12 LASER

C H A P T E R

a I N T R O D U C T I O N

The term LASER"

A is an acronym for (L)ight (A)mplification by (S)timulated (E)mission of

wdiation
(R)adiation
which possess the following properties
i) high degree monochromaticity
of. coherency
) high degree.
of directionality
(ii) high level
(iv) high power density.
The wavelength (colour) of laser light is extremely pure (monochromatic) when compared to
other sources of light and all of the photons (energy) that make up the laser beam has a fixed
nhase relationship (coherence) with respect to one another. Light from a laser typically has a
very low divergence (highly collimated due to high level of directionality). So it can travel
Over large distance or can be focused to a very small spot with a brightness which exceeds
that of the sun. Because of these properties, lasers are used in a wide
variety of applications
in all walks of life such as scientific, industrial, medical, commercial, printing, millitary
etc.

Basic Principle: To understand laser, one needs to understand how light can be amplified
by stimulated emission of radiation. The term light is generally accepted to be
electromagnetic radiation ranging from Inm to 1000um in wavelength i.e., from -rays
to radiowaves. All
electromagnetic radiation consists of photons which are individual
quantum packets of energy hu. In this course we will only concern ourselves with the
portion of the electromagnetic spectrum where laser operate-infrared, visible and
raviolet radiation whose respective wavelengths are given below:

NAME WAVELENGTH
Ultraviolet 100nm 400 nm
Visible 400 nm750 nm
Near infirared 750 nm3000 nm
Far infrared 3000 nm um
understand spontaneous and stimulated enmission of radiation we should have little
dea of Bohr
atom.
model of the atom which is the basis
5ohr Atom: In 1915, Neil Bohr proposed a

forthe field of quantum mechanics, although not fully accurate by today's understanding

1 s very useful to explain laser principle.

349
 APPLIEDD PHYSICS R
350
revolving around nucleus,
nas
some specific
According to Bohr model, electrons are 1S
radiated,
and during revolution. no
enTEY
definite orbit (orbitals) fixed energy
possess
from its ground
staeowest energy
electron can go between
under ravourable circumstances an
cannot remain these
in fig. but it
orbit)-l to a higher state (excited) -2 shown

state. 2 n d excited s t a t e
n = 3

15 1 s t excited state
- n =2
10
EE E 5
Ground state -n =1

level diagram
and a simple energy
Fig. 1 The Bohr Atom
states and are referred to by the
called **quantum by an
energy states
are are represented
The allowed 3 etc. The, quantum states
numbers 1, 2,
principal "quantum
energy level diagram.
must receive energy from
quantum state, the atom
to a higher
For an electron to jump mechanism such as inelastic
or
through a variety of
This can happen in the form of
the outside world. and absorption of energy
with other atoms
semi-inelastic collisions electron drops from a higher
Likewise when an
electromagnetic radiation (eg. light).
h either as

state to a lower state, the atom must give of energy E-E, =AE =hv=
radiation (radiative
radiative transitions) or as electromagnetic
kinetic activity (non transitions. Now we shall
are only interested with radiative
transition). In this case we
emission and stimulated emission.
study regarding absorption, spontaneous
Emission: According to Boltzmann's
statistic o
Absorption and Spontaneous

E, E
hu EE
Electron in Electron is raised to
ground state (E) excited state (E)

Fig. 2 Absorption
 LASER
351
hu

E, E,E
Electron in
excited state (E;) Electron in jumped to
ground state (E,)
Fig. 3
Spontaneous emission

hu
EE E,E
Electron is in excited state
Electron is
Fig. 4 Stimulated emission
thermal equilibrium most atoms in a, medium are in the
collisions of atoms or energised by external source ground state (E,). Due to
energy is absorbed by electron
and this electron raises to any higher energy state
(E,) according to amount of
energy absorbed by the electron. Nomally these higher
and the electrons
energy states are unstable
will release this excess energy as
photons almost immediately at
random phase and random direction and return to the
IS
ground state (E,). This event
called "spontaneous emission" and the photon is emitted in a random direction
da random phase. The average time it takes for the electron to decay is called
C ime constant for
spontaneous emission and is represented by t.
mulated Emission : When an electron is already in excited state E, and its
decay path
d path is to
to ground state (E),
ground state but, before it has a chance to spontaneously
cay, a photon happens to pass by e energy
whose energy 1s
approximately
is approximately E, - E, EE,, there
tnere
aprobability that the passing photon without loosing its own energy will cause
CEron to decay in such a manner that a photon iS emitted at exactly the same
Wavelength, in exactly the same direction, and with exactly the same phase as the
passing photon. *stimulated emission". Thus in each
photon. This process is called excited atom, two photons of same
encounterI with incident photon to an
wavelength direction and phase are generated.
exactly the same
Let us shown in fig. all begin in

