UNIT 13 LASERS

Structure
13.1 Introduction
Objectives
13.2 Light Emission and Absorption
Quantum Theory: A Bricf Outline
Stimulated Emission: Einstein's Prediction
Einstein's Prediction Realised
13.3 Prerequisits for a Laser
Active Medium
Excitation (or Pumping)
Feedback Mechanism
13.4 Types of Lasers
Solid State Lasers
Liquid Lasers
Gas Lasers
13.5 Applications of Lasers
Communication
Basic Research
Medicine
Industly
Environmental Measurements
Photography
13.6 Summary
13.7 Terminal Questions
13.8 Solutions and Answers

13.1 INTRODUCTION

In the previous unit, you learnt about coherence and cohcrent sources of light. It was
explained there why conventional thermal sources of light emit radiation which have
very low degree of coherence. However, phenomenon like interference which requires
coherent light sources, can indeed be observed with conventional light sources. The
quest for obtaining a light source with high degree of coherence led to the invention of
lasers. As you know, a useful indicator of the degree of coherence is the coherence
length. For ordinary light, the coherence length is of the order 1oU2m,whereas the
5
coherence length for a laser light can be as long as 10 m! So, you may appreciate the
difference in the degree of coherence between an ordinary light and the laser light. In
the present unit, we will discuss about this source of highly coherent light beam-the
LASER.

The name laser is an acronym for LightAmplification by Stimulated Emission of

Radiation. You must realise that the key words here are amplification and stimulated
emission. The existence of stimulated emission of radiation, when radiation interacts
wilh matter, was predicted by Einstein in 1916. His theoretical prediction was realised
by C.H.Townes and co-workers in 1954 when they developed microwave amplification
by stimulated emission of radiation (maser). The principle of maser was adapted for
light in visible range byA. Schawlow and C.H.Townes in 1958 but the first laser device
was developed by T.H. Maiman in 1960. Once the laser was invented, it has found
applications in such diverse fields as basic research, industry, medicine, space,
photography, communication,defence, etc,
In Sec. 13.2, you will learn about the quantum mechanical description of the emission Physics of h e r s
and absorption of light. In particular, you will learn about spontaneous emission and
stimulated emission of r,adiation.In Sec. 13.3, the physical principles involved in the
operation of lasers viz.excitation (or pumping), the need of an active medium and the
feedback mechanism have been explained. Since the invention of laser by Maiman using
small ruby rod as active medium, Lasers have come a long way. Presently, lasers are built
using solid or liquid or gas as active media. Apart from these, now semi-conductor based
lasers are finding wide application:. These different types of lasers have been briefly
discussed in Sec. 13.4. The applications of lasers are so many and so varied that thcir
detailed account will take us too far. In Sec. 13.5, we have, however, briefly discussed
applications of lasers in industry, medicine, communication and basic research. In the
next unit, you will study about holography, which would not have been possible without
laser light. And in Unit 15, you will study about optical fibres-a medium of transporting
light-which is a very active area of research and development for long distance optical
communication purposes.

Objectives
After going through this unit, you should be able to

explain the concept of stimulated emission of radiation and differentiate it

from spontaneous emission
describe the need and methods of pumping
list the characteristics of the active medium for lasers
describe different types of lasers, and
describe the important applications of lasers.

13.2 LIGHT EMISSION AND ABSOR

As you are aware, most of the man-made sources of light are the solids and gases heated
to high temperatures. For example, in case of incandesent bulb, the tungsten fdament is
heated, and in case of murcury tube light, the gas is heated. The energy of the heating
source is absorbed by the atoms or molecules of the solid or the gas, which, in turn, emit
Light. The basic mechanism of the origin of light from within gas molecules, liquids and
solids is similar in many respect to that from an individual atom. And the process of
emission and absorption of light from atoms can be understood in terms of Bohr's
atomic model. Though you might have studied Bohr's model in your school physics
course, we briefly discuss it here for the sake ofcompleteness.

