LASER BASICS

S.Janarthanan
Assistant professor (SLG)
Department of EIE
Kongu Engineering College,
Perundurai, Erode-638060
 Introduction
• LASER : Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation
• Application:
1. Military [ Target acquisition, fire Control etc., ]
2. Biomedical[ surgery, eye treatment, curing etc.,]
3. Industrial [ Testing, Hologram, Photograph, Printing,
Entertainment products , etc.,]

“A laser is a device that amplifies light and produces a

highly directional, high intensity beam that most often
has a very pure frequency or wavelength” [Silfast]
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 Fundamentals..
• Electromagnetic spectrum:

• LASER: wavelengths from 180 nanometers to 1 millimeter.

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 Fundamentals..
The primary wavelengths of LASER includes:

Regions Wave lengths

Ultraviolet 180 and 400 nm (Shorter)
Visible 400 and 700 nm (Medium)
Infrared 700 nm and 1 mm (longer)

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Lasers have unique characteristics as light sources:

 The light emitted from a laser is monochromatic, that is, it is of one

color/wavelength. In contrast, ordinary white light is a combination of many colors (or
wavelengths) of light. Same Frequency or wavelength 10-7 to 10-2 Å

 Lasers emit light that is highly directional, that is, laser light is emitted as
a relatively narrow beam in a specific direction. Ordinary light, such as from a
light bulb, is emitted in many directions away from the source. Travel large
distance without being dispersed.
The light from a laser is said to be coherent, which means that the
wavelengths of the laser light are in phase in space and time. Ordinary light can
be a mixture of many wavelengths. Uniphase
Brightness ( High intensity): Extremely bright 1016 – 10 28 photon/sec

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A short sketch of laser history

1917: Einstein – stimulated absorption and

emission of light
1954: Charles Townes and Schawlow – maser,
prediction of the optical laser
Nobel Prize (1964)

1960: Theodore Maiman – first demonstration of a laser:

Ruby laser

Rapid progress in the 1960s:

1961: first gas laser, first Nd laser
1962: first semiconductor laser
1963: CO2 laser (IR) KEC_EIE_SJ
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 Fundamentals..
• In 1917, Albert Einstein ,The greatest modern
physicist, enunciated that an excited atom or a
molecule, when stimulated by an electromagnetic
wave (i.e., light), would emit photons (packets of
light) having the same wavelength as that of the
impinging electromagnetic wave.

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 LASER
• L- Light : Electromagnetic wave
• A- Amplification : Gain in intensity
• S- Stimulated
• E- Emission of
• R- Radiation

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 Mechanics of Emission:
Absorption
The atoms are in the
E1 lowest energy state or
ground state. When light
from a powerful source
like a flash lamp or a
mercury arc falls on a
E2 substance, the atoms in
the ground state can be
excited to go to one of
the higher levels. This
process is called
absorption.
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 Induced absorption (stimulated absorption )

The process in which an atom sized system in lower energy state is raised in to
higher energy state by electro magnetic radiation which is quanta of energy is
equal to the difference of energy of the two states is called stimulated
absorption.
i.e., hν=E2-E1

E2 E2

E E1
1
Before After
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 Mechanics of Emission:
Spontaneous Emission
After staying in that
level for a very short
duration (of the order of
10^ -8 second), the atom
returns to its initial
ground state, emitting a
photon in the process,
This process is called
spontaneous or a
emission.

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 Spontaneous emission
In the atom initially at upper state E2, it
can brought to E1 by emitting photon of
energy hν.This is known as spontaneous
emission.
Before During After emission
E2

E1
Atom in excited Atom in ground
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state state
 Mechanics of Emission:
Stimulated Emission
The two processes, namely,
absorption and , spontaneous
emission, take place in a
conventional light source, In case
the atom, still in Its urns to
excited state, is struck by an
outside photon having precisely
the energy necessary for
spontaneous emission, the
outside photon is augmented by
the one given up by the excited
atom, Moreover, both the
photons are released from the
same excited state in the same
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phase, This process, 13
KEC_EIE_SJ
called
stimulated emission.
 Stimulated emission
According to Einstein's, under certain condition it is possible to
force an excited atom emit a photon by another photon and the
incident light wave must be in same phase .hence we get an
enhance beam of coherent light

Excited state After emission

E2

E1
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Ground state
 Population inversion
population inversion occurs when a system (such as a group of
atoms or molecules) exists in a state with more members in an
excited state than in lower energy states. The concept is of
fundamental importance in laser science because the production of
a population inversion is a necessary step in the workings of a
standard laser.

