LASER

The term laser stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The key to the laser is the presence in many atoms of one or more excited energy levels whose lifetimes may be 10-3s or more instead of the usual10-8s. Such relatively long-lived states are called metastable (temporarily stable) states. Three kinds of transition involving electromagentic radiation are possible between two energy levels E0 and E1, in an atom:

1. Spontaneous emission: If the atom is initially in the upper state E 1, it can drop to E0 by
emitting a photon of energy h, where h=E1-E0.

2. Induced absorption : If the atom is initially in the lower state E0, it can be raised to E1 by
absorbing a photon of energy h= E1- E0. This is induced absorption.

3. Induced emission : In this process an atom is in an excited state. A passing photon of just
the right energy [again, equal to the energy difference of the two levels] induces the atom to emit a photon and make a transition to the lower, or ground state. Of course, it would eventually have made the transition left on its own, but it makes it sooner after being prodded by the passing photon. The significant detail is that the two photons that emerge are traveling in exactly the same direction with exactly the same energy and the associated electromagnetic waves are perfectly in phase (coherent).

Figure 1: Transitions between two energy levels in an atom. Einstein in 1917, showed that induced emission has the same probability as induced absorption. That is, a photon of energy h incident on atom in the upper state E1 has the same likelihood of causing the emission of another photon of energy h as its likelihood of being absorbed if it is incident on an atom in the lower state E0. Suppose we have a collection of atoms all in the same excited state, as shown in Fig. below. A photon passes the first atom, causing induced emission and resulting in two photons. Each of these two photons causes an induced emission process, resulting in four photons. This process continues doubling the number of photons at each step, until we build up an intense become of photons, all coherent and moving in the same direction.

This simple model for a laser will not work for several reasons. First, it is difficult to keep a collection of atoms in their excited states until they are stimulated to emit the photon. A second reason is that atoms that happen to be in their ground state undergo absorption and thus remove photons from the beam as it builds up.

Fig 2: Buildup of intense beam in a laser. Each emitted photon interacts with an excited atom interacts with an exited atom and produces two photons. To solve these problems, we must achieve a population inversion in a collection of atoms, there must be more atoms in the upper state than in the lower state. This is called an inversion because under normal conditions at thermal equilibrium, the lower state always has the greater population. The inversion is thus an unnatural situation that must be achieved by artificial means, since it is essential for the operation of the laser. A number of ways exist to produce a population inversion. One of them is called optical pumping. Here an external light source is used some of whose photons have the right frequency to raise ground state atoms to the excited state that decays spontaneously to the desired metastable state. The first laser, which was constructed by T.H. Maiman in 1960, was based on a three level atom (Fig. 3). The laser medium is a solid ruby rod. A ruby is a crystal of aluminium oxide, Al 2O3, in which some of the Al3+ ions are replaced by Cr3+ ions which are responsible for the red colour. A Cr3+ ion has a metastable level whose lifetime is about 0.003 s. In the ruby laser, a xenon flash lamp excites the Cr3+ ions to a level of higher energy from which they fall to the metastable level by losing energy to other ions in the crystal. Photons from the spontaneous decay of some Cr 3+ ions are reflected back and forth between the mirrored ends of the ruby rod, stimulating other excited Cr3+ ions to radiate. After a few microseconds the result is a large pulse of monochromatic, coherent red light from the partly transparent end of the rod. The transition from the metastable state to the ground state is the lasing transition. The rods length is made precisely an integral number of half wavelengths long, so the radiation trapped in it forms an optical standing wave. Since the induced emissions are stimulated by the standing wave, their waves are all in step with it.

2.25 eV

Cr3+ ion Radiationless transition Metastable state

1.79 eV Optical pumping 550 nm Ground state

Laser transition 694.3 nm

Fig. 3: The ruby laser In order for induced emission to exceed induced absorption, more than half the Cr3+ ions in the ruby rod must be in the metastable state.

