LASER TECHNOLOGY

CONTENTS:
MEANING / TERMINOLOGY. DESIGN. TYPES OF LASER TECHNOLOGY. OPERATING PRINCIPLES. USES AND APPLICATION. ADVANTAGES / DISADVANTAGES.

MEANING/TERMINOLOGY
LASER- Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. 1st LASER- May 16, 1960 by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories (HRL), California(Malibu). Earlier known as MASER / RASER now obsolete. LOSER- Light Oscillation by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

DESIGN
Principal components: 1. Gain medium 2. Laser pumping energy 3. High reflector 4. Output Coupler 5. Laser beam

TYPES OF LASERS
Gas Lasers.
Chemical Lasers. Excimer Lasers.

Solid-State Lasers. Fiber Lasers. Dye Lasers. Free Electron Lasers.

Gas Lasers
Gas Lasers are also known as HeNe Gas Lasers. The HeNe is able to operate at different wavelengths, however the vast majority are engineered to lase at 633 nm. These relatively low cost but highly coherent lasers are extremely common in optical research and educational laboratories. Chemical Lasers and Excimer lasers are types of Gas Lasers.

Gas Lasers- Chemical lasers.

Chemical Lasers are powered by a chemical reaction permitting a large amount of energy to be released quickly. Such very high power lasers are especially of interest to the military, however continuous wave chemical lasers at very high power levels, fed by streams of gasses, have been developed and have some industrial applications.

Gas Lasers Excimer Lasers

Excimer lasers are a special sort of gas laser powered by an electric discharge in which the lasing medium is an excimer, or more precisely an exciplex in existing designs. Excimers currently used are all noble gas compounds; noble gasses are chemically inert and can only form compounds while in an excited state.

Advantages
High volume of active material. Active material is relatively inexpensive. Almost impossible to damage the active material. Heat can be removed quickly from the cavity.

Application / Uses
He-Ne laser is mainly used in making holograms. In laser printing He-Ne laser is used as a source for writing on the photosensitive material. He-Ne lasers were used in reading the Bar Code which is imprinted on the product. They have been largely replaced by laser diodes. Nitrogen lasers and excimer laser are used in pulsed dye laser pumping. Ion lasers, mostly argon, are used in CW dye laser pumping.