Co1 03

LASER
An Invention in Search of a Problem
Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 1

23
Incandescent vs. Laser Light
1. Many wavelengths 1. Monochromatic

2. Multidirectional 2. Directional
3. Incoherent 3. Coherent
4. Less Intensity 4. High Intensity
The combination of these Four properties makes laser
light focus 100 times better than ordinary light
Characteristics of LASERS
1) Directionality
2) Monochromatic
3) Coherence
4) High Intensity

Directionality

Directionality
• Laser light travels only in direction.
• Its angular spreading is very less.
• It is expressed in terms of DIVERGENCE.
• Δθ = 0.01 milli radian for LASER.

• Δθ = 0.5 m for ordinary light.

Monochromatic

Monochromatic
• There is no perfect monochromatic light source in
universe.
• For laser beam Δѵ = 50Hz and ѵ = 5x1014Hz.
• non monochromacity = 10-13
• For ordinary light it is 10-

Coherence

Coherence
06/12/2023 01:03 PM Department of Physics 11

Coherence
• All the emitted photons bear a constant phase
relationship with each other in both time and phase.

High Intensity
• Very high intensity
• Since the whole energy is concentrated at a small region.
• 1m W He-Ne laser is 100 times more intense than the
light that reaches earth from sun.
• No. of photons per sec per unit area is 1022 to 1034 in
laser. I=P/λ2

Interaction of Light with matter
Absorption
Spontaneous Emission
Stimulated Emission

Absorption, Spontaneous, Stimulated Emission

Absorption

Spontaneous Emission

Stimulated Emission

Stimulated Emission
The stimulated photons have unique properties:
– In phase with the incident photon
– Same wavelength as the incident photon
– Travel in same direction as incident photon

Before After
Absorption
Spontaneous
emission
Stimulated
emission

Spontaneous Emission Stimulated Emission
Takes place when excited Takes place when a photon
atoms makes transitions to of energy of equal to hv
lower energy level voluntarily stimulates an excited atom
with out any external to make transition to lower
stimulation. energy level.
Polychromatic Radiation. Monochromatic Radiation.

Less Intensity. High Intensity.
Less directionality so more High directionality so less
angular spread during angular spread during
propagation propagation.
Spatially and temporally Spatially and temporally

incoherent radiation. coherent radiation.
Population Inversion
• In thermal equilibrium no. of atoms in the
ground state is very much greater than no. of
atom in excited state.(N1 > N2)
• POPULATION INVERSION:
It is the process of making no. atoms in the excited
state greater than the no. of atoms in the lower
energy state. i.e. the population is getting inverted.
(N2 > N1).
• Population inversion is achieved in METASTABLE

STATE (lifetime of the order of 10-3 sec).

PUMPING
• The process of achieving population inversion is
called Pumping i.e. sending the atoms from lower
energy state to higher energy state.
• TYPES OF PUMPING :
1. Optical pumping
2. Electrical pumping
3. X-ray pumping
4. Chemical pumping

Types of LASER’s
a. According to their sources: d. According to different levels
1. Gas Lasers 1. 2-level laser
2. Crystal Lasers 2. 3-level laser
3. Semiconductors Lasers 3. 4-level laser
4. Liquid Lasers e. According to mode of pumping
b. According to the nature of emission: 1. Optical
1. Continuous Wave 2. Chemical
2. Pulsed Laser 3. Electric discharge
c. According to their wavelength: 4. Electrical
1. Visible Region
2. Infrared Region
3. Ultraviolet Region
4. Microwave Region
5. X-Ray Region

Common Components of all Lasers
1.Active Medium:
The active medium may be solid crystals such as ruby or Nd:YAG, liquid dyes, gases like CO 2 or He:Ne, or
semiconductors such as GaAs. Active mediums contain atoms whose electrons may be excited to a
metastable energy level by an energy source.
2.Excitation Mechanism:
Excitation mechanisms pump energy into the active medium by one or more of three basic methods; optical,
electrical or chemical.
3.Optical Resonator:
A part of a laser, consisting of two mirrors, one highly reflective (100% reflection) and one partly reflective
(less than 100% reflection), placed on either side of a laser pump. Amplified light bounces back and forth
between the mirrors, enhancing stimulated emission within the pump, eventually being emitted through the
partly reflective mirror.
Why META STABLE State?
Metastable state is a higher energy state whose lifetime (10 -3

sec) is more than an ordinary higher energy state (10 -8 sec).
In metastable state population inversion can be achieved.
And when these atoms come back to the original ground
level it emits laser beam.

