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Laser Notes For EEE Students

phaysics laser notes for eee students

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
28 views5 pages

Laser Notes For EEE Students

phaysics laser notes for eee students

Uploaded by

suparnaankitha9
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS BIT LASER

Laser
Introduction

In 1951 C.H.Townes of Columbia University in New York conceives his MASER idea while
sitting on a park bench in Washington and in 1953 the first MASER begun operating. In 1960 T.H.
Maiman, at Hughes Research Laboratories constructed the first laser Ruby Laser.
LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. In light
amplification is nothing but producing identical photons. It can be achieved by stimulated emission
Laser is a highly energetic and well collimated light with following special properties

Properties

1. Light is very nearly monochromatic


2. Highly coherent with all the waves exactly in phase
3. Laser beam is well collimated. High power laser beam is capable of travelling 7 lakhs km
distance with less than 0.01% divergence
4. Energy density is extremely high. The energy density of some laser beams is equivalent to
that of a hot body at a temperature of 1030 K!
5. Well polarized

In total special properties of laser are

i)monochromaticity, ii) directionality, iii) coherence and iv) brightness

Wave representation of ordinary light, monochromatic light and laser

How do you produce a light of such a varied and unique properties? In order to understand this we
have to study the interaction of radiation with matter

Interaction of radiation with matter


Consider a material medium composed of identical atoms. Atoms are characterized by many
energy levels but for the sake of simplification we take only two energy levels, say E1 (ground
state) and E2 (excited state) (E2 > E1). At normal temperature majority of the atoms occupy ground
level. The number of atoms per unit volume of an energy level is called population density. When
light of certain right frequency  shines on it:
1. It can be absorbed by the atom in lower level (say ground level) and goes to E2. this is
known as Induced absorption
2. After spending a brief interval of time (less than 10-8 s), it returns to ground level by
emitting excess energy (E2-E1=h) in the form of photon. This is Spontaneous emission.
Spontaneous, because for this to happen nobody's recommendation is required
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS BIT LASER

3. If, somehow, the atom is already in the level E2, then the incident photon may influence
the atom to undergo transition to lower level by emitting photon. This is termed as
Stimulated emission. During this process we get more number of identical photons exactly
in phase

Einstein theory of A & B coefficients

In 1917 he introduced stimulated emission and used it to arrive at Planck’s radiation formula. It is
known as Einstein’s theory of A & B coefficients

Consider two energy states of an atom say E1 & E2 (E2>E1). Let N1 be the number of atoms in E1
& N2 in E2 states. When light of certain frequency  and energy density U is incident on it, there
will be three possibilities.

Induced absorption: Atoms in E1 can absorb incident photon and excite to E2 state. The
probability that this occurs at per second is directly proportional to number of atoms (N1) in E1 and
incident energy density (U)
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝛼 𝑁1 𝑈𝜈 = 𝐵12 𝑁1 𝑈𝜈 − − − (1)

Spontaneous Emission: Atoms in the E2 state have certain probability to spontaneously drop to
E1 level by emitting photon. It does not depend on the incident energy(it would happen even if
there is no light). Hence
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝛼 𝑁2 = 𝐴21 𝑁2 − − − (2)

Stimulated emission: The incident photon somehow interact with atoms in E2 level to
induce(stimulate/influence) transition to E1 level. This, again depends on number of atoms N2 in
E2 level and U
E2 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝛼 𝑁2 = 𝐵21 𝑁2 𝑈𝜈 − − − (3)

h h 2h
E1
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS BIT LASER

Where A & B are called Einstein coefficients. B12 is stimulated absorption coefficient; A21 is
spontaneous emission coefficient; B21 is stimulated emission coefficient. The whole system is in
thermal equilibrium at temperature T. Hence
rate of induced absorption = rate of spontaneous emission + rate of stimulated emission

𝐵12 𝑁1 𝑈𝜈 = 𝐴21 𝑁2 + 𝐵21 𝑁2 𝑈𝜈


𝐵12 𝑁1 𝑈𝜈 − 𝐵21 𝑁2 𝑈𝜈 = 𝐴21 𝑁2
𝑈𝜈 (𝐵12 𝑁1 − 𝐵21 𝑁2 ) = 𝐴21 𝑁2
𝐴21 𝑁2 𝐴21 𝑁2
𝑈𝜈 = =
(𝐵12 𝑁1 − 𝐵21 𝑁2 ) 𝐵 𝑁 (𝐵12 𝑁1 − 1)
21 2 𝐵 𝑁
21 2

𝐴21 1
𝑈𝜈 = [ ] − − − (4)
𝐵21 ( 𝐵12 𝑁1 − 1)
𝐵21 𝑁2
𝑁1 ℎ𝜈
According to Boltzmann = 𝑒 ⁄𝑘𝑇
𝑁2

