2442-7

Preparatory School to the Winter College on Optics

28 January - 1 February, 2013

Lasers, Q-switching and mode-locking

I. Ashraf
Quaid-I-Azam University Islamabad
Pakistan
 LASER SYSTEMS AND
THEIR APPLICATIONS

IMRANA ASHRAF

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Layout
– Introduction
– Properties of Laser Light
– Basic Components of Laser
– Laser operation
– Types of Lasers
– Laser Applications

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Introduction
LASER
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

• An optical source that emits photons in a coherent

beam.

• In analogy with optical lasers, a device which

produces any particles or electromagnetic radiations
in a coherent state is called “Laser”, e.g., Atom Laser.

• In most cases “laser” refers to a source of coherent

photons i.e., light or other electromagnetic radiations.
It is not limited to photons in the visible spectrum.
There are x-rays, infrared, UV lasers etc.
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Properties of Laser Light

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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Ordinary Light vs. Laser Light

Laser Light
Ordinary Light

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Basic Components of Laser 1
Laser system consists of three important parts.
1. Active medium or laser medium
2. An energy source (referred to as the pump or pump source)
3. An optical resonator consisting of a mirror or system of
mirrors

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 Basic Components of Laser 2
Active Medium
Major determining factor of the wavelength of operation and other properties
of laser.
• Hundreds of different gain media in which laser operation has been
achieved.
• The gain medium could be solid crystals such as ruby or Nd:YAG, liquid
dyes, gases like CO2 or Helium-Neon, and semiconductors such as GaAs.
Pumping Mechanism
• The pump source is the part that provides energy to produce a population
inversion.
• Pump sources include electrical discharges, flash lamps, light from another
laser, chemical reactions.
• The type of pump source used principally depends on the gain medium.
Optical Resonator
Its simplest form is two parallel mirrors placed around the gain medium.
• Light from the medium produced by the spontaneous emission is reflected
by the mirrors back into the medium where it may be amplified by stimulated
emission.
• One of the mirrors reflects essentially 100% of the laser light while the other
reflects less than 100% of the laser light and transmits the remainder.

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 Basic Principles of Light Emission and
Absorption 1
In 1916, Einstein considered various transition rates between
atomic states (say, 1 and 2) involving light of intensity, I.

• Absorption:
Absorption is the process by which the
energy of the photon is taken up by another
entity, e.g., by an atom whose valence
electrons make transition between two
electronic energy levels. The photon is
destroyed in the process.

Rate of Stimulated Absorption =B N1 I

B Einstein's Coefficient for Stimulated

Absorption
N1 Population in the Ground State
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Basic Principles of Light Emission and
Absorption 2
• Stimulated Emission:
A process by which, when perturbed by a
photon, matter may lose energy resulting
in the creation of another identical photon.

Rate of stimulated emission = B N2 I

B Einstein's Coefficient for Stimulated
Emission
N2 Population in the Excited State

• Spontaneous Emission:
A process by which an atom, molecule in
an excited state drops to a lower energy
level.

Rate of spontaneous emission = A N2

A Einstein’s Coefficient for Spontaneous
Emission

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Threshold Condition

I0 I1

I3 Laser medium I2
R = 100% with gain, G R < 100%

A laser action will be achieved if the beam increases in intensity

during a round trip: that is, if I 3  I 0
Usually, additional losses in intensity occur, such as absorption,
scattering, and reflections. In general, the laser will lase if, in a
round trip:

Gain > Loss This is called achieving Threshold.

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 Laser medium
Laser Gain
I(0) I(L)

z
Neglecting spontaneous emission:
0 L
dI
 BN 2 I - BN1 I [Stimulated emission minus absorption]
dz
 B  N 2 - N1  I
Proportionality constant is the
I ( z )  I (0) exp   N 2  N1  z absorption/gain cross-section,

There can be exponential gain or loss in intensity.
Normally, N2 < N1, and there is loss (absorption). But if N2 > N1,
there’s gain, and we define the gain, G:
If N2 > N1: g   N2  N1 
G  exp   N 2  N1  L
If N2 < N1 :    N1  N2 

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 Population Inversion
In order to achieve G > 1, that is, stimulated emission must
exceed absorption:
B N2 I > B N1 I
Equivalently,

N2 > N1

This condition is called population inversion. It does not occur

naturally. It is inherently a non-equilibrium state.

In order to achieve inversion, we must pump the laser medium in

some way and choose our medium correctly.