13.2.1 Quantum Theory: A Brief Outline

You may recall from your school physics course that according to Bohr's theory, the
energy of an atom or a molecule can take on only definite (discrete) values. These are
known as the energy levels of the atom, The transition of an atom from one energy level
to another energy level occurs in quantum jump. This was one of the basic assumptions
of Bohr's theory. On the basis of this presumption, Bohr postulated that light is not
emitted by an electron when it is revolving in one of its allowed orbits (and hence has a
fixed value of energy). Light emission takes place when the atom makes a transition from
an excited state (of energyEi) to a state of lower energy Ef.The frequency of the
emitted radiation is given by
 and their Applicalions
~ascrs where Eiis the energy of the initial orbit, Efis the energy of the fmal orbit, v the
frequency of the emitted light and h is the Planck's constant. The quantized orbits of the
electron and the energy level diagram of the simplest atom-the hydrogen atom-are
shown in Fig. 13.1. Quantum
numbers Energy

Flg. 13.1: (a) Bohr clrcular orbits for lht revolving electron of^^ a m s b w h g
transllons, giving rise to Lht tmitW 1Ight waves of dlflercnl trequencits; @) Energy level
dlngram tor the hydrogen atom.

The quantum mechanical explanation about the origin of light, as discussed above,
applies to all the known light sources. To focus our attention on the atomic processes
involved in the emission and absorption of light, let us consider only two energy levels of
an atom. Let the energy of the lower level be El and that of the upper level be Ez. An
atom lying in level E2 will tend to make a transition to level El so that it occupies a state
of lower energy. Such emission process is known as spontaneous emission because it
occurs in the absence of any external stimulus. The process of spontaneous emission is
shown in Fig. 13.2(a). The photon emitted in spontaneous emission will have the energy
(E2-El), while its other characteristics such as momentum, polarisation, will be arbitrary.
The light emitted by ordinary sources results due to spontaneous emission. Absorption
of light is the converse process of emission. The atom in a lower energy state can absorb
a photon of energy hv (= E2 - El) and get excited to the upper level E2.The
absorption process is depicted in Fig. 13.2(b).

Now, can you guess what will happen if an atom is in the Egher energy level, E2, and a
photon of energyhv (= E2-El) interacts with it? Well, in such a situation, the photon
may trigger the atom in the upper level to emit radiation. This emission process is known
as stimulated emission. When the atom is already in the higher energy level, the photon,
instead of being absorbed, may play the role of a trigger, and induce the transition from
E2 to El. As a result, the atom falls into lower energy level and an additional photon OF
energy hv = E2-El is emitted. In this process of stimulated emission, shown in Rg.
13.2(c), both the inducing and tbe induced photons have the same energy. The Light
tkom laser is due t d e stimulated emission of radiation.

It is worth mentioning here that of the three processes mentioned above, only the first
two, that is, the spontaneous emission and the absorption of light were postulated on the
basis of Bohr's theory. It was only when Einstein considered the whole idea of emission
 Physics of Lnsers

Fig. t3.2: (n) Spontnncous Eniisslon (1)) Absorplion and (c) Slimul~lledEmission of light

and absorption of radiation in terms of thermodynamic equilibl.iun1between matter and

radiation that stimulated e~nissionof radiation could be predicted. What were
Einstein's theoretical arguments for the prediction? Let us lcarn these now.
13.2.2 Stimulated Emission of Radiation: Einstein's Prediction
Stimulated emission, as nlenlioncd above, is thc reverse of the process in which
electromagnetic radiation or photons are absorbed by the atomic systcms. When a
photon is absorbed by an atom, the encrgy of thc photon is converted illto the intcrnal
energy of the atom. Thc atom is then raised to an excited (higher energy) state and it
may radiate this energy spontaneously, enlitling a photon and reverting to the ground
(or some lower e n e r a ) state. However, during thc period thc atom is in the excited
state, it can be stimulated to cmit a photon if it interacts with another photon. This
stimulating photon should have prcciscly the energy of the one that would otherwise bc
emitted spontaneously. Let us look at thc thcorctical arguments put forward by Einstcin
for the existence of stimulated emission.