𝐴21 1
𝑈𝜈 = [ ] − − − (5)
𝐵21 (𝐵12 ) 𝑒 ℎ𝜈⁄𝑘𝑇 − 1
𝐵21
This is the formula for energy density of the incident light. It is consistent with Planck’s radiation
formula
8𝜋ℎ𝜈 3 1
𝑈𝜈 = [ ] − − − (6)
𝑐 3 𝑒 ℎ𝜈⁄𝑘𝑇 − 1
On comparing eq (5) & (6) we get
𝐴21 8𝜋ℎ𝜈 3
= − − − (7)
𝐵21 𝑐3
𝐵12
=1
𝐵21
𝐵12 = 𝐵21 − − − (8)
Conclusions

 According to eq (8), the probability of stimulated absorption (B12) is equal to that of


stimulated emission (B21). If light of energy h is incident on a system, there is equal
chance of taking atoms from E1 to E2 and vice versa so that you cannot produce more and
more photons (ie, Amplification not possible with only two states). This suggest the
necessity of 3rd level called metastable level

 According to eq (7), the rate of spontaneous emission is directly proportional to 3. So if


you supply higher energy (to have more atoms in higher level), there is every chance of
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS BIT LASER

increase in spontaneous emission rather than stimulated emission, which, of course, is not
our intension.

Conditions for Laser


For lasing action, the following conditions must be satisfied

 Population inversion
When the material is in thermal equilibrium the population ratio of atoms, ie, the ratio of
atoms in the ground state (N1) to atoms in the excited state (N2) is given by Boltzmann
factor as
𝑁1 ℎ𝜈
= 𝑒 ⁄𝑘𝑇
𝑁2

According to this equation the population of the excited levels is far less than ground level
(N2 << N1). N1 will be 1030 times more than N2. This kind of thermal equilibrium is not
suitable for producing laser. We need an abnormal situation where in N2 >> N1. This
abnormal situation is known as population inversion

 Meta stable state


In order to achieve population inversion, the excited atom need to ‘wait’ in the excited state
for some more atoms to come. It is possible only if the life span of the excited level is more
than usual (ie, more than 10-8s). There are some excited levels in some materials whose life
span is 10-3s to 10-6s. Such type of excited states are called as metastable states

Energy states whose lifetime is about 10-3 to 10-6s are termed as meta stable states where
population inversion can be achieved in these states

 Pumping process
In order to achieve population inversion, atoms shall be excited (PUMP) to many of the
higher states by supplying energy. This is known as pumping process. Optical
pumping/flash lamp (solid lasers), electrical discharge (gas laser), current injection
(semiconductor laser), chemical reactions (liquid lasers) etc are some of the possible
pumping methods. I(t may be noted here that the thermal pumping is not a suitable method
because it does not yield required results even at a very high temperature)

Laser Requisites
Three important requirements for lasing action are active medium, pumping source and laser cavity

 Active medium
One of the prime requirements for lasing action is population inversion. The medium which
supports population inversion is known as active medium. Medium can be gaseous, liquid, or a
solid. Active medium is also called as gain medium because it is the source of optical gain.
Ex: Cr2O3 in Ruby laser, He & Ne gas in He-Ne laser, N2 & CO2 in CO2 laser, GaAs in
semiconductor laser
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS BIT LASER

 Pumping source
The excitation source which takes atoms from the ground state to higher state is known as
pumping source. There are mainly 3 pumping sources: electric, optical, and chemical. Most
lasers are pumped via collisions with either electrons or ions

 laser cavity (resonance cavity)


Laser cavity is the main part of laser device which accounts for directionality and amplification
of the beam. It is equivalent to amplifier. Its main objective is to provide positive feedback of
photons into the medium so that stimulated emission is sustained and the laser is generated in
the form of WAVE. It is also called resonance cavity because of the concept of resonance
involved in its working

It usually has two flat or concave mirrors on either end. One of them is completely silvered and
the other is partially silvered. Photons reflect back and forth between the mirrors lead to
amplification. The mirror arrangement is equivalent to feedback system

The length of the cavity is equal to 𝑛(𝜆⁄2) in order to satisfy the condition for constructive
interference

Three level and four level lasers

Three level laser system consists of three energy levels actively involved in lasing action. They
are ground state, excited state and metastable state. Population inversion occurs in metastable
state and lasing action takes place between metastable and ground state. Efficiency is less.
Strong pumping required. It gives only pulsed laser. Ruby laser is a three level laser

In four level laser system there are 4 levels namely ground state, excited state, intermediate state
and meta stable state. Population inversion occurs in metastable state. Lasing action takes place
between metastable and intermediate state. In this laser system, efficiency more and moderate
pumping is enough. It gives continuous wave laser

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