UNIT – 3(A) LASERS

Laser is the acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

Interaction of radiation with matter:

Absorption
An atom/molecule residing in the lower energy state E1 may absorb an incident photon
and jump to the excited state E2 as shown in Fig.1.
This transition is known as induced absorption or
E2 E2
absorption.
The number of absorption transitions Incident photon
occurring in the material at any instant will be
proportional to the number of atoms in the lower h = E2 E1
state E1 and the number of photons in the incident
beam. Normally, the number of atoms is greater in E1 E1
before after
the lower energy state and the material absorbs
incident energy.. The number of atoms Nab excited Fig 1
during the time t is given by, a22.a.1
Nab = B12N1Qt,
whereN1 is the number of atoms in the state E1, Q is the energy density of the incident beam, and
B12 is known as the Einstein coefficient for induced absorption

Spontaneous emission
The excited atom in the state E2 may return to
the lower state E1 on its own. During the transition, E2
the excess energy is released as a photon of energy h E2
Emitted photon
= E2 E1. This type of process in which photon
emission occurs without any external influence is h = E2 E1
E1
called spontaneous emission as shown in Fig.2.Most E1
of the common sources of light emit light through this before after
process. The emission process cannot be controlled by Fig.2
external influences. The emitted photons travel in all
directions with no consistent phase relationships. Hence the light is incoherent and not
monochromatic.
The number of spontaneous transitions Nsp taking place in the material during the time t is
given by
Nsp = A21N2t
where N2 is the number of atoms lying in the excited
state E2 and A21is known as the Einstein coefficient for E2 E2
spontaneous emission h
incident photon
h
Stimulated emission h = E2 E1 emitted
An atom in the excited state need not wait for photons
spontaneous emission to occur. There exists an E1 E1
before after
alternative mechanism by which an excited atom can Fig.3
make a downward transition and emit light. The

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interaction of a photon of energy h = E2 E1 with an excited atom forces the excited atom to
drop to the lower energy state giving up a photon. This phenomenon of forced emission of
photons is called stimulated emission as shown in Fig. 3.
The process of stimulated emission has remarkable and interesting features:
1. The emitted photon is identical to the incident photon in all respects. There exists correlation
in frequency, in phase and in direction between the two photons.
2. The process is controllable from outside.
3. The most important feature is that multiplication of photons takes place in the process. One
photon induces an atom to emit a second photon. These two photons travelling along the same
direction de-excite two more atoms in their path producing a total of four photons. The number
of photons thus builds up in an avalanche-like manner. The process of stimulated emission is the
key to the operation of a laser.
The number of stimulated transitions Nst occurring in the material during the time t is given by
Nst = B21 N2 Q t
Where B21is the Einstein coefficient for stimulated emission and it represents the
probability of a stimulated emission

Meta stable state: The time during which a particle can exist in the ground state is unlimited, on
the other hand the particle can remain in the excited state for a limited time known as life time.
Normally, excited atoms have short life times of the order of 10−9s. In order to establish the
condition of population inversion it is necessary that the excited state has a longer life time. A
meta stable state is such a state. Atoms excited to the meta stable states remain excited for an
appreciable time, which is of the order of 10−6 s to 10−3 s. This is 103 to 106 times the life times
of the ordinary energy levels. Those states are called as meta stable states.

Population inversion
Usually the number of particles N2 i.e., the population of higher energy level is less than the
population N1 of the lower energy level. Making N2 > N1 i.e., the number of particles N2 more in
higher energy level than the number of particles N1 in lower energy is called as population
inversion or inverted population. To achieve high percentage of stimulated emission, this
situation, the population inversion is to be created. A non-equilibrium state is to be produced in
which the population of the upper energy level E2 far exceeds the population of the lower energy
level E1. When this situation occurs, the population distribution between the levels E1 and E2 is
said to be inverted and the medium is said to have gone into the state of population inversion.

