CHAPTER-II

LASERS
(Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation STR!CT!RE" #$%$& I'TR()!CTI(' (*+E,TI,ES #$%$% CHARACTERISTICS (- LASER *EA. #$%$/ ATTE'!ATI(' (- LI0HT I' (PTICAL .E)I!. #$%$# P(P!LATI(' #$%$1 STI.!LATE) A*S(RPTI(' #$%$2 P(P!LATI(' I',ERSI(' A') ACTI,E S3STE. #$%$4 E.ISSI(' #$%$5 SP('TA'E(!S E.ISSI(' #$%$6 STI.!LATE) E.ISSI(' #$%$&7 LASI'0 ACTI(' #$%$&& P!.PI'0 #$%$&% (PTICAL P!.PI'0 #$%$&/ T3PES (- LASERS A R!*3 LASER * He-'e LASER C SE.IC(')!CT(R LASER #$%$&# APPLICATI('S (- LASERS #$%$&1 S!..AR3

#$%$& I'TR()!CTI('"
Laser is one of the outstanding inventtion of the 20 th century . Laser is a photonic device, which is responsible for the new birth of new field, namely photonics. In interference of light we use the term coherence between two sources of light. The two sources are coherent when they vibrate in same phase or there is a constant phase difference. In recent years some sources are developed which are highly coherent, i.e. the radiation gives out by all the emitters in the source is in mutual agreement not only in phase but also in direction of emission and in polarization. These coherent sources are called lasers. LA !" stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Though it is a light source of light,lasers differ vastly from the traditional light sources. It is not used for illumination purposes and is used for radio wave and microwave transmitters and produce a highly directional coherent monochromatic beam . laser is a tool in metal wor#ing , entertainment electronics, optical communications, bloodless surgery weapon guidance in wars and in a wide verity of other fields. The first successful laser was built by T.$.%aiman in &'(0 . laser is a device to produce a powerful monochromatic light of beam in which the waves are coherent. The beam emerges as a narrow beam which can travel over long distances without much loss of energy .

(*+ECTI,ES"
After studying this chapter you should able to) #now About the features of lasers. About the special characteristics of lasers. About absorption, spontaneous emission, stimulated emission and population inversion. About different types of lasers li#e solid state laser, gas laser, and semiconductor laser. The applications of lasers in different fields.

#$%$% SPECIAL CHARACTERISTIC -EAT!RES (- LASER *EA. )

The most outstanding characteristics of the laser beam are its high degree of directionality , monochromaticity , coherence and brightness. )i8ectionality" the laser beam is highly directional. e*) a laser beam &0cm in diameter when beamed at %oon+s surface.,,-.,000#m away is more than /#m wide. The laser beam spread is less than 0.0&mm for a distance of &m. .onoch8omaticity" a laser produces light in more or single wavelength i.e. the line width associated with laser beams are e*tremely narrow.

 Cohe8ence" a laser beam is spatially and temporally coherent to an e*traordinary degree. Tempo8al cohe8ence" it refers to relative phase or coherence of the two waves at two separate locations along the propagation direction of two beams. Spatial cohe8ence" it referred to transverse coherence. it is possible to observe interference effect from two independent laser beams. *8ightness" the laser beam is highly intense as compared to ordinary sources of light. It can be used for such operations as weding which involve reaching high temperatures.

0hen light travels through a medium , a gradual reduction in its intensity occurs mainly because of the process of absorption of light and scattering of light in the medium. &. Light absorption occurs because part of incident light is transformed into the energy of motion of atoms in the medium. 2. Light is scattered when it encounters obstacles of sizes smaller than a wavelength. The reduction in intensity with distance in medium is called attenuation of length. 1ig)

#$%$/ ATTE'!ATI(' (- LI0HT I' (PTICAL .E)I!."

A material medium is composed of identical atoms which are characterized by a specific system of energy levels. These energy levels are common to all atoms in the medium. A certain number of atoms occupy a certain energy level. The number of atoms per unit volume that occupy a given energy level is called population of that energy level. A particular medium has atoms, which are characterized by only two energy levels. Let !& be the ground level and !2 be the e*cited level. Atoms are differently distributed in these two energy levels. Let the populations in these two energy levels be 2& and22 respectively. The number of atoms in the lower energy level is always larger than the number of atoms in the higher energy level .under normal conditions higher the energy of energy levels, lesser is population. $ence 2&3322. uch distribution of atoms among the energy level is termed normal distribution .if energy difference 4!25!&6530 again 2272&. They show as long as medium is in thermal e8uilibrium the population of higher energy level cannot e*ceeded the population of lower energy level.