Fig 4: A three level atom

Fig 5: A four level atom

As the lasing transition occurs, the population of the ground state is increased thereby upsetting the population inversion. This excess of population in the ground state allows absorption of the lasing transition, thereby removing photons that might contribute to the lasing action. The four-level laser illustrated in Fig. 5 relieves this remaining difficulty. The ground state is pumped to an excited state that decays rapidly to the metastable state, as with the three level laser. The lasing transition proceeds from the metastable state to yet another excited state, which in turn decays rapidly to the ground state. The atom in its ground state thus cannot absorb at the energy of the lasing transition, and we have a workable laser. Because the lower short-lived state decays rapidly, its population is always smaller than that of the metastable state, which maintains the population inversion. The helium neon laser is an example of a four level laser. A mixture of helium and neon gas [about 90% helium] at a low pressure contained in a glass tube that has parallel mirrors, one of them partly transparent, at both ends. The spacing of the mirrors is again [as in all lasers] equal to an integral number of half wavelengths of the laser light. An electric discharge is produced in the gas by means of electrodes outside the tube connected to a high frequency source of alternating current, and collisions with electrons from the discharge excite He and Ne atoms to metastable states respectively 20.61 and 20.66 eV above their ground states.

Occasionally, some of the excited He atoms collide with some of the ground state Ne atoms and in this way transfer their energy to ground state Ne atoms in collisions, with the 0.05 eV of additional energy being provided by the kinetic energy of the atoms. The purpose of the He atoms is thus to help achieve a population inversion in the Ne atoms. In this manner, neon level 20.66 eV can become more heavily populated than neon level 18.70 eV. Symbolically,
* * helium + neon helium + neon

where the excited state is indicated by the asterisk. The laser transition in Ne is from the meta stable state at 20.66 eV to an excited state at 18.70 eV with the emission of a 632.8 nm photon. Then another photon is spontaneously emitted in a transition to a lower meta stable state; this transition yields only incoherent light. Because the electron impacts that excite the He and Ne occur all the time, unlike the pulsed excitation from the Xenon flash lamp in a ruby laser, a He-Ne laser operates continuously. This is the laser whose narrow red beam is used in supermarkets to read bar codes.

Fig. 6: Sequence of transitions in a He-Ne laser

The Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution function determines the number of atoms in a state with energy E. If Eg is a ground state energy and Eex is the energy of an excited state, then the ratio of numbers of atoms in the two states is

n ex Ae KT [ E E ] / KT = = e ex g Eg ng Ae KT

Eex

Comet stimulated emission: When a comet approaches the sun, the increased warmth evaporates water from the frozen ice on the surface of the comet nucleus, producing a thin atmosphere of water vapour around the nucleus. Sunlight can then dissociate the water vapour into H and OH. The sunlight can also excite the OH molecules into higher energy levels, two of which are represented in Fig. 7. When the comet is still relatively far from the sun, the sunlight causes equal excitation to the E 2 and E1 levels Fig. 7[a]. Hence, there is no population inversion between the two levels. However, as the comet approaches the sun, the excitation to the E1 level decreases and population inversion occurs. The reason has to do with one of many wavelengths- said to be Fraunhofer lines that are missing in the sunlight because, as the light travels outward through the suns atmosphere, those particular wavelengths are absorbed by the atmosphere.

_______________ E2 _______________ E1

_______________ E2 ________ _______________E1 _______________ E0 Fig. 7[b] Fig. 7[b]

_______ E0 Fig. 7[a]

As a comet approaches the sun, the Doppler effect due to the comets speed relative to the sun shifts the Fraunhofer lines in wavelength, apparently overlapping one of them with the wavelength required for excitation to the E1 level in OH molecules. Population inversion then occurs in those molecules, and they radiate stimulated emission [ Fig. 7[b]]. For example, as comet Kouhoutek approached the sun in December 1973 and January 1974, it radiated stimulated emission at about 1666 MHz during mid-January. [a] What was the energy difference E2 -E1 for this emission? [b] In what region of the electromagnetic spectrum was the emission?