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Principal components of a laser

1. Gain medium
2. Laser pumping energy
3. High reflector
4. Output coupler
5. Laser beam

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Preconditions for laser operation
“Population inversion”
- consider populations of and transitions between energy
levels in molecules in the gain medium (1)
Optical cavity
- look at the physical design of a laser – cavity formed by
the high reflector (3) and output coupler (4)

1. Gain medium
2. Laser pumping energy
3. High reflector
4. Output coupler
5. Laser beam
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 Main parts of a laser
Active medium or working
substance
Pumping source or energy source
Optical resonator

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Active medium or working substance
This is the basic material in which atomic and
molecular transitions take place leading to laser
action.
It is the medium where the stimulated emission
take place
Depending the active medium lasers are classified
in to different types like solid, gas, dye or liquid,
semiconductor laser

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 Pumping source or energy source
With the help of energy source the system can be
raised to an excited state, with the help of this
source the no. of atoms in higher energy state
may be increased and hence the population
inversion is achieved. the energy source may
also be called pumping source.

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 Optical resonator
 It is specially designed cylindrical tube
 Set of mirrors at the ends of which are silvered one end being
completely silvered at which the other is partially silvered
 Photons are emitted parallel to the axis of the active medium
undergo multiple reflections between them
 So, the light intensity can be increased

Energy source

Fully Partially
silvered Working
silvered
substance

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 Three level and four level laser
The simplest kind is three level laser which uses and assembly
of atom or molecules that have three energy states E1,E2,E3.
Where, E1-> ground state
E2->meta stable state
E3->higher excited state
E3 Excited
state
E2
Pumping

Meta stable
active

state

E1
Ground
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state
 Four level laser
E1->ground state,E2->intermediate,E3->metastable,E4-
>excited state

Excited state
E4
E3 Meta stable
Pumping

state
active

E2
Intermediate
E1
Ground state

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 Fundamentals..
LASER TYPE WAVELENGTH (Nanometers)
Argon Fluoride 193
Xenon Chloride 308 and 459
Xenon Fluoride 353 and 459
Helium Cadmium 325 - 442
Rhodamine 6G 450 - 650
Copper Vapor 511 and 578
Argon 457 - 528 (514.5 and 488 most used)
Frequency doubled Nd:YAG 532
Helium Neon 543, 594, 612, and 632.8
Krypton 337.5 - 799.3 (647.1 - 676.4 most used)
Ruby 694.3
Laser Diodes 630 - 950
Ti:Sapphire 690 - 960
Alexandrite 720 - 780
Nd:YAG 1064
Hydgrogen Fluoride 2600 - 3000
Erbium:Glass 1540
6/10/2022 Carbon Monoxide KEC_EIE_SJ 5000 - 6000 24
Carbon Dioxide 10600
1.5 Types of lasers
Lasers may be classified according to several criteria:
Whether the gain medium is a gas, liquid, or solid
Fixed frequency or tuneable
Emission range (UV to IR)
Excitation source
CW or pulsed
Laser power

We will somewhat arbitrarily look at lasers based on whether the

gain medium is a gas, liquid, or solid.
Gas: HeNe laser, excimer lasers, CO2 lasers
Liquid: dye lasers
Solid: Nd:YAG laser, Ti:sapphire laser
Diode (semiconductor) lasers
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Semi conductor laser
 Solid state laser
 In this a ruby like crystal is used which acts as an active medium. It is basically cylindrical in shape. This crystal is surrounded by a xenon flash lamp T.
 This flash lamp is of helical shape. In this arrangement this lamp acts as a pumping arrangement. Both the ends E1 and E2 of the crystal are properly
polished.
 Similar to the gas lasers, the surface M1 will do the complete reflection but on the other hand M2 will reflect partially.
 Whenever we will pass the current through the arrangement a laser beam of red color having large intensity will come out.

