LECTURE 06 LASER & OPTICS 1

SPONTANEOUS EMISSION
The process in which atoms of excited state jump by itself to lower energy state by
emitting photons is called spontaneous emission.
The atoms in excited state can stay for a short period. This short period is called
lifetime of excited state. The lifetime of normal excited state is 108 s.

The atoms from excited state return to the lower state when lifetime is completed.
The energy is released in the form of photons during this decay. The emission of photons
is incoherent. The incoherent beam of photons has random changes in phase.
Consider population of atoms in higher state “E2” is “N2”. The population “N2” of
atoms will decrease due to spontaneous transition into the lower state “E1”. The energy
difference (E2  E1) must be released in the form of photon. This process is spontaneous
or radiative.
The frequency of emitted photon is
E2  E1
 =
h
The spontaneous emission is given as
A*  A + h
The spontaneous decay can also occur in a nonradiative way. The energy
difference(E2  E1) in nonradiative decay appears in the form of kinetic energy or
internal energy of the surrounding atoms.
RATE EQUATION
2

The rate of spontaneous emission is independent of energy density of the incident

radiation. It only depends on the population “N2” of the atoms of the higher state.
The rate of spontaneous emission for 2level system is given as
 dN 2 
   N2
 dt sp
 dN 2 
  =  A21 N2 - - - - - (1)
 dt sp
Rsp =  A21 N2
Where A21 is proportionality constant called Einstein
coefficient for spontaneous emission. It is probability of
spontaneous emission. The negative sign represents that
population “N2” of atoms is decreasing during spontaneous
emission.
The spontaneous emission or radiative time constant
sp is defined as
1
sp =
A21
The numerical value of sp depends on the particular transition. The rate of
nonradiative decay is given as
 dN 2  N2
  =  
 dt  nr nr

Where nr is called nonradiative decay lifetime. The numerical value of nr
depends upon transition and characteristics of the surrounding medium.
The eq(1) can be written as
dN2
=  A21 dt
N2
Integrate on both sides
Ln N2(t) =  A21 t + C - - - - - - (2)
At time t = 0, N2(t) = N2(0)
Ln N2(0) =  A21(0) + C
C = Ln N2(0) - - - - - - (3)
Put eq(3) in eq(2)
Ln N2(t) =  A21 t + Ln N2(0)
Ln N2(t)  Ln N2(0) =  A21 t
LECTURE 06 LASER & OPTICS 3

N 2 (t)
Ln =  A21 t
N 2 (0)
N2(t) = N2(0) e  A 21t
t

sp
N2(t) = N2(0) e
The time sp gives the average lifetime of the excited level. Thus the spontaneous
emission depends on the lifetime of the excited state.
FEATURES OF SPONTANEOUS EMISSION
 No outside control.
 Probabilistic in nature.
 Incoherent light results from superposition of wave trains of random phases.
 Nonmonochromatic.
 Lack of directionality.
 The net intensity is proportional to the number of radiating atoms.