or laser medium of the Nd:YAG laser is made up of a synthetic
crystalline material (Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG)) doped with a chemical element
(neodymium (Nd)).
 The lower energy state electrons of the neodymium ions are excited to the higher energy
state to provide lasing action in the active medium.
Nd: YAG Laser - Optical Resonator: 7
 The ends of the cylindrical ruby rod are flat and parallel.
 The cylindrical ruby rod is placed between two mirrors. The optical coating is applied to
both the mirrors.
 The process of depositing thin layers of metals on glass substrates to make mirror
surfaces is called silvering. Each mirror is coated or silvered differently.
 At one end of the rod, the mirror is fully silvered whereas, at another end, the mirror is
partially silvered.
 The fully silvered mirror will completely reflect the light whereas the partially silvered
mirror will reflect most part of the light but allows a small portion of light through it to
produce output laser light.
Nd: YAG Laser – Working: 8
 In Nd:YAG laser, the lower energy state electrons in the neodymium ions are excited to
the higher energy state to achieve population inversion.
 Consider a Nd:YAG crystal active medium consisting of four energy levels E1, E2, E3,
and E4 with N number of electrons. E1 < E2 <E3 <E4
 The number of electrons in the energy states E1, E2, E3, and E4 will be N1, N2, N3, and
N4. N1 > N2 > N3 > N4
 E1 electrons move to E4 higher energy state when light energy is supplied to them.
 From E4 they fall to E3 (metastable) by losing radiationless energy.
 In E3, population inversion is created as E4 lifetime is shorter than E3.
 From E3, electrons fall to E2 due to spontaneo1us emission generating photons.
 After a short time, electrons from E2 will fall in E1 energy level (radiationless).
 Photons generated in E2 level interact with E3 to produce electrons (stimulated).
Nd: YAG Laser – Working: 9
 Thus light is produced by spontaneous emission.
 The light produced in the medium bounces back and forth between the mirrors.
 This stimulates other millions of electrons to fall from metastable state.
 Thus light gain is achieved.
 The amplified light escapes through the partially reflecting mirror to produce laser light.
Nd: YAG laser: 10
 Applications – Advantages – Disadvantages
Ruby LASER: 11
 A ruby laser is a solid-state laser that uses the synthetic ruby crystal as its laser medium.
 Ruby laser is the first successful laser developed by Maiman in 1960.
 Ruby laser is one of the few solid-state lasers that produce visible light.
 It emits deep red light of wavelength 694.3 nm.
 A ruby laser consists of three important elements: laser medium, the pump source, and
the optical resonator.
 In a ruby laser, a single crystal of ruby (Al2O3 : Cr3+) in the form of cylinder acts as a
laser medium or active medium.
 The laser medium (ruby) in the ruby laser is made of the host of sapphire (Al2O3)
which is doped with small amounts of chromium ions (Cr3+).
 Ruby laser emits short bursts of laser light.
 The ruby has good thermal properties.
Ruby LASER: 12
 In a ruby laser, we use flashtube as the energy source or pump source.
 The flashtube supplies energy to the laser medium (ruby).
 When lower energy state electrons in the laser medium gain sufficient energy from the
flashtube, they jump into the higher energy state or excited state.
Ruby LASER - Working: 13
 Ruby Laser is a 3 – level Laser with optical pumping technique being employed.
 When light energy is supplied to the laser medium (ruby), the electrons in the lower
energy state or ground state (E1) gains enough energy and jumps into the pump state
(E3).
 After a short period, the electrons fall into the metastable state E2 (radiationless).
 Electron deposit in E2 is higher as lifetime of E2 is greater than E3, thus creating
population inversion.
 Electrons fall from E2 to E1 (spontaneous emission) releasing energy as photons.
 Emitted photons react with E2 electrons and force them to fall to E1 (stimulated
emission).
 The process continues and millions of photons are produced.
Ruby LASER - Working: 14
 Thus light is produced by spontaneous emission.
 The light produced in the medium bounces back and forth between the mirrors.
 This stimulates other millions of electrons to fall from metastable state.
 Thus light gain is achieved.
 The amplified light escapes through the partially reflecting mirror to produce laser light.
Ruby LASER - Working: 15
 Advantages – Disadvantages – Applications
Helium Neon LASER: 16
 Gas lasers are the most widely used lasers which are less prone to damage by
overheating and run therefore run continuously.
 Low power He Ne Laser, high power CO2 Laser.
 Helium-Neon laser is a type of gas laser in which a mixture of helium and neon gas is
used as a gain medium (active medium). Helium-Neon laser is also known as He-Ne
laser.
 The helium-neon laser was the first continuous wave (CW) laser ever constructed.