Population inversion is the necessary condition for laser action.

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Two-, Three-, and Four-Level Systems

Two-level Three-level Four-level

system system system

Fast decay
Fast decay

Pump Laser
Laser Transition Transition
Pump
Transition
Transition
Fast decay
At best, you get
equal populations. If you hit it hard,
No lasing. you get lasing. Lasing is easy!

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Laser Beam Output 1
• Characteristics that affect laser performance are the power
output and mode of emission - continuous wave, pulsed, Q-
switched or Mode –locked lasers.
• CW laser- emits a continuous beam of light as long as
medium is excited.
• Pulsed laser- emit light only in pulses- from femtoseconds to
second
• Q-switched laser-pulses from micro to nanosecond are
produced
• Mode-Locked laser –pulses from pico (10-12s) - to
femtoseconds ( 10-15s) are produced

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 Laser Beam Output 2
Lasers operated in Continuous Wave (CW) or Pulsed modes.
CW lasers-energy is continuously pumped - producing a continuous
laser output. Pulsed lasers - the pump energy is applied in pulses-
usually with a flash lamp

Continuous Output Pulsed Output

(Joules)
Energy
(Watts)
Energy

Time
Time

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Laser: Q-switching

• Q-switching is a way of obtaining short - from a

few nano -seconds to few tens of nano -seconds –
powerful - from a few megawatts to few tens of
megawatts- pulses of laser.
• Q – quality factor of laser resonator.
• High Q – Low losses
• Low Q - High losses
• The term Q-switching refers to an abrupt
switching of the cavity Q from low value to a high
value.
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Laser: Q-switching

• Methods of Q-switching: There are many ways

to Q-switch a laser
• Active Q-switching
1. Mechanical devices- shutters, chopper wheel or
spinning mirror.
2. Electro-optic device: Pockel cells and kerr cells.
3. Acousto-optic device
• Passive Q-switching
1. Q-switch is a saturable absorber.

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 Laser: Q-switching
• The active medium is excited without feedback -by
blocking the reflection from one of the end mirrors of the
cavity
• The end mirror is then suddenly allowed to reflect

• Suddenly applied feedback causes a rapid population

inversion of the lasing levels

• Results in a very high peak power output pulse of short

duration

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 Output intensity

100%

Cavity Gain
Cavity Loss

0%
Time

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 Techniques for Q switching

Using a mechanically driven device

• A rotating prism or mirror
• Rotate one of the mirrors about an axis
perpendicular to the laser
• Rotating speed cannot be made very large
• Q switching does not take place instantaneously

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 Electro-optical Switches

• Light passes through a polarizer and an Electro-optic

cell (controlling the phase or polarization of the laser
beam)
• When appropriate voltage is applied- the material
inside the cell becomes birefringent
• By varying the voltage – cell blocks or transmits
beam.
• Two kinds of electro-optics switches are used-namely
Kerr and Pockels’ cell.
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 Pockels’ Cell
• A Pockels’ cell switches (in a few nanoseconds) from
a quarter-wave plate to nothing.
Before switching After switching

Light becomes circular on the Light is unaffected by the Pockels’

first pass and then horizontal on cell and hence is passed by the
the next and is then rejected by polarizer.
the polarizer.

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 Acousto-optic Shutter
•Uses a quartz crystal

•RF on- beam deflect out of the cavity yielding high loss

•RF off-beam transits the cavity with low loss

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 Passive Q- switching
• Initially light output absorbed by dye-preventing
reflection
• After a particular intensity is reached- dye is
bleached(allows light)
• Now reflection from mirror is possible
• Results in rapid increase in cavity gain

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Laser: Mode-Locking

• Mode-locking - technique that generate ultra-

short optical pulse in the range of femto-second.
Principle of Mode-Locking
• Mode-locking- achieved by locking together the
phases of all oscillating axial laser modes -
having slightly different frequencies.
• Interference between these modes causes the
laser light to be produced as a train of pulses.

