Q1

An incandescent light bulb is an example of

very incoherent source.
How can produce coherent light from an
incoherent source?
 Basic concepts of Laser Action
in this section we intend to describe the basic principles
involved in the generation of laser. In order to
understand the basic laser operation, we must consider
the important terms like :

1- Absorption
2- spontaneous emission
3- stimulated emission
as we all know that atoms and molecules can exist only in certain
energy states. The state of lowest energy is called the ground
state; all other states have more energy than the ground state
and are called excited states.

Absorption = spontaneous emission + stimulated emission

Example :
Example
Example 2
Example-3
Example
Einstein Coefficients and rate equations
 Boltzmann’s Statistics
According to a basic principle of statistical mechanics, when a
large collection of similar atoms is in thermal equilibrium at
temperature T, the relative populations of any two energy levels
E1 and E2, such as the ones shown in Fig. 1.1, must be related by
the Boltzmann ratio
 where N1 and N2 are the number of atoms in the
energy levels E1 and E2, respectively

 For energy gaps large enough that E − E =

hν >>kT, the ratio is close to zero

 and there will be very few atoms in the upper

energy level at thermal equilibrium.

 The thermal energy kT at room temperature (T

≈ 300K) corresponds to an energy gap hν with ν
≈ 6 × 10^12Hz, which is equivalent in
wavelength to λ ≈ 50 μm.
 Therefore,for any energy gap whose
transition frequency ν21 lies in the near-
infrared or visible regions, the Boltzmann
exponent will be very small at normal
temperatures.

 The number of atoms in any upper

level will then be very small compared
to the lower levels.
Example:
 In ruby the ground level E1 and the upper
laser level E2 are separated by an energy
gap corresponding to a wavelength of λ ≈
0.69 μm.
Since h = 6.6 × 10^−34 Ws2 , then
E2 − E1 = hc/λ = 2.86 × 10^−19Ws.
With k = 1.38 ×10^−23(Ws)/K
and T = 300K, it follows that
N2/N1 ≈ exp(−69).
Therefore at thermal equilibrium virtually all the
atoms will be in the ground level.