OW now consider
co group of atoms a passing photon.
ted and most are effectively within the stimulation range of
We also assur time whose constant is very long in
metastable state
assume a of stimulated emission is
emission and the probality
comparison
100%.
0n with spontaneous
 352 APPLIED PHYSICS R
ASpontaneous emission

OStimulatedemissionzone_-.

Stimulated
Nno
o
n o
emission

Stimulated emission zone

.

Spontaneous emission

Fig. 5 Amplification by stimulated emission

The incoming (stimulating) photon interacts with first atom, causing stimulated emission
of a coherent photon; these two coherent photons then interacts with the next two
atoms in the line and the result in four coherent photons, on down the line. Again these
four coherent photon interact with four excited atoms of same energy resulting further
generation of eight photons. At the end of the process in chain system with geometrical
generated and all with identical phases and all
progression so many photons are
travelling in the same direction. In other wards, the initial single photon has been
amplified so many times like nuclear chain reaction in fission, if sufficient amount of
excited atom in metastable state whose energy difference between two transition state is
equal to the energy of stimulating photons.
To perform the job we have to take the help of optical pumping for population
inversion. As in single pass of stimulated radiation multiple stimulated radiation is not
possible, so we have to use optical cavity or resonator to bounce back and forth of
stimulated radiation to increase the rate of stimulated emission. Detail discussion ot
these factors are given below :
IPopulation Inversion: We have seen in two level energy states E, and E o
atoms, let N, and N, be the number of atoms per unit volume in state 1 and
are called the population of the respective levels.
respectively. These numbers
According to Boltzmann distribution, under thermal equilibrium we can write

E,)/AT
=e
N
where k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the temperature in absolute nd
E, > E,. Thus the population of higher energy state is in generally
scale
smaller na
of lower energy state. So normally maximum number of atoms are always stay
ated
the ground state. But unexcited atom in ground state can not emit stimula
emission. By absorbing photon, the ground state atoms are excited to higher enei
states and almost imediatelyy returning back to ground state emit spontan
e m i s s i o n a t r a n d o m p h a s e a n d d i r e c t i o n . S o t o g e t s t i m u l a t e d e m i s s i o ns ppoonp
t aunaer
o d
u s

ation

inversion is necessary. That means large number of atoms will be in higher ene to
state. But higher energy level atoms have always a tendency to come dow this
which are not in phase. For u
the ground state emitting spontaneous photons
 LASER
nwe have to select such lasing material which has metastahle stot
353
reaso state whose
is comparatively large in comparison with
time constant spontaneous emission
nely small
(extremely small time constant). AS the metastable state has a
very long life the
r a f atoms in this state goes on inereasing and hence a population invers
between metastable state and ground state.
is achieved
In real situation of laser action four level energy diagram is shown in the fio
ig.

Pumping
E4 process

Eg
Laser Population
action inversion
E2
ground
energy level

Level populations
Fig.6 A four level laser pumping system.
The electron is pumped (excited)
into an upper level E, by some mechanism
example, collision with another atom or absorption of high energy radiation (for
a
flash lamp). It then by
decays to E, then to E, (metastable state) where it stays for
longer time and finally to the ground state (E,). In a
large
equilibrium and with a continuous pumping process, a population inversion will
at
of such atoms
Occur between the and E, energy states and whèn a
population
E,
the energy difference of photon of energy equal to
be amplified coherently.
(E, E,) enter the lasing medium stimulated emission will
-