Negative temperature states : The states of a system, in which the population of higher energy
state is more in comparison with the population of lower energy states are called negative
temperature states

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 Distinction Between Spontaneous emission and Stimulated emission

Spontaneous emission Stimulated emission

1 It is probabilistic and it is not amenable The process is amenable for control from out side
for control from outside
2 Emission occurs without stimulus Emission occurs by the stimulus energy
energy
3 Emission is highly Statistical Emission is not statistical
4 One photon is emitted Two photons are emitted
5 The instant of emission, the direction of The stimulating photon imposes its characteristics
emission, phase and polarization state on the emitted photons
of photons are all random quantities
and cannot be controlled.
6 The photons are emitted in all The photons emitted travel in the same direction
directions, as a result, the light is non as that of stimulating photon. Hence the light
directional produced is highly directional
7 Photons of slightly different The spread of photon frequencies is relatively
frequencies are emitted, as a result, the very narrow as such the light is nearly
light is not monochromatic monochromatic
8 Photons do not have any correlation in The photons emitted by this process are all in
their phases. Light produced is phase, the light is coherent.
incoherent
9 Multiplication of photons does not take
One stimulating photon causes emission of two
place. Hence there is no amplificationphotons which in turn generate four photons and
so on like an avalanche manner. Light
amplification occurs due to such multiplication of
photons
10 Light is un polarized Light is polarised
11 The number spontaneous transitions is The number of stimulated transitions is given by
given by Nst = B12 N2 QΔt
Nsp = A12 N2 Δt
12 The emitted light will have low The emitted light will have high intensity
intensity
13 Conventional sources of light are the Laser light sources are the result of stimulated
result of spontaneous emission emission

14 This was postulated by Bohr This was postulated by Einstein

Derivation for the relation between Einstein coefficients

Under thermal equilibrium, the mean population N1&N2 in the lower and upper energy
levels respectively must remain constant. This condition requires

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 The number of atoms absorbing photons per second per unit volume
= The number of atoms emitting photons per second per unit volume

B12 N1 Q = A21 N2 + B21 N2 Q

Q B12 N1 − B21 N2 = A21 N2

A21 N2
Q=
B12 N1 − B21 N2

On dividing both the numerator & denominator on the right hand side with B21 N2 , one gets

A21
B21
Q= B 12 N 1
− 1
B 21 N 2

The population N of an energy level E depends on the temperature T and given by Boltzmann’s
−E
equation N = e kT where k is known as Bolzmann constant. Considering two energy levels
E1&E2

− E1 − E2
N1 = e kT and N2 = e kT

N1 E2 − E1
= e kT
N2

N1 hν
= e kT
N2
A 21
B 21
∴ Q= B 12 h ν
− − − − > eqn. 1
e kt − 1
B 21

To maintain thermal equilibrium, the system must release energy in the form of electromagnetic
radiation. It is required that the radiation be identical with black body radiation and be consistent
with Planck’s radiation law. According to Planck’s law

8 π h ν3 μ3 1
Q= 3 hν
− − − −eqn. 2
c e k T − 1
where μ is the refractive index of the medium & c is the velocity of light in free space.

Equations 1&2 are consistent only if

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 B21 = B12 − − − − − eqn. 3

and

A21 8 π h ν3 μ3
= − − − − − eqn. 4
B21 c3

c3
B21 = A − − − −eqn. 5
8 π h ν3 μ3 21

Significance : Eqns. 3 & 4 are known as Einstein relations. Eqn. 5 gives the relationship between
A & B coefficients. Eqn.3 shows that the coefficients for both absorption & stimulated emissions
are numerically equal. Equ. 4 shows that it is difficult to achieve laser action in high frequency
A
ranges such as X – rays because B 21 is proportional to third power of frequency of radiation.
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Light from a laser is different from conventional light (Differences between conventional
light sources and laser sources)

Laser light is different from conventional light in (I) Coherence, (2) Monochromaticity, (3)
Divergence, (4) Directionality and (5) Intensity

Coherence means the coordinated motion of several waves maintaining a fixed and predictable
phase relationship with each other. Coherence may be distinguished as two types, namely
temporal coherence and spatial coherence.

Temporal Coherence:
Consider a bundle of light waves propagating in space. If the phase difference measured
at a single point in space during a certain time interval does not change with time, then the waves
are said to possess temporal coherence. Temporal coherence is also called longitudinal
coherence. The corresponding time interval during which the phase of the waves can be
predicted reliably is called the coherence time. The spatial extent of the wave packet over which
it may be treated as having predictable phase is called the coherence length. Monochromaticity
of a wave is a measure of its temporal coherence.