#$%$# P(P!LATI('"

#$%$1 STI.!LATE) A*S(RPTI('"

The process of particle transfer from normal state corresponding to minimum energy of the system to a higher energy state is termed as e*citation and the particle itself is said to be e*cited. The process is called stimulated or induced absorption. If an atom is in the lower energy level !& .if a photon of energy hv 7 4! 25!&6 is incident on atom it imports its energy to the atom and disappears. Then the atom absorbed an incident photon. As a result of absorption of energy, the atom 9umps to the e*cited state ! 2. The transition is called absorption or incident absorption.

Induced absorption involves the e*citation of atom to the fi*ed energy level only. As a result 2 & decreases and 22 increases. :ut under normal conditions 22cannot be greater than 2&. As light propagate through the medium It gets absorbed. 22can be made greater than 2&using special techni8ues.

P(P!LATI(' I',ERSI(' A') ACTI,E S3STE." ;sually the population 22 of higher energy level is less than the population 2 & of the lower energy level. This condition is called normal condition or thermal e8uilibrium, 2&3322 %a#ing the number of particles n2 more in higher energy level than the number of particles 2& in the lower energy levels 42232&6 is called as population inversion .or inverted population. Thus the condition where the no of atoms in the e*cited state e*ceeds that in lower state is called population inversion. The state of population inversion is referred to as a negative temperature state .It is not a physical 8uantity but signifying the e8uilibrium state of system. The states of system, in which the population of higher energy state is more in comparison to the population of lower energy states, are called negative temperature states. 0hen the system has a number of states .Then one of them may have a negative temperature with respect to other state or states. A system in which population inversion is achieved is called an active system. The state of population inversion is a non e8uilibrium state. The non e8uilibrium condition is attained by employing pumping techni8ues to transfer large number of atoms from lower energy level to higher energy level. LI-E TI.E (R .EA' LI-E" the particle can remain in the e*cited state for a limited time #nown as life time .the life time of the e*cited hydrogen atom is of the order of &05-sec. .ETASTA*LE STATES" the e*cited states in which the life time is greater than &0 5-sec. These states are called %eta stable states. In the process of emission there are two types. They are 1. SPONTANEOUS E !SS!ON ". ST! ULATE# E !SS!ON

#$%$5 SP('TA'E(!S E.ISSI(')

An atom cannot stay in the e*cited state for a longer time. In a time about &0 5-s, the atoms return to its lower energy state by releasing a photon of energy h ,where h 74!25!&6 .The emission of photon occurs on its own and without any e*ternal agent given to e*cited atom . emission of a photon by an atom without any e*ternal agent is called spontaneous emission. 1ig)

An atom in the e*cited state need not wait for spontaneous of photon . before the atom can ma#e a spontaneous transition , it may interact with a photon with energy h 7!25!& and ma#e a downward transition . the photon is said to stimulate the e*cited atom to emit the photon of energy h 7!25!& .In addition to the incident photon , there is a second photon which is emitted by the e*cited atom. The phenomenon of forced photon emission by an e*cited atom due to the action of an e*ternal energy is called stimulated emission. 1ig

#$%$6 STI.!LATE) E.ISSI('"

)ISTI'CTI(' *ET9EE' SP('TA'E(!S E.ISSI(' A') STI..!LATE) E.ISSI('"

SP('TA'E(!S

STI.!LATE)

&. Transitions occurs from higher energy level to &. Transitions occurs from higher energy level to lower energy level lower energy level 2. 2o incident photon is re8uired 2. <hoton whose energy is e8ual to difference of two energy levels is re8uired. ,. ingle photon is emitted ,. Two photons of same energy are emitted. .. The energy of emitted photon is e8ual to the .. The energy of emitted photon is double the energy difference of two levels energy the energy of stimulated photons. /. This was postulated by :ohr /. this was postulated by !instein #$%$&# LASI'0 ACTI('"

In stimulated emission, the emitted photon travels in the same direction as that of incident photon. 2ow the two photons again stimulate emission of photon from two e*cited atoms. This results in the emission of four photons from two e*cited atoms. In a similar way a chain reaction or avalanche effect is produced. The phenomenon is #nown as lasing action. o, a monochromatic intense and coherent beam having the same fre8uency as that of incident beam is obtained. This is called a laser beam. This is the principle of wor#ing of a laser.