The Resonator (optical cavity): Due to population inversion we have the ability
to
amplity a signal via stimulated emission but the overall single pass gain is quite
SInall, because most of excited atoms in the population emit spontaneously and do
not contribute to the overall output, To turn this system into a laser, we need a
positive feedback mechanism that will cause the majority' of the atoms in the
population to contribute to the coherent output. This is the resonator, a system or
O r s that reflects undesirable (off-axis) photons out of the systenm and on-axis.
Crent photons are reflected back and forth interacting with more and more
aLns, Spontaneous emission thus decreases and stimulated emission along the axis
predominates and we have a
laser
d y to get the light out of the system, one of the mirror is usually a partially
Sparent on one end of the 1asing medium (e.g., solid, gas or semi-conductor
Oae) that allows some of the intense coherent light to leave the optical cavity or
resonator to be used for the of the laserbeam and remaining part is
production
used for positive feedback to act as stimulating photons.
APPLIED PHYSICS 23
 APPLIED PHYSI
354 and stimulated
emission (ordinary light)
between spontaneous
usn
emission (laser) :
STIMULATED (LASER)
SPONTANEOUS (ORDINARY LIGHT) be in preferred hioh
the atom must
state. 1. Initially
1. Initially the atom exist in ground energy states (excited).
rgy to
photons of equal energy
to that of
of
by | 2. Stimulating
2. Incident Chergy
Cnt
energy completely
is
absorbed
cnergy
excited ate
difference of (metastable)
state and it raises
to any level state are incident on it. So the
atoms in ground and ground
decay by incidents photons and stimulated photons are
of excitation states and immediately
and atoms
emission in same phase.
emitting spontaneous at
photons
come back to ground state emitting
have no phase relation between two
random
stimulated photons are unidirectional
photons. 3. All
3. Emitted at random direction.
4 Intensity of light is strong enough.
Intensity is not so strong. Due to high degree of directionality can be
con

directionality. So
cannot be5. focussed into a very small region by convex
5. Low degree of c o n v e x lens.
focussed in a small region by
lens.
6 . Highly monochromatic.
is polychromatic in nature.
6. Radiation
LASER:
O BASIc COMPONENTS OF given below
for its operation. These are
A laser requires three main components
medium to collect excited atoms.
Active medium or lasing
for population inversion.
22. Optical pumping source

of stimulated radiation.
3. Optical resonator or optical cavity, for amplification

PUMP Partially transparent

mirror
T
Mirror|

Lasing medium
Optical cavity
or resonator

energy

1Active medium or lasing medium: A substance that wne liquid, 101

liquid, ions or
1.
substance can be solid, gas,
emits light in all directions. The

semiconducting diode.
 L A S E R
355
ing or
pumping or the
the excitation mechanism: The excitation mechanism of a
o p t i c a l

source of energy used to excite the atoms of lasing medium for the
the
laser 1s
Durpose of opulation inversion
population Excitation mechanism typically used are
from power supply, flash tubes, lamps or the energy from other laser.
electricity fror

cavity or resonator: The optical cavity is used to reflect light through the
Optical
forth into itself.
Ola
3. medium back and
lasingmedium It typically consists of two mirrors
lasinasing material. As the light is bounced between two mirrors it increases
at each one

end
th resulting in amplification of the energy from the excitation mechanism in the
Steform o light.
The output coupler of a laser is usually a partially transparent mirror
on
one end
of the lasing medium that allows some of the laser to leave the cavity andd
remaining part be used for the feedback to enhance the effect of laser.

HE-NE LASER
Description : Helium-Neon laser is the first gas laser developed by Ali Javan and
his co-workers in 1961. It is one of the most popular CW (continuous wave) laser.
It consists of long narrow discharge tube containing a gas mixture of He and Ne in
a ratio of about 5 1 at 1 mm of Hg pressure. The electrodes are connected to a
high voltage (2000 volt) d.c. source.
Partialy reflected
Gas discharge tube mirror

Laser
output

fully reflected Anode L W Cathode

mirror
Fig. 8 D.C. Power Supply

other partial reflector

of which is a perfect reflector and
a
A
pair of mirrors-one
Constitutes the resonator or optical cavity.
have to take the help of
He-Ne laser we
nEory: To understand the operation of
energy level diagram shown in figure.
are easily
excited to the metastable state
rst, light He atoms in ground state (1S)
electrons like as follows
ZS) by collision with fast discharge