 It was built in 1961 by Ali Javan, Bennett, and Herriott at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
 The excitation of electrons in the He-Ne gas active medium is achieved by passing an
electric current (electrical pump method) through the gas.
 The helium-neon laser operates at a wavelength of 632.8 nanometers (nm), in the red
portion of the visible spectrum.
Helium Neon LASER: 17
 The helium-neon laser consists of three essential components:
1. Pump source (high voltage power supply)
2. Gain medium (laser glass tube or discharge glass tube)
3. Resonating cavity
 In helium-neon lasers, a high voltage DC power supply is used as the pump source
which supplies electric current through the gas mixture.
Helium Neon LASER – Working: 18
 He Ne Laser has 5 energy levels with F3 and F5 as metastable levels.
 The partial pressure of helium is 1 mbar whereas that of neon is 0.1 mbar.
 Electrodes (anode and cathode) are provided in the glass tube to send the electric current
through the gas mixture.
 These electrodes are connected to a DC power supply.
 When the power is switched on, a high voltage of about 10 kV is applied across the gas
mixture.
 This power is enough to excite the electrons in the gas mixture.
 The electrons produced in the process of discharge are accelerated between the
electrodes (cathode and anode) through the gas mixture.
 Energetic electronics transfer some energy t helium atoms while passing through gas.
 Thus lower energy electrons of He atom to jump to excited or metastable states.
Helium Neon LASER – Working: 19
 The metastable state electrons of the helium atoms cannot return to ground state by
spontaneous emission.
 However, they can return to ground state by transferring their energy to the lower
energy state electrons of the neon atoms.
 The energy levels of some of the excited states of the neon atoms are identical to the
energy levels of metastable states of the helium atoms.
 Let us assume that these identical energy states are F3 = E3 and F5 = E5. E3 and E5 are
excited states or metastable states of neon atoms.
 Unlike the solid, a gas can move or flow between the electrodes.
 Hence, when the excited electrons of the helium atoms collide with the lower energy
state electrons of the neon atoms, they transfer their energy to the neon atoms.
Helium Neon LASER – Working: 20
 As a result, the lower energy state electrons of the neon atoms gain enough energy from
the helium atoms and jumps into the higher energy states or metastable states (E3 and
E5) whereas the excited electrons of the helium atoms will fall into the ground state.
 Thus, helium atoms help neon atoms in achieving population inversion.
 Likewise, millions of ground state electrons of neon atoms are excited to the metastable
states.
 The metastable states have the longer lifetime.
 Therefore, a large number of electrons will remain in the metastable states and hence
population inversion is achieved.
 After some period, the metastable states electrons (E3 and E5) of the neon atoms will
spontaneously fall into the next lower energy states (E2 and E4) by releasing photons or
red light. This is called spontaneous emission.
 The neon excited electrons continue on to the ground state through radiative and
nonradiative transitions. It is important for the continuous wave (CW) operation.
Helium Neon LASER – Working: 21
 The following pictures depicts the stepwise transfer of electrons across the levels.
Helium Neon LASER – Working: 22
 The light or photons emitted from the neon atoms will moves back and forth between
two mirrors until it stimulates other excited electrons of the neon atoms and causes them
to emit light.
 Thus, optical gain is achieved.
 This process of photon emission is called stimulated emission of radiation.
 The light or photons emitted due to stimulated emission will escape through the partially
reflecting mirror or output coupler to produce laser light.
Helium Neon LASER: 23
 Applications – Advantages – Disadvantages
Carbon Dioxide LASER: 24
 One of the earliest gas lasers to be developed producing beam of IR light.
 It is very powerful, efficient and useful laser capable of emitting at 10.6 µm (9-11
µm).
 A gas discharge excites nitrogen molecules, which transfer their energy to the laser-
active CO2 molecules.
 Wide range of powers-from tens of watts to many kilowatts or even several
megawatts.
 While low-power versions can work with a sealed tube (no-flow lasers), high-
power lasers use a fast gas flow.
 Continuous-wave and pulsed operation are possible.
 Carbon dioxide lasers are the highest-power continuous wave lasers that are
currently available.
 Highly efficient: the ratio of output power to pump power can be as large as 20%.
Carbon Dioxide LASER: 25
 Definition: Infrared lasers based on a gas mixture in which light is amplified by carbon
dioxide molecules.
 All gas lasers rely on the excitation of gases to amplify energy; the gas functions as the
laser medium.
 All lasers consist of three components: an energy source (also known as a pump), a gain
(or laser) medium, and an optical resonator.
 The pump serves to provide energy which is amplified by the gain medium. This energy
is eventually converted into light and is reflected through the optical resonator which
then emits the final output beam.
Carbon Dioxide LASER: 26
 Carbon dioxide lasers in particular comprise the following components:
 Electrical current — serving as the laser pump — which excites the gas medium.
