LASERS

The word LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of

Radiation. The basic principle involved in lasing action is the phenomenon of stimulated
emission which was predicted by Einstein in 1917. LASER is a device which can produce
highly coherent, highly directional and high intense beam of monochromatic light.

1. Characteristics of a LASER

Highly Directionality: The laser beam is highly directional. It can travel very large distances
without divergence. A laser beam sent from earth to moon was recorded on earth after
reflection by moon.

Highly Monochromatic: Laser light has a single spectral colour and is almost perfect
monochromatic.

High Coherence: Laser beam is spatially and temporally coherent. It is possible to observe
interference effects from two independent laser beams.

Highly Intensity: Laser beam is highly intense. This is why it can be used in welding, hole
drilling and other material processing works. It produces very high temperatures.

2. Basic Principles of LASER

Absorption:
When a photon of energy is equal to the difference of two energy levels i.e. E 2-E1=hν
be incident on any one of the atom in the lower energy state, the atom may absorb the photon,
excite, and moves to the higher energy state. This process is called Stimulated absorption.
Here ν is the frequency of electromagnetic radiation and h is the Planck’s constant.

Spontaneous emission
The excited atom in the state E2 may return to the lower state E1 on its own out of the
natural tendency to attain minimum potential condition. During the transition the excess
energy is released as a photon of the energy E2-E1 = hν. This type of process in which photon
emission occurs without any external agency is called spontaneous emission.

Stimulated emission
 An atom in the excited state need not wait for spontaneous emission to occur. A
photon of energy E2-E1=hν can introduce the excited atom to make a downward transition
releasing the energy in the form of a photon. Thus the interaction of a photon with an excited
atom triggers the excited atom to drop to the lower energy state given up a photon. The
phenomenon of forced emission of photons is called stimulated emission. Under normal
circumstances spontaneous emission dominates stimulated emission.

Important points of stimulated emission

(1) The emitted photon is identical to the incident photon in all respects, i.e., both have same
frequency, travelling in the same direction with the same state of polarization.
(2) The process is controlled from outside.
(3) The multiplication of photons takes place in the process where one photon deexcites one
atom giving in return another photon. Similarly, 2 photons deexcite 2 more and so 4
photons. Soon the multiplication builds up the enormous amplification.
(4) The constructive interference of many waves travelling in the same direction with a
common frequency and common phase produces an intense coherent light beam.

Population inversion

Population inversion is the process in which the population of a particular higher

energy state is made more than a specified lower energy state. Under normal circumstances,
for a system in thermodynamic equilibrium, the population of any higher state is less than
that of a lower energy state. The population of particular energy state (E) is given by
Maxwell-Boltzs equation
𝑁 = 𝑒 −𝐸⁄𝐾𝑇
The number of atoms N1 in the energy state E1
𝑁1 = 𝑒 −𝐸1 ⁄𝐾𝑇
The number of atoms N2 in the energy state E2
𝑁2 = 𝑒 −𝐸2 ⁄𝐾𝑇
𝑁1
= 𝑒 ℎ𝜈⁄𝐾𝑇
𝑁2
If E1 < E2  N1 > N2
From the above equation hν/KT is greater than unity,
𝑁
hence 1 > 1 and N1>N2. This is the normal situation.
𝑁2
Normal Population

For laser action to take place N2 must be greater than N1 when E2 > E1.
When this condition is satisfied Population inversion is achieved.
If the number of atoms is more in higher energy level than the number
of atoms in the lower energy level is called as
Population inversion i.e. N2 >N1

Population inversion
Life-Time of an energy level
The time spent by an atom in a state before any transition can take place is known as
life-time of the state. For normal states from which only spontaneous emission takes place,
the life-time is 10-8 sec, while for metastable states from which stimulated emission takes
place, the life-time is 10-3 sec.

Pumping mechanism
Pumping is the process of giving energy to a ground state atom and exciting it to a
higher state. This can be achieved in several ways.

Optical pumping: high intensity lamps like xenon flash lamp are used to excite atoms. This is
used in pumping a Ruby laser. Some lasers use pumping by another laser.

Electric discharge: Gas lasers in a discharge tube can be subjected to several kV/m of electric
field. Atoms are ionized and the electrons moving with high velocities collide with other
atoms and excite them too. Argon ion laser is an example.

Atomic Collisions: In He-Ne laser electric discharge provides excitation of He atoms that
collide with Ne atoms and raise Ne atoms to excited states.

Chemical reaction: In chemical lasers a chemical reaction (H2+F22 HF) provides sufficient
heat to excite atoms to higher levels.