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 Gas laser
CO2 & He-Ne lasers are the best e.g. gas laser. The CO2
lasers was one of the earliest gas laser to be developed, and
still of the main useful.
The He-Ne laser contain a mixture of helium & neon.
This mixture is packed in to glass tube and it acts as an
active medium. Two electrodes are connected in to high
voltage D.C source.
Two parallel mirrors are placed in front of each other.
both mirrors are present inside the tube only one mirror
M1 shows the complete reflection and mirror M2 shows
partial reflection.
 when we pass the electric current through the tube, a
continues light wave will start flowing the tube with
constant
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 Liquid laser or dye laser

In liquid lasers organic dyes are used as

active medium inside the glass tube. The
complete circulation of dye is done in the
tube with the help of a pump. From this
organic dye laser light will emerge out.

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 Semiconductor laser
 In these lasers junction diodes are used. The
doping of p-n junction diode is done. Both the
acceptors and donors are doped. These are known
as ILD(Injection Laser Diodes). Whenever the
current is passed then the light modulation from
the ILD can be seen. This is used in various
electronic equipments

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Einstein's coefficient and Einstein's relation

Let N1 & N2 be the no. of atoms in the ground state and

excited state and is the energy density per unit
volume
Then the ratio of absorption per unit volume
Ratio of spontaneous emission per unit volume

Ratio of stimulated emission per unit

volume

Where B12,B21 and A21 are Einstein's coefficient under

thermal equilibrium, the rate of absorption = rate of
emission

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 N0. N0.

1
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 HeNe laser
The helium-neon (HeNe) laser
The HeNe laser is a common, relatively low power and low cost CW
laser. The gain medium is a helium-neon gas mixture. The HeNe
is a 4-level laser with the following energy levels:
Lasing occurs between excited
energy levels of neon, but helium
is necessary to transfer pump
energy (from an electric or
microwave discharge) to the neon
atoms.
Helium atoms are excited by
collisions with electrons to various
excited states, of which the 21S0
and 23S1 states are metastable
and long-lived because radiative
transition back to the 11S ground
state is forbidden.
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 HeNe laser
Ne has ground configuration 1s22s22p6 and excited
states 2p5ns1 and 2p5np1 (with n>2).

The 2p5ns1 levels are much-longed lived than the

2p5np1 levels, so it is feasible to produce a
population inversion.

Lasing may occur between various energy levels, but the 632.8 nm
line (red) is most commonly used for HeNe lasers.
The near-IR lines at 3.39 μm are not often used but interfere with
lasing at 633 nm by depleting the population of the upper state.
This effect can be minimised using cavity mirrors that only reflect
red light, allowing lasing to take place at 633 nm only.

Decay from 2p53p1 to 2p53s1 is rapid, but 2p53s1 is a long-lived state.

2p53s1 Ne atoms can lose this energy to wall collisions – for this
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reason, HeNe lasers have narrow tubes.
 Excimer laser
Excimer lasers
Excimer lasers are pulsed, high power lasers
“Excimer”: excited dimer (E.g., He2)
“Exciplex”: excited complex (dissimilar atoms) (E.g., ArF)

Excimers and exciplexes are molecules

characterised by a dissociative ground
state, but by a bound potential for an
excited electronic state:

Since the lower state is very short-lived, a population inversion can

also6/10/2022
be achieved relatively easily.
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 Excimer laser
Noble gas-halogen exciplexes are useful for many laser applications.
(While technically exciplex lasers, these lasers are usually called excimer lasers.)

E.g., ArF (193 nm), KrF (248 nm), XeF (351 nm), KrCl (222 nm), XeCl
(308 nm), XeBr (282 nm)
An electric discharge is
used to pump the laser.

Although the ground energy level

is short-lived, in some cases the
lower level potential may be very
slightly bound, allowing some
tuneability of the laser.

Note that the excimer laser can be changed

6/10/2022 by exchanging the gas mixture (along
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with the HR and OC).
 CO2 laser
The carbon dioxide laser
The CO2 laser is a high power infrared laser of high efficiency that
may be pulsed or CW. It lases between vibrational levels of CO2.
CO2 has 3 normal modes of vibration – the symmetric stretch (ν1) at
1354 cm-1, the bending vibration (ν2) at 673 cm-1, and the
assymetric stretch (ν3) at 2396 cm-1.

Since the lower state is very short-lived, a population inversion can

also6/10/2022
be achieved relatively easily.
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 CO2 laser
Pumping is achieved by electric
discharge – some CO2 molecules are
directly excited, together with efficient
transfer from excited N2 to CO2.