#$%$&& P!.PI'0"

The method of raising of the particle from lower energy state to higher energy state is called as pumping or process of producing population inversion is #nown as pumping. This can be done by number of ways the most commonly used methods are &. =<TI>AL <;%<I2? 2. !L!>T"I>AL @I >$A"?! ,. I2!LA TI> >=LL! I=2 =1 AT=% etcA If the active medium is transparent and non conductivity in nature then the optical pumping is used . if the medium is conducting in nature then the electric field is used to attain population inversion.

#$%$&% (PTICAL P!.PI'0"

The most common method of pumping is optical pumping. >onsider a three level system. let us allow all transitions between these levels. If the system is e*posed to a e*ternal source with a fre8uency >orresponding to the transform level& to level, . 1ig)

if the life time of the particles in level , is sufficiently long4meta stable state6 , their number in this level will e*ceed that in level 2. in this way level , is inversely populated with respect to level2. thus by optical pumping , the condition for population inversion is obtained42,3226. 1or a light of fre8uency 2, the system acts as laser. The stimulated radiation together with original incident radiation both coherent can stimulate the emission of more coherent , radiation by other particles in the higher energy state . this process can go on ,provided enough molecules are in higher energy state. In fig 4b6 the population inversion 2232& is created. $ere the necessary condition is that the state 2 must be in meta stable state. =ptical pumping raises the particles to level, , from where most of them return to state& but some go to state2. the probability of transition from state2 to state& is very low hence in due course of time 2 232& , which is population inversion. In the presence of e*ternal photon h &%, stimulated emission ta#es place from state2 to &. hence a laser beam of energy h &% is obtained.

#$%$&/ T3PES (- LASERS"

Among the various #inds of lasers, solid state lasers, gas laser, li8uid laser, dye laser and semiconductor laser are some important types of lasers. &$ %$ /$ #$ 1$ S(LI) STATE LASERS " "uby laser, 2d)BA? laser 0AS LASER " $e52e laser , >=2 laser LI:!I) LASER " !uropean chelate laser, e=>l2 laser )3E LASER " "hodamine (? lasers SE.IC(')!CT(R LASER " In< laser ,?aAs laser.

A R!*3 LASER"
"uby laser is a three level solid state laser and was constructed by %aiman in &'(0. it is a pulsed laser having very high power of hundreads of mega watt in a single pulse with about &0 nano second duration "uby4Al2=,6 laser uses a crystalline substance as a active material. $onst%uction& it consists of three main parts. 4&6 an active wor#ing material) a rod of ruby crystal in the form of cylindrical rod , to/ mm in diameter and / to ,0 cm long. 426 A resonant cavity) it is made of fully reflecting plate at the left of ruby crystal and a partially reflecting plate at the right of ruby crystal . both the plates are optically plane and e*actly parallel to each other. 4,6 !*citing system) a helical *enon flash tube with power supply source. 'o%(ing& ruby is a crystal of aluminum o*ide 4Al2=,6 in which some aluminum atoms are replaced by chromium atoms. The active material in the ruby are chromium ions >r C,. when the ruby crystal contains about 0./D of chromium its color is pin#.

In a ruby laser, a pin# rod of . cm length and 0./ cm in diameter is generally used. The end faces of rod are made strictly parallel, ground and high degree. The end faces are silvered that one end becomes fully reflecting while the other end partially reflecting. The ruby rod is surrounded by a helical *enon flash tube which provides the pumping light to raise the chromium ions to upper energy levels. The flash of *enon tube lasts several milliseconds and the tube consumes several thousand 9oules of energy. =nly a part of this energy is used in pumping the >r C, ions while the rest heats up the apparatus. 1or this purpose a cooling arrangement is used. &, 2 E, represent the energy levels of chromium ion. In normal state, chromium ion is in lower levels. 0hen the ruby crystal is irradiate with the light of *enon flash, the chromium atoms are e*cited and pass to upper level where the light absorption band is /(00 A o. The absorption band width of this level is about -00 Ao. 2ew few e*cited chromium atoms return to ground level & and other to level 2. The transition ,532 are non irradiative. The chromium atoms give part of energy to crystalline lattice in the form of heat. %ost of e*cited atoms in state , returns to state & but those which go to state 2 have a little chance to return to state & spontaneously. After few milliseconds the level 2 becomes more populated than level &. And hence population inversion is achieved. The state of inverted population is unstable and the probability of spontaneous transitions is very high. The spontaneous transitions may cause an induced transition which produces a photon. This photon #noc#s out second photon from neighboring atom. The atom from which the first photon was emitted is brought to ground level. The photons will #noc# out two more photons and their total number will be four and so on. <hoton travelling parallel to the a*is of the tube will start a cascade of photon emission while the photon travelling in any direction other than this will pass out of ruby. <hoton beam parallel to the a*is of crystal grows in strength and some of it burst through the particle reflector and serves as laser output beam. The laser beam then causes till ne*t flash of *enon tube repeats the process. Thus the ruby laser is a pulsed laser. The output beam has wavelength of ('., Ao which is in the visible spectrum. The duration of output flash about ,00msec .It is very intense of about &0000 watts