Direct conversion: Electrical energy is directly converted to radiant energy in devices like
semiconductor laser diodes

Construction of a Laser
Laser contains mainly three components. They are
(i) Active medium
(ii) Pumping source
(iii) Optical resonator
(i) Active medium
It consists of collection of atoms of the medium in which the population inversion takes
place (laser is emitted). Active medium is also called gain medium. Depending on the active
medium lasers can be classified as solid, liquid, gas, and semiconductor lasers.
(ii) Pumping source
The energy source required to excite the atoms in active medium from lower energies to
high energy states is called pumping source. Pumping sources are classified into
(a) Optical pumping – Light from He-Xe flash lamp is used for excitation
(b) Electrical discharge – Arc struck between two electrodes is used for excitation
(c) Chemical reaction – Energy supplied by a chemical reaction is used for excitation
(iii) Optical resonator
The light rays emitted by the active media travel in all random directions creating the
condition of Fluorescence. In the optical resonator, the filtering of light is done, by means of
two mirrors placed on the either ends of the media. One end, a fully reflecting mirror is
placed, while the other end, a partially reflecting mirror is kept. As such, the photons
travelling in all other random directions will be reflected back and forth along the axis
(length) of the optical resonator. The optical cavity, which is made at the partially reflecting
mirror helps in collimating the beam, and only those photons which have the directionality
and coherence travel through it. Thus, the output from optical resonator is a highly coherent,
collimated, directional, monochromatic source of light – LASER.

RUBY LASER
Ruby is synthetic Al2O3 with 0.05% of Cr203 added to it. The Cr3+ ions are the active
ingredient; the ‘Al’ and ‘O’ atoms are inert. The Ruby crystal is cut into a cylindrical rod.
The end faces of the rod are polished flat to act as the cavity. The ruby road is surrounded by
helical xenon flash lamp which provides the suitable light energy to raise the chromium ions
to the higher energy states. This arrangement is shown in the below figure.

Working:
The chromium atoms are active atoms and have three active energy levels, those are
E1, E2 and E3. Initially the chromium ions are in the ground state (E1). When the ruby rod is
irradiated with light of xenon flash, the chromium atoms are excited to higher energy state
where the light absorption band 5600A0. The excited chromium atoms in the high energy
state (E3) stay only about 10-8 sec and decays into the metastable state (E2) by a non-
radioactive transition. Here the transition probabilities between different states are such that
most of the excited atoms in the higher energy sate return to ground state. But those which
goes to metastable state have a little chance to return to the ground state spontaneously. The
metastable state becomes more populated than that of ground state within a short interval of
time and hence there desired population inversion is achieved. The spontaneous transition my
cause an induced transition which produces a photon.

6943 A0

Energy level diagram of Ruby laser.

The ends of the ruby rods act as reflecting mirrors. Therefore photons that are not
moving parallel to the uniform rod escape from the side but those moving parallel to the ruby
rod are reflected back and forth. These stimulate the emission of similar other photons. The
chain reaction quickly develops a beam of photons moving parallel to the rod, which is
monochromatic and is coherent. When the beam develops sufficient intensity, it emerges
through the partially silvered end. Once all the chromium ions in the metastable state have
returned to ground state laser action stops. It is then necessary to send one more flash of
pumping radiation through the rod. Thus the ruby laser operates only in pulse mode. The
wavelength of the laser beam is 6943A0 corresponding to the red colour.

Helium-Neon (He-Ne) LASER

In He – Ne laser the atoms are characterized by sharp energy levels and one uses an
electric discharge to pump the atoms. He-Ne laser consists of a long and narrow discharge
tube (10-100 cm long & 2 mm in dia.) filled with He and Ne in the ration 10:1 at the
pressures of 1:0.1 torr. Ne atoms are responsible for lasing action. The electrodes are
connected to kVDC source. End windows are set at Brewster angle to polarize the laser light.

The energy levels of He and Ne are shown below

When an electric discharge is passed through He-Ne gases, electrons are collide with
He atoms and He atoms excite to higher energy levels F2 and F3. These states are metastable
states. In these states atoms stay long time. Now these helium atoms in the metastable states
are inelastically collided with the neon atoms which are in the ground state and excite the
neon toms to their metastable states E4 and E6. So the neon atoms stay longer time in these
states. As the energy exchange continuous, the population inversion will be achieved in the
metastable statesE4 and E6.
Now the neon atoms ready to emit emission. In this situation one atom drops to lower
energy state and emit photon. This photon starts the stimulated emission. The following
transitions are possible.
1. If they de-excite form E6 toE5, the radiation emits with wavelength of 3.39μm
2. If the atoms de-excite from E6 to E3, the radiation emits with wavelength of 6328A0. This
is the important and major wavelength in He-Ne laser.
3. If the neon atoms in the E4 de-excite to E3, the radiation emits with wavelength of 1.15μm.
 The emitted photon during the above transition travels through the gas mixture and
produce more number of stimulated emissions. The energy of photons gets sufficient energy
and it comes out through partially polished mirror.
From E3 to E2 they de-excite through spontaneous emission. These emissions will be
absorbed by instrument. FromE2 to E1 de-excites through collisions with walls of the tube.

