He-Ne Laser

 First gas laser.

 Neutral atom gas laser and give a continuous beam of light.

 Active medium is a mixture of He and Ne gases in a ratio ranging from

10:1 (He: Ne) to 5:1, the optimum ratio is 7:1.

 Four level laser system. One level in He and three levels in Ne.

 Lasing transitions occur in Ne atoms and He atoms helps to populate

relevant energy levels of Ne so as to produce population inversion.

 Three principal transitions 1.152μm and 3.391 μm in IR region and

6329Å in visible region of the spectrum.
 Components/ construction
 Active/ gain medium consists of a mixture of 90% helium and 10%
neon at a total pressure of about 1 torr inside a quartz tube about
80cm long and 1cm in diameter.
 Electrical pumping is used. The pump source of the laser is provided
by a high-voltage electrical discharge passed through the gas
between electrodes (anode and cathode) within the tube. A DC
current of 3 to 20 mA is typically required for Continuous Wave
operation.
 The optical cavity of the laser consists of two concave mirrors or one
plane and one concave mirror: one having very high (typically 99.9%)
reflectance, and the output coupler mirror allowing approximately
1% transmission.
 Commercial He-Ne lasers are relatively small devices, having cavity
lengths ranging from 15 to 50 cm (but sometimes up to about
1 meter to achieve the highest powers), and optical
output power levels ranging from 0.5 to 50 mW
Resonator cavity
Resonator Cavity
 Working
 The first He-Ne lasers emitted infrared at 1.15 μm and were the first
gas lasers.
 Other neon transitions were investigated in which a population
inversion can be achieved.
 The 6329Å line was found to have the highest gain in the visible
spectrum.
 The 3.39 μm transition has a very high gain, but is prevented from
use in an ordinary He-Ne laser because the cavity and mirrors are
lossy at that wavelength.
 A neon laser with no helium can be constructed. Without helium, the
neon atoms would be excited mostly to lower excited states,
responsible for non-laser lines.
Energy level diagram of He-Ne laser
Energy level diagram of He-Ne laser