Pump Source
•It is a basic energy source for a laser.
•It excites atoms of laser medium to higher energy states.
•So that population inversion can take place & it is maintained with time.
•The excitation of atom occur directly or through atom or atom collision.
•There is various type of pump depending upon nature of medium.
• Examples: electric discharges, flashlamps, arc lamps and chemical reactions.
•The type of pump source used depends on the gain medium.
• A helium-neon (He:Ne) laser uses an electrical discharge in the helium-neon gas
mixture.
• Excimer lasers use a chemical reaction.
Optical Resonator
• It is an set up used to obtain amplification of stimulated
photons, by oscillating them back & forth between two extreme
limits. Consist of:
1. Two plane or concave mirrors placed co-axially.
2. One mirror is reflecting & other is partially reflecting.

Three & Four Level LASER

Lasing Action
1. Energy is applied to a medium raising electrons to an unstable energy level.
2. These atoms spontaneously decay to a relatively long-lived, lower energy, metastable state.
3. A population inversion is achieved when the majority of atoms have reached this metastable
state.
4. Lasing action occurs when an electron spontaneously returns to its ground state and produces
a photon.
5. If the energy from this photon is of the precise wavelength, it will stimulate the production of
another photon of the same wavelength and resulting in a cascading effect.
6. The highly reflective mirror and partially reflective mirror continue the reaction by directing
photons back through the medium along the long axis of the laser.
7. The partially reflective mirror allows the transmission of a small amount of coherent radiation
that we observe as the “beam”.
8. Laser radiation will continue as long as energy is applied to the lasing medium.

Lasing Action Diagram
Excited State
Non-Radiative Spontaneous
Transition Energy Emission
Metastable State
Introduction
Stimulated Emission
tive
sition
Energy
of Radiation
R a di a
Tran
Ground State

Stimulated emission can lead to a chain
reaction and laser emission.
If a medium has many excited molecules, one photon can become
many.
Excited medium
This is the essence of the laser. The factor by which an input beam is
amplified by a medium is called the gain and is represented by G.
Ruby LASER

Basics of Ruby LASER
Type of laser Solid State laser
Ruby rod. It is a crystalline Al2O3 doped with Cr ions (0.5%),
Active medium
Cr ions being active centers.
Pumping method Optical pumping, Xenon Helical Flash Lamp
Optical resonator Ruby rod, the two ends of the rod polished with silver.
Power output 104 – 105 watts.
Nature of output Pulsed.
Wavelength 6943Å (Red Light)
No. Energy Levels Three

Construction of Ruby LASER
• Active Medium or Gain Medium or LASER Medium: Ruby
Rod.
• Pump Source or Energy Source: Xenon Flash Lamp.
• Optical Resonator: Ruby Rod with one end 100%

reflection and other 99% reflection.

Working of Ruby LASER

Energy Level Diagram

Applications
• Distance measurement using pulse echo technique.
• Used in atmospheric ranging, scattering studies and
LIDAR measurement.
• Used for drilling high quality holes.
• In military used as target designators and range
finders.
• Many non-destructive testing labs use ruby lasers to
create holograms of large objects such as aircraft tires
to look for weaknesses in the lining.
• Ruby lasers were used extensively in tattoo and hair
removal
Advantages
• From the cost point of view, Ruby LASER is
economical.
• Beam diameter of Ruby LASER is smaller than CO2

gas LASER.
• outpower of Ruby LASER is not as less as He-Ne

gas LASER.
• Since Ruby is in solid form, there is no chance of

wasting material of active medium.
Drawbacks
• The laser requires high pumping power.
• The efficiency of ruby laser is very low.
• The laser output is not continuing but occurs

in the form of pulses of microseconds
duration.
• The defects due to crystalline imperfection are

also present in this laser.
Semiconductor LASER

Basics of Semiconductor LASER
Type of laser Semiconducting material
Active medium p-n junction diode made up of GaAs
Pumping method Direct pumping
The polished front & back surfaces
Optical resonator perpendicular to the plane of the
junction
Power output 1 m W.
Nature of output Continuous or pulsed
Characteristic Any wavelength with in visible to IR
wavelength depending on the material used.