SEMICONDUCTOR LASER:
A semiconductor is associated with a valence band and a conduction band. In some
semiconductors like GaAs, GaP and InS that have a direct band gap. In these materials the
electrons have a high probability of recombining with holes in the valence band thereby
emitting photons whose wavelength is given by λ= hc/Eg. Si and Ge are indirect bandgap
semiconductors and any electron hole recombination is non-radiative. The radiated photons
can stimulate other conduction band electrons to recombine with valence band holes thereby
stimulating further photons.

A schematic diagram of a semiconductor laser is shown in figure. The diode is

extremely small in size with sides of the order 1mm. The junction lies in a horizontal plane
through the centre. The top and bottom faces are metalized and ohmic contacts are provided
to pass current through the diode. The front and rear faces are polished parallel to each other
and perpendicular to the plane of the junction. The polished faces constitute the optical
cavity. The other two opposite faces are roughened to prevent lasing action in that direction.

Figure (2) P-N Junction with heavy doping

Figure (3) Energy level diagram of P-N junction under forward bias

Population inversion can be achieved by doping the ‘p’ and ‘n’ sides heavily and
forward biasing the p-n junction. The energy band diagram of such a pn-junction diode
having highly doped p- and n- regions is shown in figure (2). With very high doping on n-
side the donor levels as well as portion of the conducting band are occupied by electrons and
Fermi level lies within the conduction band. Similarly on the heavily doped p-side the
accepter levels are unoccupied and holes exist in the valence band and the Fermi level lies
within the valence band. At thermal equilibrium the Fermi level is uniform across junctions
as shown in figure 2. When a forward bias is applied to the junction, the energy levels shift
and the new distribution as shown in figure 3 will be taken up. Electrons and holes are
injected into the depletion region which is a result decrease in width. The injected electrons
and holes appear in high concentrations in this transition region. When the current reaches a
threshold value the carrier concentration of electrons in the depletion region will reach very
high values. The upper levels in the depletion region are having high population density of
electrons while the lower levels in the same region are vacant. This is the state of population
inversion. The narrow region where the state of population inversion is achieved is called
inversion region or active region. Thus the forward bias plays the role of pumping agent in
semiconductor diode laser.
The photon emitted initially by the recombination of electron with hole travels along
the junction layer causing further recombination. These photons travel back and forth with in
junction region to stimulate more electron-hole recombination. The stimulated electron-hole
recombination causes emission of coherent radiation of very narrow band.
Since the wavelength of the laser radiation from the semiconductor laser depends
upon the band gap. If Eg is the band gap of the semiconductor, then wavelength of the emitted
radiation is λ= hc/Eg =1.24/Eg μm (Eg in electron volts).
At room temperature, GaAs laser emits light at a wavelength of 9000Ao in IR region
and GaAsP laser radiates at 6500Ao in the visible red region.

Applications of LASER:
Industrial Applications: Laser beam is highly intense. Hence it can be utilized in
applications such as welding, cutting, and drilling. One advantage of the laser beam is that the
beam can be focused into a fine spot. Thus the laser beam is particularly suited for welding of
fine wires, contacts in miniature
Communications: Laser light has a very large bandwidth (105 MHz). A bandwidth of 40
GHz would permit 107 simultaneous telephone calls or 8000 TV channels. The directionality
of laser makes it a useful tool in communications. Laser radiation is not absorbed by water
and so is utilized in under water communications (LIDAR). In conjunction with optical
fibers, laser can be used to transmit audio signals over long distances without attenuation.
Material Processing: This involves cutting, welding, drilling & surface treatment. Laser
radiation can be converted into heat and can be used in the above mentioned applications.
Military Applications: Death-ray: Because of its high energy density a laser beam can
destroy aircraft, missiles when targeted. Laser gun: A highly emergent laser beam can
evaporate targets.
Lasers in Medicine: Medical profession in fully utilizing the potential of a laser in the
following areas.
Ophthalmology: Treatment of detached retina and correction of vision
Gastroenterology: Treatment of coagulation of gastric intestinal tracts
Dermatology: Removal of skin imperfections.
Gynecology: fertility microsurgery, fallopian tube reconstruction.
ENT: Ear, nose & throat surgery.
Computers: Laser printers. To transmit memory banks from one computer to another. CD–
ROM
Pure Sciences: Isotope separation, plasma, thermo-nuclear fusion reactions, holography,
nature of chemical bonds, measurements of traces of pollutant gases, making of carbon
nanotubes etc., to name a few.
Holography:
A method of recording and displaying a three-dimensional image of an object, usually
using coherent radiation from a laser and photographic plates (see illustration). The light from
a laser is divided so that some of it (the reference beam) falls directly on a photographic plate.
The other part illuminates the object, which reflects it back onto the photographic plate. The
two beams form interference patterns on the plate, which when developed is called the
hologram. To reproduce the image of the object, the hologram is illuminated by coherent
light, ideally the original reference beam. The hologram produces two sets of diffracted
waves; one set forms a virtual image coinciding with the original object position and the
other forms a real image on the other side of the plate. Both are three-dimensional. The
method was invented by Dennis Gabor in 1948. More recent techniques can produce
holograms visible in white light.