Spatial Coherence:
Spatial coherence refers to the continuity and uniformity of a wave in a direction
perpendicular to the direction of propagation. If the phase difference for any two fixed points in a
plane normal to the wave propagation does not change with time, then the wave is said to exhibit
spatial coherence. Spatial coherence is also called lateral or transverse coherence. In fact, the
higher the degree of spatial coherence of a source, the smaller is the divergence of the beam
produced by it. Thus the spatial coherence is a measure of the divergence of the laser beam

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Laser beam characteristics:

(1) Coherence:
A conventional light source produces incoherent light since it emits light waves of
random wavelengths with no common phase relationships. On the other hand, the waves emitted
by a laser source are in phase and are of the same frequency. Therefore, light generated by a laser
is highly coherent. The coherence length in a laser beam is typically of the order of a few
kilometers, whereas the coherence length of light radiated by conventional monochromatic
source is of the order of a few millimeters or centimeters.

(2) Monochromaticity:
The light from normal monochromatic source spreads over a wavelength range of the
order of 100A0 to 10000A. The laser light is highly monochromatic due to its temporal coherence
property. The laser light spread expressed in terms of half width is of the order of a few
angstroms (<10A0) only.

(3) Divergence:
Light from conventional sources spreads out in the form of spherical wavefronts and
hence it is highly divergent. The divergence of the laser beam is extremely small because of its
high degree of spatial coherence.

(4) Directionality:
The conventional sources of light emit in all directions. Lasers emit light only in one
direction as the photons travelling along the optical axis of the system are selected and
augmented with the help of the optical resonator.
(5) Intensity:
The intensity of light from a conventional source decreases rapidly with distance as it
spreads in the form of spherical waves. In contrast, a laser emits light in the form of a narrow
beam and propagates in the form of plane waves. As the energy is concentrated in a very narrow
region, its intensity would be tremendously high. The intensity of the laser beam stays nearly
constant with distance as the laser light travels in the form of plane waves with very little
divergence.

Essentials for any Laser device(Requirements of Laser device):

The three basic components of any laser device are (1) the active medium (2)the pumping source
and(3) the optical resonator.
1) Active medium: A medium in which light gets amplified is called an active medium. The
active medium consists of a collection of atoms, molecules or ions in solid, liquid or gaseous
form. Out of different particles in the medium, only a small fraction of particles of particular
species are responsible for stimulated emission and consequent light amplification. They are
called active centers or active medium.
Example: The active medium in Ruby laser is Cr +3 ions where Ruby is Al2 O3 Cr2O3 .
In the Helium-Neon laser, Neon atoms are the active centers and the role of Helium is to excite
neon atoms and cause population inversion.

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2) The pumping source: The process of supplying energy to the medium with a view to transfer it
in to the state of population inversion is known as pumping . There are number of techniques for
pumping a number of atoms to an inverted state . Most commonly used are optical pumping,
electrical discharge, and direct conversion. In optical pumping, a light source such as a flash
discharge tube is used. This method is adopted in solid state lasers. In Ruby laser the helical
xenon flash provides the pumping light to raise the chromium ions to the upper energy levels. In
electric discharge method, the electric field causes ionization of the medium and rises it to the
excited state. This technique is used in gas lasers. In semi conductor diode lasers, a direct
conversion of electrical energy in to light energy takes place. Whatever may be type of laser,
they essentially employ two important pumping schemes, three level and four level pumping
schemes.

3) Optical resonator: A large radiation density (Q) is required to be present in the medium to
make the stimulated emissions dominate the other processes. A pair of parallel mirrors with the
laser material in between helps to maintain a large radiation density in the active material, such a
device is called an optical resonator. In the active material a photon spontaneously emitted by an
atom acts as input and starts stimulated emission. An optical resonator generally consists of two
opposing plane parallel mirrors with the active medium placed in between them. One of the
mirrors is semitransparent while the other one is made fully reflecting. The mirrors are set
normal to the axis of the material. This structure is known as Fabry-Perot resonator. Photons
emitted in any direction other than parallel to the axis of the cavity will pass out of the sides of
the resonator and are lost. Photons emitted parallel to the axis are augmented. On reaching the
semi transparent mirror some of the photons are transmitted out and part of them will be
reflected back. While propagating in the opposite direction, they de-excite more and more atoms
and build up their strength. At the total reflecting mirror, some of the photons are absorbed but a
major portion will be reflected. As the oscillations build up to enough intensity the laser beam
emerges through the front mirror as highly collimated intense beam.