He+=He+e 20.6lev. He cannot spontaneously

where 1S an excited He atom (1S'2S') attaining energy
the orbital quantum
mit (1S2) ground state because
on and decay down to the should be tl for any photon
Dumha +l i.e. Al the
er T of the electron must change by build up during
othe number of He' atoms
emission aosorption process.
Thusa large
simply decay
back to the ground
electrio discharge because
ADCnarge
there is not allowed
to

state
 APPLIED PHYSICs B
356 Ne
He
Collision
2p'5S Metastable state 632 8 nm
(1S'2S) 20-66ev
20 61ev Stimulate
emission
Metastable state of He

Spontanum emission
12p3s

the walls
Collisions with
Ground state,
(2p)
(1S22p)
(18)
He Ne
O
He-electron
He Fig. 9
Collisions

impact its energy to the Ne

with a Ne atom, it transfers
atom collides
excited He' Ne happens to have an
Now when an
bybecause good fortune,
energy exchange, (2p°5S') configuration matching
atom by resonance
corresponding to
the
level (20-66 ev), atoms and de-excites
empty energy excites the Ne
of He'. Thus the collision process
that of (IS'2S)
1.e.,
He down to its ground energy.
He' + Ne > He + Ne
rises to
discharge a large Ne"
number of
with many He' Ne collisions in the gaseous When
takes place.
the population inversion
-

constant and hence

metastable state of large time emission are
state avalanche of stimulated
state to (2p53pl)
electron jumps from (2p$5S')
radiated with a 632-8 nm in the red.
wavelength
decay rapidly to the (2p°3S°) ie energy
NOW from the (2p°3p') energy
level, the Ne atoms
configuration, nowc
of the Ne atoms with the (2p°3S') of
Dyspontaneous emission. Most emission because
the
reu
the ground state (1S22S22p ) by photon netic

simply return to
cannot subshell. An electrou
its is flipped to close the 2p also
the electron in 3S requires that spin levels
Thus the Ne (2p 3s)
energy cess) isis
radiation cannot change the electron spin.
state (for next repumping Pe
metastable states. The possible return to the ground
only
by collisions with the walls of the laser tube. which are
emission
wil
stimulated photons
Now achieving population inversion we are getting axial
axis. axis.

The stimulated coherent

amplified by the help of optical resonator. ao
hrough the
the
more emission through
back and forth in the cavity stimulating out

C Dounce
ne

lasing beams comc

threshold and
EVentually the gain will reach a
partially reflecting mirror.
A LASER

Uses of Laser Technology

357
,Meu
fedicine:
Mea
Bloodless surgery, laser
healing, surgical treatment,
treatment, eye treatment, dentistry, cosmetic skin kidney stone,
etc.
treatment, hair removal treatment
Industry: Cutting, elding, braizing,
2 annealing in heat treatment of metal.
Millitary:
3.
Marking targets, guiding
missile, radar.
n i c department : Used for
4. Fore detection of latent fringer print,
5 Com mercial use: Laser printer,
optical disc forged currency notes.
(CD, DVD writing), barcode
thermometer, laser pointer, hologram.
scanners,
Research work: Spectroscopy,
6. laser ablation, laser
fluorescence microscopy. scattering interferrometry,
7. Holography: It is used in
producing holography.
8. Telecommunication: It is
being used in
computers and optical communication system.