 A mixture of gases — serving as the gain medium — comprising carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium.
The carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and helium make up the vast majority of the mixture,
although the specific concentrations vary depending on the laser's intended use.
Typical gas mixtures have an N2:CO2:He ratio of 1:1:8.
 A specialized optical resonator.
As CO2 lasers operate solely within the infrared spectrum and can attain high power
outputs, their optical components are typically made up of specialized (and often
expensive) materials such as germanium, zinc selenide, silver, gold, and diamond.
Carbon Dioxide LASER: Working 27
 When electrical current is introduced to the gain medium, the nitrogen molecules are
excited to a vibrational state.
 These molecules comprise solely nitrogen which will retain this vibrational energy for
long periods.
 Nitrogen is a homo-nuclear molecule, it cannot lose this energy by photon emission.
 Next, the vibrating nitrogen molecules excite the carbon dioxide molecules, when
colliding with them, to the point that the gain medium becomes an effective amplifier
for the pumped energy.
 As the nitrogen molecules come into contact with cold helium atoms, they gradually
become less excited and transfer energy to the helium in the form of heat.
 The hot helium atoms must then be cooled to maintain a population inversion (a
sufficient difference between excited and lower energy atoms to produce optical gain)
with the excited carbon dioxide atoms.
Carbon Dioxide LASER: Working 28
 These processes are illustrated in the graph below.

Image credit: Kansas State University

Carbon Dioxide LASER: 29
 The image below shows a typical CO2 laser system.
 In this image, the power panel, transformer, and rectifier provide electrical current as the
pump, while the tank in the center feeds the gas mixture into the laser.
 The water pump system provides cooling for the sides of the laser, so that hot helium
atoms become less excited when they collide with the water-cooled walls.

Image credit: Jon's Lasers

Carbon Dioxide LASER: Applications 30
 Industrial (cutting and welding).
 Additive manufacturing process of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS).
 Medical – soft tissue surgery e.g. skin resurfacing, face lift, lesion removal, homeostatis.
 Fabrication of microfluidic devices.
 Military range finding using LIDAR techniques as atmosphere is transparent to IR.
 Spectroscopy
 Silex process to enrich uranium.
Carbon Dioxide LASER: 31
 Advantages – Disadvantages
Semiconductor (Diode) LASER: 32
 Semiconductor laser is very small in size and appearance.
 Semiconductor lasers are also called diode lasers or injection lasers.
 Instead of using silicon as the semiconductor, a different material, notably an alloy of
aluminum and gallium arsenide (indium gallium arsenide phosphide is another popular
choice) is used.
 Electrons are injected into the diode, they combine with holes, and some of their excess
energy is converted into photons, which interact with more incoming electrons, helping
to produce more photons—and so on in a kind of self-perpetuating process called
resonance.
 This repeated conversion of incoming electrons into outgoing photons is analogous to
the process of stimulated emission that occurs in a conventional, gas-based laser.
Semiconductor (Diode) LASER: 33
 Semiconductor laser is simply a semiconductor diode as its active medium is the
junction of the forward biased P – N diode as shown in figure later.
 In a conventional laser, a concentrated light beam is produced by "pumping" the light
emitted from atoms repeatedly between two mirrors.
 In a laser diode, an equivalent process happens when the photons bounce back and forth
in the microscopic junction (roughly one micrometer wide) between the slices of p-type
and n-type semiconductor, which is technically known as a Fabry-Perot resonant
cavity (a kind of interferometer).
 The amplified laser light eventually emerges from the polished end of the gap in a beam
parallel to the junction.
 From there, it goes on to read music from CD, scan the barcode price, take print out.
Semiconductor (Diode) LASER: 34
 There are three types of semiconductor laser.
 Fabry – Perot Laser (not suitable for long distance communication)
 Distributed Feedback (DFB) Laser (long haul optical communication)
 FBG wavelength stabilized Laser (single wavelength oscillation, low cost).
Semiconductor (Diode) LASER: 35
 Applications – Advantages – Disadvantages
Comparison of Few LASER Types: 36
Reference: 37
1. http://semesters.in/construction-and-working-of-ruby/
2. https://www.daenotes.com/electronics/microwave-radar/ruby-lazer
3. https://www.explainthatstuff.com/semiconductorlaserdiodes.html
4. https://www.daenotes.com/electronics/microwave-radar/co2-gas-laser
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_laser
6. https://www.rp-photonics.com/co2_lasers.html
7. https://www.globalspec.com/learnmore/optical_components_optics/lasers/carbon_diox
ide_lasers
8. https://spie.org/publications/fg12_p85-86_carbon-dioxide_lasers?SSO=1