Rcfer to Fig. 13.3 which shows a system of two energy lcvcls El and Ez will1 population

No. of atoms
i n the Icvcl S ~ O ~ ~ ~Slimulatcd
~ C O U S
clllission cmission Absorption Energy

N2
Fig. 13.3: A n nlonlic s y s l c ~ nof Iwo encrfiy icvcls sllowing dlffcrcnt cnlission nnd
ahsorption proccsses.

of atoms Nl and N2 respectively. Let El < EZ.You may rccall from Unil13 of PHE-06
that according to Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, thc ratio of population of atoms
in diiferent levels for the systcm in thermal equilibrium is givcn as
Lasers and thcir Applications where, kg is the Boltzmann constant and T is the absolute temperature.
Now what will be the ratio of the population of the energy levels if radiation of energy hv
is introduced into the system? Einstein proposed that if this system of energy levels and
the radiations is to remain in thermal equilibrium, the rate of downward transition (due
to spontaneous and stimulated emission) must be equal to the rate of upward transition
(due to absorption). He, therefore, arrived at the relation (see box below),

where, u (v) is the energy density of radiation at frequency v and B12,A21,B21are

Einstein's co-efficients.A2, is associated with spontaneous emission, Bzl is associated
with stimulated emission and B12 is associated with absorption.
Following Einstein, let us write down the rates of spontaneous and stimulated emission
and the rate of absorption of radiation. The rate of spontaneous emission will be
independent of the energy density of the radiation field because for this process t o
occur, presence of photon is not required. This emission process will be proportional to
the number of atoms, N2, in the higher energy state, So, we may write the rate of
spontaneous emission as

where AZl is constant of proportionality.

Assume next that the system of atoms is subject to some external radiation field. In that
case, as mentioned earlier, one of the two processes, namely, the stimulated emission
and absorption, may occur. The probability of their occurrence depends on the energy
density of radiation at the particular frequency separating the two levels and the
population of states from which transition takes place. Therefore, the rate of stimulated
emission wiH be proportional to the energy density of the radiation and the population
of higher energy state, N2.Thus, the rate of stimulated emission

I P21 = N2 4 1U (4
where Bzl is another constant of proportionality and u (v) is energy density of radiation
(ii)

at frequency v.
O n the other hand, the rate of absorption will depend on u (v) and the population of the
lower energy state, Nl. Thus, the rate of absorption

I PI,= N1B,2u (v)

where B12is the constant of proportionality. The constantsAzl, B12 and Bzl are known
(iii)

as Einstein's coefticients.
With the system in thermal equilibrium, the net rate of downward transition must be
equal to the net rate of upward transition. Thus, we may write

I Dividing both side by N1,we get

N2 --
-Nl B12 U ( 4
so that, A,, + u ( 4 B21
 Physics of Lasers
Form Eqs. (13.2) and (13.3), we have

1
U (v) = -
A21
B~ eh v / k ~ - (B2,/B12)

Now, you may recall from unit of PHE-06 that the energy density of black body radiation
is given by Planck's radiation law:

Equation (13.5) must be same as Eq. (13.4). So we must have

B21 = B12

and

These are Einstein's relations. On the basis of Einstein's relations, we can conclude the
following:
(a) Eq. (13.6) indicates that the probabilities of absorption and stimulated emission
are the same. In other words, when an atomic system is in equilibrium, absorption
and emission take place side by side. Normally, N 2 c N,, and absorption
dominate stimulated emission. An incident photon is more likely to be absorbed
than to cause stimulated emission, But, if we could find a material that could be
induced to have a majority of atoms in the higher state than in the lower state, i.e.
N2 > N,,the stimulated emission may dominate absorption. This condition of the
atomic system (where N2 > Nl) is known as population inversion. And when the
stimulated emission dominates over absorption in thc atoniic system, it is said to
lase.
(b) If we substitute BI2 = B2, in equation (13.4), we get the ratio of the number of
spontaneous emission to stimulated emission

When the system is in thermal equilibrium at temperature T, for lrv < < kgT, Eq.
(13.8) suggests that stimulated emission will dominate spontaneous emission. On the
other hand, when h v > > kBT,spontaneous emission will dominate stimulated
emission. Now which of these two processes will dominate for ordinary thermal sources
of light? To know that, you should do the following SAQ.
SAQ 1
The absolute temperature, T, for an ordinary source of light is typically of the order of spend
1 0 ' ~ .With the help of Eq. (13.8), show that in such sources, the process of spontaneous 5 ,ribr
emission will dominate over the stimulated emission.