1ig) !nergy level of ruby

* He-'e LASER(0AS LASER "

The main drawbac# of ruby laser is that the output beam is not continuous though very intense. 1or the continuous laser beam, gas lasers are used. In gas lasers the vapors of metals are employed as active medium .the main advantage of gas lasers are high monochromaticity, most pure spectrum and high stability of fre8uency. The out put power of gas laser is moderate. They have wide application in science and it engineering pertucurlly in communications. It is a four level laser system In &'(&, A.FAGA2, w.:ennett and @.$erriot reported a continuous gas laser. C('STR!CTI('" the gas laser consists of a fused 8uartz tube with a diameter of about &./ cm and -0 cm long. The tube is filled with a mi*ture of neon under a pressure of 0.&mm of mercury and helium under a pressure of &mm of mercury . There is a ma9ority of $e atoms and minority of 2e atoms. And one end of the tube there is a perfect reflector on the other end is partial reflected . the active material is e*cited by means of high fre8uency generator with a fre8uency of several tens of %$z and an input of about /0 watt. 1ig)

9(R;I'0" when a discharge is passed through the gas , the electrons are accelerated towards the positive electrode. @uring their passage the collide with $e atoms and e*cite them into upper states labeled $e2 and $e,. These are meta stable states . The atoms remain in these levels for a sufficiently long time. 2ow these atoms interact with neon atoms which are in ground state. The interaction e*cite the neon atoms to their %eta stable state labeled 2e. and 2e( while $e atoms returns to their ground state. As the energy e*change continuous, the population of neon atoms in e*cited states increases more and more. 0hen an e*cited ne atom passes spontaneously from meta stable states 2e . and 2e( to states 2e,and 2e/ it emits a photon. This photon travels through gas mi*ture. If this photon is moving parallel to the a*is of tube, it is reflected bac# and forth by the reflectors until it stimulates an e*cited neon atom and causes it to emit a fresh photon in phase with stimulating photon. This process is continuous and laser beam builds up in tube. 0hen the beam becomes intense a portion of it escapes. Through partially reflected end. The neon atom now passes down spontaneously to a lower state 2e2 by emitting incoherent light. 1inally the 2e atom comes to ground state through collision with tube walls. This is radiation less transition. ?as laser emit light which is more directional and monochromatic. ?as lasers are capable of operating continuously with out need of cooling.

C SE.IC(')!CT(R LASER (0a-As LASER "

emiconductor laser is also called as diode laser. These have important applications in fiber optic communication. PRI'CIPLE" when a current is passed through a p5n 9unction, p region positively biased. $oles are in9ected from p region into n region and electrons from n region to p region. the electrons and holes recombine and release of energy ta#es place near the 9unction region .this energy is called active energy depends on type of semi conductor . In semiconductors li#e germanium and silicon , most of the energy released in the form of heat because the recombination of carriers of opposite sign ta#es place through interaction with atoms of crystal. :ut in case of ?allium Arsenide the energy is released as light because the atoms of the crystals are not involved in the release of energy. The wavelength of emitted light depends on activation energy of the crystal. <hotons emitted at the moment of recombination of an electron with a hole will stimulate recombination of other carriers of electric charge. The result will be stimulated emission of radiation. If these radiations moving in the plane of the 9unction are made to move bac# and forth in the plane of 9unction by reflection at opposite parallel sides and perpendicular to plane of 9unction, a very powerful laser beam can be produced. In semiconductor laser, the active medium was a single crystal of ?aAs cut into plate having thic#ness of 0.0/ mm. The plate let consists of two parts e*hibiting electron conductivity and a whole conductivity. The emission is stimulated in p5n 9unction layer which is very thin. !lectric current is applied to crystal platelet through a strip electrode fi*ed to its upper end. 1ig)