Transitions between vibrational levels also involve rotational

transitions, giving rise to a relatively large number of closely spaced
emission lines – the laser can be tuned between these transitions.

A He:CO2:N2 mixture is used.

Very high laser (up to kW) powers can be achieved.

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 Applications

 Modulated laser beam have been used for communication

 In medical field
 High power laser have been used for cutting & drilling
holes in hard metal and diamonds
 They have been used in the production and research with
holograms, they are also used in high speed photography
and fiber optics

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 conclusion
 Lasers are device which amplify light and
produce beams of light which are very intense,
directional and Pure in colour.
 Laser action is preceded by three processes
namely absorption, spontaneous emission and
stimulated emission.
 They can solid state ,gas, semiconductor or liquid.

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 Incandescent vs. Laser Light

1. Many wavelengths 1. Monochromatic

2. Multidirectional 2. Directional
3. Incoherent 3. Coherent
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 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 CO2 or Helium/Neon, 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. High Reflectance Mirror

A mirror which reflects essentially 100% of the laser light.

4. Partially Transmissive Mirror

A mirror which reflects less than 100% of the laser light and transmits the
remainder.
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 Laser Components

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Gas lasers consist of a gas filled tube placed in the laser
cavity. A voltage (the external pump source) is applied to
the tube to excite the atoms in the gas to a population
43
inversion. The light emitted from this type of laser is
normally continuous wave (CW).
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 Lasing Action

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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”. 44
8. Laser radiation will continue as long as energy is applied to the lasing
KEC_EIE_SJ
medium.
 Lasing Action Diagram

Excited State
Spontaneous
Energy
Emission
Metastable State
Introduction

Stimulated
Energy

Emission of
Radiation

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Ground State KEC_EIE_SJ 45
 6/10/2022
PRINCIPLE OF LASER ACTION

• Due to stimulated emission the

photons multiply in each step giving
rise to an intense beam of photons that
are coherent and moving in the same
direction . hence the Light Is Amplified
By Stimulated Emission Of Radiation
46

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 6/10/2022
PUMPING METHODS

• OPTICAL PUMPING
• DIRECT ELECTRON EXCITATION
• INELASTIC ATOM – ATOM COLLISION
• DIRECT CONVERSION
• CHEMICAL PROCESS
47

KEC_EIE_SJ
 Properties of Laser
• Monochromatic
Concentrate in a narrow range of wavelengths (one
specific colour).

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

• Directional
A very tight beam which is very strong and
concentrated.
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 Part 2:
Laser Hazards

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 Types of Laser Hazards

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1. Eye : Acute exposure of the eye to lasers of certain wavelengths
and power can cause corneal or retinal burns (or both). Chronic
exposure to excessive levels may cause corneal or lenticular
opacities (cataracts) or retinal injury.
2. Skin : Acute exposure to high levels of optical radiation may cause
skin burns; while carcinogenesis may occur for ultraviolet
wavelengths (290-320 nm).
3. Chemical : Some lasers require hazardous or toxic substances to
operate (i.e., chemical dye, Excimer lasers).
4. Electrical : Most lasers utilize high voltages that can be lethal.
5. Fire : The solvents used in dye lasers are flammable. High voltage
pulse or flash lamps may cause ignition. Flammable materials
may be ignited by direct beams or specular reflections from high
power continuous wave (CW) infrared lasers.
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KEC_EIE_SJ
 Laser Class
The following criteria are used to classify lasers:
1. Wavelength. If the laser is designed to emit multiple
wavelengths the classification is based on the most
hazardous wavelength.
2. For continuous wave (CW) or repetitively pulsed lasers the
average power output (Watts) and limiting exposure
time inherent in the design are considered.
3. For pulsed lasers the total energy per pulse (Joule), pulse
duration, pulse repetition frequency and emergent beam
radiant exposure are considered.
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 LASER COMPONENTS