SHORT QUESTIONS WITH ANSWER

1. What do you mean
by the term LASER"?
Ans. The term LASER" is an
of Radiation. acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission
2. What do you mean
Ans.
spontaneous emission
of radiations ?
Normally maximum number of atoms and molecules are in
(unexcited). When the atoms are excited by photons of in ground
grou state
t0any higher level states and light, flash lamp, it raises
immediately returns to ground state
photons at random phase, random directions and of emitting radiative
different coBours. So light
emitted due to
spontaneous emission
are not so intense.
3. What is stimulated emission:
Ans. Due to
population inversion by optical pumping when electrons of atoms raises to
excited metastable state of longer time constant, betore it has a chance to
spontaneous decay, a stimulating photons of same energy equal to energy
Terence of excited level and ground state, there is a probability that the passing
PIOton withou loosing its own energy will cause the excited electron to decay in
Such a manner that the photon is emitted at exactly the same wavelength, in
exactly the sáme direction and with exactly the same phase as the passing photon.
in each encounter with incident
s process is called stimulated emission'". Thus
PLOton to an excited atom, two photons of same wavelength, direction and phase
are generated.
4.
hat ?
do you mean population inversion
Ans. According Boltzmann's distribution law in thermal equilibrium, normally
cording to
like to stay in the ground state. By
mum of atoms are always
number state and
are excited to higher energy
state atoms
OOing photons, the ground
 APPLIED PHYSICS
358 state emit spontaneous emission at
almost immediately returning back to ground
have a tendency to come
random phase and direction. Since excited atoms always
atom [Link] energy state for
down to the gound state, for the stability of excited
that it has metastable state comparativelv
longer time, lasing material is so selected
ordinary excited state from which
large time constant in comparison with
emission. As the metastable state has very
immediately decay giving spontaneous
on increasing and this higher enerov
long life the number atoms in this state goes to lower energy state. As it is
state is gradually thickly populated in comparison
is called population inversion.
against the normal behaviour of atoms, this process
or resonating system?
5. How is it possible to come out from optical cavity
Ans. For optical resonator two mirrors are used at
the two ends of lasing material (such
as, solid, gas, liquid, semi-conductor etc).
One of the mirror is a partial reflector
to bounce back upto acertain threshold energy. When the
which has a capacity
lasing beam exceeds the limiting value it comes out in regular way.

6. How many types of lasers are used?

Ans. Types of laser are used according to our needs.
These are classified according to
below
lasing medium used in the system. These are given
Gas laser
2. Chemical laser
3 Dye laser
4. Metal vapour laser
5. Solid-state laser
6. Setmiconducting diode laser.
1. What is the function of Ne atoms in He-Ne gas laser?
Ans. Ne atom is the main source of stimulated emission. Because the excited He
(1s 2s) has no ability to emit photons when it retumns back to ground state. But
there is a close coincidence in energy of metastable state of He and excited state of
Ne (2p$5s). And due to collision of excited atom of He' with Ne atoms in ground
state, He" atom transfer energy to Ne atom. This energy is gained by Ne atom and
it then raises to metastable state (2p 5s') which when returns to 2p 3p' state it
emits coherent stimulated emission.

OHOLOGRAPHY
Definition : Holography is a technique of formation of three dimensional image
a photographic film by using coherent light sources without taking the help
camera or lens. It was first suggested by D. Gabor in 1948. This theory w
IS d
experimentally demonstrated in 1962 after the discovery of laser rays which
coherent source of light.
The word hologram' is derived from Greek word 'holos' meaning the whole 1.
the whole of information.
record only the intensity of light and no
Theory: In ordinary photography we
three dimensional character of the object
is lost.
information about phase so that the an
regarding both the amplitudes
record informations
But in holography we

phases.
LASER
359
rding or producing hologram:
of
coherent light from
oherent light a laser is split
semi-transparent into two by a mirror such that
beam
Abeai(called
beam (called object beam) can be scattered by the object to be photographed and the
one De related reference beam) falls directly on the film. These two beams form
other be.
phase
ph
once pattern
interference pattern on
on the film. The fine speckled pattern on the film contains
arding both the amplitude and phase. Thus a hologram is produced.
informations regardin

This step
of holography is called recording.
ng
Object

Objectbeam

Laser beam

Semi transparent |Hologram

mirror Reference beam
Fig. 10 Recording

Reproducing or reconstruction of hologram: illuminated with

film. The hologram is
from the hologram
S t e p image is
reconstructed
wave length as the original
reconstruction wave usually of same
i g h t called hologram acts as
as aa ditfraction grating
diffraction grating
beam used in producing hologram. The
real image while the other forms
one set forms a
two sets of diffracted beam,
a g 3D picture is reproduced.
ce dimensional virtual image. Thus
Real
Virtual image
3D image

e c o n s t r u c t i o n sw a v e

Laser
Holographyfilm
beam Reco
F i g . 1 1 R e c o n s t r u c t i o n