13.2.3 Einstein's Prediction Realised

You now know that when matter and radiation are in thermal equilibrium, besides
spontaneous emission and absorption of radiation by matter, there must be a third
process, called stimulated emission. This re diction did not attract much attention until1
h e r s and their Appllcatfons 1954, when Townes and coworkers developed a microwave amplifier (MASER) using
NH3. In 1958, Shawlow and Townes showed that the maser principle could be extended
into visible region. In 1960, the prediction was realised by Maiman who built the first
laser using Ruby as an active medium. Maiman found that a suitable active component
for a laser could be made from a single crystal of pink ruby: aluminium oxide (AI,O,),
coloured pink by addition of about 0.5 percent chromium. For any laser action to take
place, a condition of population inversion must be met. By population inversion we
mean that the number of atoms in higher energy state is larger than the ground (or some
lower energy) state. The energy states of the chromium atom, as shown in Fig. 13.4, are
ideal for obtaining population inversion. The chief characteristics of ener levels of a
Chromium atom is that the levels labelled as El and E2 have a life time 10 s. whereas
5!
the state marked M has a life time 3 x 10-~s. The energy state M with such a long life time
(as compared to other excited states) is called a metastable state.

Ground
L
level (a) (b) (c)

Fig.13.4: Energy levels of chromium atom: (a) atoms in the ground state @) on absorbing pholons, atoms
are exclted to one of the two energy levels El and Et (c) atoms glve up some ot I t s energy to the cryslal
lattice and fall to a me(nsbble level, M, (d) When stimulated by photons, the atoms in melasiable level
emit photon and fall to ground state.

A chromium atom in its ground state can absorb a photon (A = 6600 A) and make a

transition to the level El; it could also absorb a photon of lZ -4000 A and make a
When an atom undergoes a transition to the level E2. In either case, it subsequently makes a non-radiative transition,
lion-radiativetransition the energy
is not released in the form OF in time 10"s, to the metastabe state M. Since the state M has a very long life, the number
photons; rather, the energy is of atoms in this state keeps on increasing and we may achieve a population inversion
via atomic collisions, between the state M and G (the ground state). Thus, we may have larger number of
collision with the crystal lattice etc.
atoms in the level M compared to those in the state G. Once population inversion is
achieved, light amplification can take place.

In the original set up of Maiman, the pink ruby was machined into a rod of length nearly
four centimeter and diameter half a centimeter. Its ends were polished optically flat and
parallel and were partially silvered. The rod was placed near an electronic flash tube
(filled with xenon gas) that provided intense light for pumping chromium atoms to 1
higher energy states. The set up of rltby laser is shown in Fig. 13.5. When the required
population inversion was achieved with the help of electronic flash tube, the first few ,
I
photons released (at random) by atoms dropping to the ground state stimulated a
cascade of photons, all having the same frequency. I

i
 I1hysicsof Lnsers

Powcr source J. coolant

Flg.13.5: The Ruby Laser

You now know how a ruby lascr, developed by Maiman, works. You will appreciated
that production of laser light demands that certain conclitions must be met
beforehand. (We deliberately avoitled reference to tlrcse in above paragraphs.) Firstly,
is it possible to achieve laser light from any medium? If not, what are the chahracteristics
of the medium which can produce laser light after proper excitation? (The media
capable of producing lascr light are called active media.) Secondly, how do we achieve
population inversion? Further, for sustained laser light, it is necessary to feed some of
the output energy back into the active medium. This is known as fcedback and is
achieved by resonant cavity. What is the nature of this rcsonant cavity for lasers? These
are some of the important aspects of laser operation and design about which you will
learn now.

13.3 PREREOUISITS FOR A LASER

A laser requires three prerequisites for operation. Firstly, thcrc slloulcl be an ~ctive
medium which, when excitccl, supports populi~tioninversion ancl subscqucatly lascs.
Secondly, we shodd ensure pumping mechanism, that raises the system to an excited
state. And lastly, in most cases, therc is an optical cavity that provides the feedback
necessary for laser oscillation. Thesc are shown schematically in Fig. 13.6.