PROBLEMS ON LASER
5

Problem 1: A certain ruby laser emits 1.00 J pulses of light whose wavelength is 694 nm. What is the minimum number of Cr+ ions in the ruby? Problem 2: When sunlight shines on the atmosphere of Mars, carbon dioxide molecules at an altitude of about 75 km undergo natural laser action and produce Martian CO2 laser.. The energy levels involved in the action are shown in Figure; population inversion occurs between energy levels E2 and E1. (i) What wavelength of sunlight excites the molecules in the lasing action? (ii) At what wavelength does lasing occur? Hal. S. 1140 P 64 Problem 3: The active volume of a laser constructed of the semiconductor GaAlAs is only 200 m3 (smaller than a grain of sand) and yet the laser can continuously deliver 5.0 mW of power at a wavelength of 0.80 m. At what rate does it generate photons? Haliday r. 1139 p 47 Problem 4: A pulse from a ruby laser has an average power of 10 MW and lasts 1.5 ns. [a] What is the total energy of the pulse? [b] How many photons are emitted in this pulse? Assume photons wavelength = 694.4 nm. Problem 5: How many photons per second are emitted by a 2.5 mW He-Ne LASER that has a wavelength of 633 nm? Similar Uni phy 1145 Problem 6: A large number of Neon atoms are in thermal equilibrium at a temperature of 300 K. What is the ratio of the number of atoms in a 5s state [20.66 eV] to the number in a 3p state[18.70 eV]? Uni phy 1145 Problem 7: A hypothetical atom has only two atomic energy levels, separated by 3.2 eV. Suppose that at a certain altitude in the atmosphere of a star there are 6.11013/cm3 of these atoms in the higher energy state and 2.5 1015/cm3 in the lower energy state. What is the temperature of the stars atmosphere at that altitude? Hal. Ras. 1139. P 50 Problem 8: A high powered laser beam ( = 600 nm) with a beam diameter of 12 cm is aimed at the moon, 3.8105 km distant. The beam spreads only because of diffraction. The angular location of the edge of the central diffraction disk is given by

sin =

1.22 , where d is the diameter of the aperture. What is the d

diameter of the central diffraction disk on the moons surface? Hal 1139 P 48 Problem 9: Can an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile be destroyed by an intense laser beam? A beam of intensity 108 W/m2 would probably burn into and destroy a hardened (nonspinning) missile in 1second. [a] If the laser had 5.0 MW power, 3.0 m wavelength and a 4.0 m beam diameter ( a very powerful laser indeed ), would it destroy a missile at a distance of 3000 km? [b] If the wavelength could be changed, what maximum value would work?

Why four level laser systems are more efficient as compared to three level lasers?

Please refer to following figures of three level and four level laser systems;

We know that the laser action is initiated only when the population inversion condition is achieved i.e. N2 > N1 where N1 and N2 are the population of the two levels involved in laser action. Further higher is the probability of stimulated emission as compared to absorption, if the difference N2 - N1 is large. In case of three level laser systems, the laser action is initiated only when the excited atoms in level 2 are significantly higher than the number of atoms in ground state at level 1. Since the lifetime of level 3 is of the order of nanoseconds, the excited atoms emit spontaneously and come to a metastable level 2, which has a higher lifetime. In other words, more than half of the atoms should be shifted to level 2 via level 3 to initiate laser action. This requires very strong pumping source. On the other hand, in case of four level lasers, laser action is achieved between levels 3 and 2; both of them are completely empty to start with. So if pumping were able to excite even a fraction of the total ground level atoms, these would shift to metastable level 3 via level 4, which has a short lifetime of the order of nanoseconds. This results in immediate establishment of population inversion condition and thus the laser action. Since the number of atoms to be excited is far smaller in case of four level lasers as compared to three level lasers, the pump power requirements are much smaller too. This leads to higher efficiency in four level lasers.