0hen e*citing currents are small, a small part of carriers undergo recombination. The process of spontaneous. The laser radiation is random and incoherent. 0hen the current density is increased the emission becomes more and more coherent and radiation intensity increases. 2ow efficiency of ?aAs lasers reach .0D. 0hen cooled to 20#, semiconductor lasers have delivered output of more than 2 watts of continuous power. The semiconductor lasers may reach &00D efficiency. They have a high stability of output fre8uency.
#$%$6

:ecause of high directionality, high coherence, high monochromaticity and high intensity lasers are widely used in the fields of 4&6 communication 426computers 4,6industry 4.6scientific research 4/6military operation 4(6medicine LASERS I' C(..!'ICATI('" In case of optical fiber communication, semiconductor lasers diodes are used as optical sources and its band width is used very high compared to radio and microwave communication. 4&6 as it has large band width , more amount of data can be sent. 426 ignals cannot be tapped. 4,6 @ue to its high directionality and less divergence, it has greater potential used in space crafts and submarines. 4.6 ;sed in high speed photo copiers and printers. LASERS I' C(.P!TERS" 4&6 In LA2 , data can be transferred or transmitted from the memory storage of one computer to another computer using laser for short time 426 >@5"=% stores large amount of data used in >@5"=%s during recording and reading the data.

APPLICATI('S (- LASERS"

LASERS I' I')!STR3 ) 4&6 Lasers can be used to blast holes in diamonds and hard steel. 426 To cut teeth in saws, drill eyes in surgical needles, and test the 8uality of a fabric. 4,6 ;sed as source of intense heat. 4.6 Lasers range finder is used to measure distance to ma#ing maps by surveyors. 4/6 Laser welding has advantages over gas welding, such as <urity of the material is not altered. Localized heating by small spot size can be accurately controlled by programming with computer to reproduce e*act characteristics. LASERS I' SCIE'TI-IC RESEARCH" 4&6 eparating isotopes of ;ranium using laser. 426 ;sed to clean delicate pieces of art, develop hidden finger prints. 4,6 ;sed in the field of ,@ H photography called holography. 4.6 $olography plays a very important role in optical signal processing. 4/6 ;sed to produce certain chemical reactions. 4(6 In plastic industries, the monomers are united by laser irradiation to produce polymers. 4I6 The internal structure of microorganisms and cells are studied very accurately. 4-6 To produce "aman spectrum for small samples. 4'6 To confirm @oppler shifts in fre8uency for moving ob9ects. 4&06 !valuating the velocity of a moving ob9ect. LASERS I' .E)ICI'E" 4&6@octors use the heating action of a laser beam to remove diseased body tissue. 426;sed to correct a condition called retinal detachment by eye specialist. 4,6;sed in opening bloc#ed arteries,reconnecting several nerves and treating bleeding ulcers. 4.6Instead of traditional sutures, the surgery allows doctors to weld in9ured muscles and ligaments with out use of heat. 4/6;sed for elimination of moles and tumors which are developing in the s#in tissue. 4(6<ulse neodymium laser is employed in the treatment of liver cancer. 4I6The endoscopes are made from optical fibers which are fle*ible with a suitable laser 4-6>=2 laser is used in spinal and brain tumors e*cision #idney stone e*trusion.

#$%$&1 S!..AR3"
LA !" means light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. !*citation of atoms from lower energy state to higher energy state due to interaction of radiation with matter is #nown as stimulated absorption. 0hen electron in the e*cited level !2 falls spontaneously to lower energy level !& after its life time a photon is emitted. This process is called spontaneous emission. 0hen electron in the e*cited level !2 is induced by a photon of energy !25!& the electron moves to lower energy level !& emitting another photon of energy !25!&. This process is called stimulated emission. timulated emission of radiation results in amplification of light. To get the LA !" beam the population of e*cited state must be greater than the population of lower energy state. This condition is called population inversion. There are different pumping mechanisms to e*cite the atoms from lower energy state to higher energy state. There are different methods to get laser beam for e*ample ruby laser, $e52e laser, and solid state laser. @ue to high energy laser beam possess so many applications in many fields li#e engineering, medicine, military etc.