Ruby Laser (Solid state laser)

Ruby (Al2O3,
Cr2O3) is a crystal
of aluminium oxide
in which some
aluminium atoms
are replaced by
chromium atoms.
The active material
in the ruby laser is
Cr+3 ions. Ruby is
taken in the form of
a cylindrical rod of
length 4 cm and 1
cm diameter.

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CONSTRUCTION
The schematic of a ruby laser is shown in Fig.4.The end faces of the rod are made strictly
parallel and polished to a high degree. They are then silvered in such away that one end face
becomes fully reflecting while the other end face partially reflecting. The rod is surrounded by a
helical xenon flash tube that provides the pumping light to raise the chromium ions to upper
energy levels. The xenon discharge provides intense bursts of white light. The rod consumes
several thousand joules of energy, but only a part of it is used in pumping Cr +3 ions, while the
rest heats up the apparatus. Cooling
arrangement is used to remove the generated
heat.

WORKING : The energy levels and

transitions in a ruby laser are shown in Fig. 5.
In the normal state, Cr+3 ions are in ground
state E1. The green component in the xenon
discharge is absorbed by the Cr+3 ions and are
excited to the band of energy levels E3
The excited levels are highly unstable. The
Cr+3 ions rapidly lose part of their energy
(E3−E2) to the crystal lattice and undergo non-
radiative transitions to the state E2. E2 is a
meta stable state. Hence, Cr+3 ions accumulate
there. Here the transition probabilities between
different states are such that most of the excited atoms in the state E3 return to state E1
spontaneously but those that go to state E2 have a little chance to return to state E1 spontaneously.
After a few milliseconds, the state E2 becomes more populated and hence the desired population
inversion is achieved. The probability of spontaneous emission at any moment is very high. The
spontaneous emission produces a photon. This photon knocks out a second photon from
neighboring atom and a chain reaction is produced. The stimulated radiation along
the axis starts dominating due to multiple reflections while photons travelling in any
direction other than this will pass out of ruby. Photon beam parallel to the axis of the crystal
grows in strength and some of it comes out through the partial reflector and serves as the output
laser beam.

The main drawback of ruby laser is that the output beam, though very intense, is not continuous.
For the continuous laser beam, gas lasers are used.
Ruby laser is basically a three - level laser. The output laser beam is red in colour and
corresponds to a wavelength of 6943 A0. The efficiency of ruby laser is very less as only the
green component of pumping light is utilized and rest of the components of incident beam are
left unused.

Helium - Neon Laser (Gas Laser)

Gas lasers usually employ a mixture of two gases, say A and B. Atoms of A are initially excited
and they in turn transfer their energy to atoms of B which are the actual active centres.

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CONSTRUCTION :
The schematic of a typical He-Ne laser is shown in Fig.6. It consists of a fused quartz tube with a
diameter of about 1.5cm and length of about 80cm. This tube is filled with a mixture of helium
and neon gases in the ratio of 10:1. There is a majority of helium atoms and a minority of neon
atoms. At one end of the tube, there is a perfect reflector while at the other end is a partial
reflector. The active material is excited by means of a high frequency generator.

Adjustment for reflector

quartz tube
Laser
Helium and Neon gas mixture beam

Perfect
Partial
reflector
reflector

RF Generator Fig. 6

WORKING :
He-Ne laser employs a four-level pumping scheme. The energy level diagram is shown in Fig.7.
When the power is switched on, the high frequency electric field ionizes some of the atoms in the
mixture of helium and neon gases. Since the electrons have a smaller mass, they acquire a higher
velocity due to the electric field. The helium atoms are more readily excitable than neon atoms
because they are lighter. The energetic electrons excite helium atoms through collisions to the
excited statesF2 and F3.These levels F2 and F3 of Helium happen to be equal to the two of the
higher levels E4 and E6 of Neon. Both F2 and F3 of He and E4 and E6 of Ne are metastable states.
The excited helium atoms when
they happen to collide with the Neon Energy transfer
Through collisions
atoms, which are in the ground state,
transfer the energy to the Neon atoms Helium E6 Neon
which excite to the corresponding F3
equivalent energy levels and the Helium E4 E5
F2
atoms return to the ground state. This is
E3
the main pumping mechanism in He-Ne
Spontaneous emission
laser system. Neon atoms are the active Excitation E2
centers and the role of helium is to excite by collision
with De excitation
neon atoms and cause population electrons
by collision
inversion. Therefore, as the collisions go
on, neon atoms accumulate in these two F1 Fig.7
E1
excited states. At ordinary temperatures,
E5 and E3 levels of neon are less