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 Laser: Mode-Locking

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 Laser: Mode-Locking
When laser is oscillating with various modes and if modes are
uncorrelated The output intensity

I  t   NE 2
0

When modes are locked in phase the output intensity is given as

I t   N E 2 2
0

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Locked Mode

Intensities
 Locked Mode

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Laser: Mode-Locking

Methods of Mode-Locking
• A modulation of the electromagnetic field is
induced by-fast modulating crystals-Active
Mode-locking or saturable absorbers-
Passive Mode-Locking.
• Mode-Locking- fundamentally multimode
phenomenon

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Physical Properties of Laser

1. Energy- the amount of work accomplished –

measured in joules
2. Power- Rate of energy expenditure – measured
in joules per second or Watts (1J/s =1 W)
3. Irradiance- power density- the power of the laser
per unit area.
4. Fluence - energy density- amount of energy
delivered per unit area - irradiance multiplied by
the exposure time ( j/cm2).

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Types of Laser

Lasers are usually classified in

terms of their active (lasing)
medium. Major types are:

• Solid-state lasers
• Semiconductor Lasers
• Dye Lasers
• Gas Lasers
• Excimer Lasers

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Types of Lasers 2

• Solid-state lasers have lasing material distributed in

a solid material (such as ruby or neodymium: yttrium-
aluminum garnet "YAG"). Flash lamps are the most
common power source. The Nd:YAG laser emits
infrared light at 1.064 micrometers.
• Semiconductor lasers sometimes called diode
lasers- are pn junctions. Current is the pump source.
Applications: laser printers or CD players.
• Dye lasers use complex organic dyes, such as
rhodamine 6G, in liquid solution or suspension as
lasing media. They are tunable over a broad range of
wavelengths.
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 Types of Lasers 3

• Gas lasers are pumped by current. Helium-Neon

lases in the visible and IR. Argon lases in the visible
and UV. CO2 lasers emit light in the far-infrared (10.6
micro m), and are used for cutting hard materials.
• Excimer Lasers different reactive gases (e.g
chlorine, fluorine) are used with inert gases (e.g
argon, xenon, and krypton). Mixture of these gases is
excited- resulting in the release of a simulated
molecule- called dimer. Upon lasing - this dimer
produces ultraviolet lasers. The term Excimer comes
from excited dimer

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Applications of Laser

• Laser considered to be "a solution in search of a problem“ in

1958. Now Laser has many applications

• Scientific Applications.
• Commercial Applications.
• Medical Applications.

• The properties like Coherence, mono-chromaticity, and

ability to reach extremely high powers, allow for these
specialized applications.

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Scientific Applications

• Laser Spectroscopy: atmospheric physics - pollution

monitoring-cancer detection
• Optical metrology: optical distance measurement- optical
temperature measurements etc.,
• Optical frequency metrology: for precise position
measurements
• Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy: Solid materials can
be analyzed
• Laser cooling: makes it possible to bring clouds of atoms or
ions to extremely low temperatures
• Optical tweezers: used for trapping and manipulating small
particles- such as bacteria or parts of living cells.
• Laser microscopes: provide images of, e.g., biological samples
with very high resolution - often in three dimensions
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Scientific Applications

Communications:
• Optical fiber communication: extensively
used for long-distance optical data
transmission-relies on laser light in optical
glass fibers.
• Free-space optical communications: for
inter-satellite communications- is based on
higher-power lasers- generating collimated
laser beams which propagate over large
distances with small beam divergence.
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Commercial Applications

- Cutting, welding, marking,

- Rangefinder / surveying,
- LIDAR / pollution monitoring,
- CD/DVD player,
- Laser printing,
- Laser engraving of printing
plates,
- Laser pointers, holography, laser
light displays
- Optical communications.

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Medical Applications

• Cosmetic surgery:
• Dentistry:
• Dermatology:
• Eye surgery:
• Cardiology:
• Neurology:
• Urology:
• Optical Imaging:

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Laser :Medical Applications
• Cosmetic surgery: removing tattoos, scars,
stretch marks, wrinkles, birthmarks, and hairs.

• Dentistry: caries removal, tooth whitening,

and oral surgery.

• Dermatology: Treatment of acne and skin

cancer by PDT

• Eye surgery: Cataract and Glaucoma surgery

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Laser :Medical Applications 2

• Cardiology: Angioplasty, vessel recanalization

• Neurology: To cut, ,vaporize and coagulate
tissue with out mechanical contacts
• Urology: lithotripsy (removal of kidney stones)
• Laser scalpel: gynecology, urology,
laparoscopy
• Optical Imaging: field of online monitoring and
diagnostics

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References

• LASERS: Peter W, Milonni and Joseph H.

Eberly
• LASERS : Anthony E. Siegman
• LASER FUNDAMENTALS: William T.
Silfvast

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 THANK YOU

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