Current
Cleaved surface mirror
L Electrode
p+ GaAs
L
n+ GaAs
Electrode
Active region
(stimulated emission region)
A schematic illustration of a GaAs homojunction laser

diode. The cleaved surfaces act as reflecting mirrors.
© 1999
Wednesday 6 December 2023S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics
Dr. M (Prentice Hall)
V V K Srinivas Prasad 54
Semiconductor Laser
• Like LED.
• Lasing action is possible in special type of semiconductors
called DIRECT BANDGAP semiconductor.
• Recombination of hole & electron give energy in the for of EM
radiation
•Lasers which use semiconductor as active medium, are based on
a combination of elements in the III group (Al, Ga, In) and the V
group (N, P, As, Sb) hence referred to as the III-V compounds.

Working of Semiconductor LASER

Energy Level Diagram

Applications
• It is widely used in fiber optic communication.
• It is used to heal the wounds by infrared radiation.
• It is also used as a pain killer.
• It is used in laser printers and CD writing and reading.

Advantages
• It is very small in dimension. The arrangement is simple
and compact.
• It exhibits high efficiency.
• Output can be controlled by controlling the junction
current.
• It is operated with lesser power.
• It can give continuous and pulsed output.

Drawbacks
• It is difficult to control the mode pattern and
mode structure of laser.
• The output is usually from 5 degree to 15
degree i.e., laser beam has large divergence.
• The purity and monochromacity are power
than other types of laser.
• Threshold current density is very large
(400A/mm2).
• It has poor coherence and poor stability.
Wide ranging of laser applications

 Use for the treatment of
detached retinas.
 Use in performing bloodless
surgery
 Use for the treatment of
human and animal cancers
and skin tumors.

Medical Applications
Laser Eye Surgery

Laser in MRI
( Magnetic
Resonance
Imaging )
Laser In Eye
Treatment
Laser Tattoo Removal
Tattoo can be removed with variety of lasers
depending on the presence of inks in the
tattoo

Laser skin rejuvenation
IR lasers are used to remove extremely thin layer of skin (<0.1

mm). In the absence of pigment in general, they take advantage
of the presence of water in the skin to provide an ability to
remove skin and body tissue.
Laser hair removal
selective absorption : absorbing component being melanin pigment in hair and follicle,
it is best worked with a red light ruby laser. White hair can not be treated with any
laser due to the lack of absorbing component.
Laser removal of port-wine stain
Yellow laser is absorbed by the presence of hemoglobin in

blood
Wednesday 6 December 2023 vessels. Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 74
LASERS in Welding and Cutting of metal

Laser in Garment Industry

CO2 laser engraving Designs
Laser Textile Stitching

Laser in Data Storage

Laser In Holography

Laser In Spectroscopy

Laser In Barcode
Scanning

Laser Weapons


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LASER

An Invention in Search of a Problem

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 1

1. Many wavelengths 1. Monochromatic

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 4

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 5

• Δθ = 0.01 milli radian for LASER.

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 6

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 7

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 8

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 10

06/12/2023 01:03 PM Department of Physics 11

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 12

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 13

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 14

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Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 18

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– In phase with the incident photon

– Same wavelength as the incident photon

– Travel in same direction as incident photon

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 20

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 21

Polychromatic Radiation. Monochromatic Radiation.

Spatially and temporally Spatially and temporally

• Population inversion is achieved in METASTABLE

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 23

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 27

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 28

Metastable state is a higher energy state whose lifetime (10 -3

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• Pump Source or Energy Source: Xenon Flash Lamp.

• Optical Resonator: Ruby Rod with one end 100%

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 43

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• Beam diameter of Ruby LASER is smaller than CO2

• outpower of Ruby LASER is not as less as He-Ne

• Since Ruby is in solid form, there is no chance of

• The efficiency of ruby laser is very low.

• The laser output is not continuing but occurs

• The defects due to crystalline imperfection are

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 52

Wednesday 6 December 2023 Dr. M V V K Srinivas Prasad 53

Cleaved surface mirror

A schematic illustration of a GaAs homojunction laser

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