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populated and a state of population inversion is achieved between E6 and E5 levels, E6 and E3
levels and between E4 and E3 levels. Consequently, three laser transitions can occur.
E6E3 transition gives a laser beam of red colour of wavelength 6328 A0.
E4E3 transition produces infrared laser beam at 1.15m wavelength.
E6E5 transition produces infrared laser beam at 3.39m wavelength.
The He-Ne laser operates in CW(Continuous working) mode as the neon atoms are
excited to upper levels continuously through collisions. In the He-Ne laser, the terminal levels of
lasing transitions are sparsely populated. As such, the transition of neon atoms that must be
excited to the upper levels can be much less. Hence the power required for pumping is low and
efficiency is high.

Applications of Lasers

(1) Laser output is a beam of highly intense parallel rays, which permits the light to traverse
large distances with very little divergence. Using external optics, this beam can be focused to
very small dimensions so that it can be used for industrial applications like cutting, drilling,
welding, machining etc.

(2) Because of the extremely high temperatures obtainable at the focus of a laser beam, laser
is an excellent tool for triggering chemical and photochemical reactions.

(3) Laser output is a highly coherent beam which finds important application in holography.
Holography is a process for producing three-dimensional images. Conventional photography
records the two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional scene. It contains information about
the intensity of the light wave that produced the image. Holography records the three-
dimensional image of an object. The image contains information of both phase and intensity of
the light wave. A hologram is made by using reference beams and interference beams.
Holography has several applications which are becoming increasingly wide spread.
Credit cards, for example, sometimes use holograms for identification purposes. Other
applications of holography include head-up displays for the instrument panels in high
performance fighter planes, laser scanners at supermarket checkout counters, computerized data
storage and retrieval systems, methods for high-precision biomedical measurements and others.
(4) Another important application of laser is in the field of communications. Since optical
frequencies are extremely large as compared to radio waves and microwaves, a light beam acting
as a carrier wave is capable of carrying far more information over long distances in comparison
to radio waves and microwaves. Laser light offers unique advantages over conventional
incoherent light. The advantages are:
(a) The spectral width of a laser is much smaller and hence information carrying capacity is
much larger.
(b) The turbulent nature of the atmosphere produces no effect on laser light because of its
very little divergence and high directionality.
(c) Another important advantage is of its immunity from jamming and interception.

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(5) Semiconductor diode lasers are used to reproduce music in CD players, laser printers,
laser copiers, optical floppy discs, optical memory cards etc. They are also used in measuring
instruments like range finders, strain gauges etc.
(6) Laser light reflection is widely used in applications ranging from measuring the speed of
automobiles to reading price information from bar codes at the supermarket.
(7) Medical applications of lasers include delicate eye surgery, removal of kidney stones,
removal of tooth and gum decay and in the treatment of cancer.
(8) Laser tracking systems are used to determine the trajectory of a moving object like a
rocket, to determine the daily positions of a heavenly object or an artificial satellite. One of the
main advantages of a laser tracking system over a microwave radar system is that a laser tracking
system has a smaller size and its cost is also much less. In a microwave radar system, one has to
incorporate corrections because of the presence of ionosphere and also because of the presence
of water vapour in the troposphere. These corrections are much easier to incorporate in the case
of an optical beam.
(9) Lasers are also used in isotope separation. Laser isotope separation (LIS) process makes
it possible to enrich uranium on a larger scale besides producing isotopes which are used in
medicine, science and technology.
(10) The large coherence length and high output intensity coupled with a low divergence
enables the laser to find applications in precision length measurements using interferometric
techniques.

Important topics
Lasers:
Spontaneous emission,
Stimulated emission,
Distinction between spontaneous and stimulated emission,
Meta stable state,
Population Inversion,
Essentials of a laser devise,
Difference between conventional light and laser light,
Characteristics of lasers,
Ruby laser with energy level diagram,
Helium- Neon laser with energy level diagram,
Applications.

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