Optical Resonator

Output
Beam
Active
Medium

High Reflectance Output Coupler

Mirror (HR) Mirror (OC)
Excitation
Mechanism

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Laser-Professionals.com
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 Optical Resonator
• Two parallel mirrors placed around the gain
medium.
• Light is reflected by the mirrors back into the
medium and is amplified .
• The design and alignment of the mirrors with
respect to the medium is crucial.
• Spinning mirrors, modulators, filters and
absorbers may be added to produce a variety
of effects on the laser output.
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 Comparison chart for all the lasers
Characteri Nd-YAG laser He-Ne laser CO2 laser Semiconductor
stics (Ga-As) laser
Type Doped insulator laser(solid Gas laser Molecular gas Semiconductor
state laser) laser laser
Active Yttrium Aluminium Garnet Mixture of Mixture of P-N junction
medium (y3Al5O12) Helium and CO2, N2 and diode
Neon in the ratio Helium (or)
10:1 water vapour
Active Neodymium(Nd3+ ions) Neon CO2 Recombination
centre of electrons &
holes
Pumping Optical pumping Electrical Electric Direct pumping
method pumping disharge
method
Optical Ends of the rods polished Pair of concave Metallic mrror Junction of
resonator with silver and two mirrors. mirrors of gold (or) diopdes-polished
One of them is to totally silicon mirrors
reflected and the other is
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partially reflecting aluminium
 Typical Application of Laser
The detection of the binary data stored in the form of pits on the compact disc is done
with the use of a semiconductor laser. The laser is focused to a diameter of about
0.8 mm at the bottom of the disc, but is further focused to about 1.7 micrometers as it
passes through the clear plastic substrate to strike the reflective layer. The reflected
laser will be detected by a photodiode. Moral of the story: without optoelectronics
there will no CD player!

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 Difference between a photography & holography
S.No photography Holography
1. Photography is a 2-dimensional Holography is a 3-dimensional
recording process recording process

2. Ordinary light can be used for Only laser beam should be used for
recording recording (or) constucting a hologram

3. It is based on lens systems It is a lensless systems

4. Amplitude alone can be recorded Both Amplitude and phase can be
recorded

5. Image is recorded totally Image is recorded bit by bit

6. Image has poor resolution Image has very high solution
7. To get the positive of the image it To get the positive of the image it needs
needs printing printing

8. 6/10/2022 No need of vibration less table

KEC_EIE_SJ Needs of vibration less table 57
 LASER SAFETY EYEWEAR

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Laser-Professionals.com
 Laser oscillation
Ruby laser example

Laser is oscillator
• Like servo with positive feedback
• Greater than unity gain
Laser gain and losses

Laser turn-on and gain saturation

Gain decreases as output
power increases
• Saturation

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 Fabry-Perot cavity for feedback
• High reflectivity mirrors
• Low loss per round trip
• Must remember resonance conditions
– round trip path is multiple of 

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 Classical mechanics analog

Laser longitudinal modes

• High reflectivity Fabry-Perot cavity
• Boundary conditions
– field is zero on mirrors
• Multiple wavelengths possible
– agrees with resonance conditions

Fabry-Perot boundary conditions

Multi-mode laser

Multiple resonant frequencies

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 Single longitudinal mode lasers
• Insert etalon into cavity
• Use low reflectivity etalon
– low loss

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 Laser transverse modes
• Wave equation looks like harmonic oscillator Transverse laser modes
d 2x k
•  x0
Ex: E = E e -it dt 2 m
2
 n 
 E 
2
 E0
• Separate out z dependence  c 

E   2 E  2 E   n  
2
 2E
•  2  2ik   2  2     k 2  E  0
Solutions
 z
for
z x and
x y are
y Hermite
  c polynomials

 

Frequencies of transverse modes

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 Single transverse mode lasers
• Put aperture in laser
• Create loss for higher order modes

Multi-longitudinal Multi-transverse&long. Single mode

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 Gaussian beams
• Zero order mode is Gaussian
• Intensity profile:
• beam waist: w0

2 r 2 / w 2
• confocal parameter: z I  I 0e
• far from waist

2
 z 
• divergence angle

w  w0 1   2 
 w0 

w02
zR 


z
w Gaussian propagation
w0

2 
  0.637
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w0 w0
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 Power distribution in Gaussian
2 r 2 / w 2
• Intensity distribution: I  I 0e
• Experimentally to measure full width at half maximum (FWHM) diameter
• Relation is dFWHM = w 2 ln2 ~ 1.4 w
• Define average intensity
• Iavg = 4 P / ( d2FWHM)
• Overestimates peak: I0 = Iavg/1.4

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 Resonator options
• Best known -- planar, concentric, confocal
• Confocal unique Special cases
– mirror alignment not critical
– position is critical
– transverse mode frequencies identical

Types of resonators

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