Fig.13.6: Rwic c o ~ ~ ~ p o n eof

n tHs lnser osclilnlor: Energy source (I) si~pplicst n e r g to riclive
medium (2). Medium is conlninetl between two mirrors (3 nnd 4). Mirror 3 Lv hilly
reflecllve wl~ilemirror 4 Is pnrtltiily trnnsprrent. Lnser rntlintion (5) emerges t h r o ~ ~ g h
Partinlly trnnspnrenl mirror.
~asersand their AppUcalions In a typical laser operation, energy is transferred to the active material, which is raised
to the excited state, and ultimately lases in various ways. The medium may be a solid,
liquid or gas and it may be one of the thousands of materials that have been b u n d to
lase. The process of raising the medium to the excited state is called pumping, in
analogy to pumping of water from lower to a higher level of potential energy. Some
lasers are built as laser amplifier. They need no optical cavity. Most lasers, however, are
laser oscillators. For sustained laser oscillations, some kind of feedback mechanism is
needed. The feedback mechanism is provided in the form of optical resonant cavity. In
both laser amplifiers and oscillators, the first few quanta of radiation will probably be
emitted spontaneously and will trigger stimulated emission.

Let us now discuss the above mentioned three components of a laser.

13.3.1 The Active Medium

-
The heart of the laser is a certain medium- solid, liquid or gaseous called a n active
medium. Since Maiman's discovery of ruby, many new laser materials have been
discovered. They include crystals other than ruby, glasses, plastics, liquids, gases and
even pfasma (the state of matter in which some of the atomic electrons are dissociated
from the atoms). What should be the characteristics of an qctive medium? The only
general requirement for an active medium is that it provides an upper energy state into
which atoms can be pumped and a lower state to which they will return with the
spontaneous emission of photons. The medium must also allow a population inversion
between the two states. It may happen that the active species o r centres, which provide
lasing levels, constitute a small fraction of the medium. For example, in case of ruby,
which is A1203 with some of the Al atoms replaced by Cr atoms, only the latter (Cr) is
the active centre. T ical number of active species per cubic centimeter in solids and
19 8 15
liquids is 10 to 10 and that for gaseous media their number is about 10 to 10 .
17

How the light beam gets amplified when it passes through an active medium? T o get the
answer we examine the process of population inversion now.

Population Inversion
Why is the condition of population inversion between the lasing level necessary for
operation of lasers, i.e. for amplification of light to occur? We can investigate this by
calculating the change in intensity of the light beam passing through an active medium.
Refer to Fig. 13.7. A collimated beam of light having intensity I,,travels along thex-axis
through an active medium of thickness du.

Fig. 13.7: Light beam of intenslly Iv passing through an actlve medium along the x-axis

If the cross-sectional area of each of the planes is S, volume of the layer will be Sdr. Let
Nl(v) dv represent the number of atoms per unit volume which are capable of absorbing
radiation whose frequency lies between v and v + dv. The nurnber of upward&
transmitted (El+ E2) atoms per unit time in the layer of volume S& would be (refer lo
box on page 26)
 M,(v) dv B12u ( v ) Sdw

In each transition, a photon of energy hv is absorbed. Thus, energy lost per unit time
from the incident radiation is
Itv [ N, (v) dv B12re (v) ] Sdu

Similarly, let N2(v) dv represent the number of atoms per unit voli~mewhich are capable
of undergoing stimulated emission by falling down to level E l . The frequency of these
+
photons lie between v and v dv. Then the number of stimulated pho~onsemitted per
unit time in the layer is

N2(v) dv B2,14 (v) Sdw

In each transition, photon of energy h v is emitted and this reinrorces the propagating
beam. Thus the energy gain by the incident radiation per unit time is

hv [ N , (v) dv BZL
ic (v) ] Sdw

You may have noticed that we have neglected spontaneous emission. It is so because a
photon, emitted via spontaneous process, is in a random direction. And, as such, it does
not contribute appreciably to the intensily of the beam.

As a result of above processes, will the intensity of the light beam increase or decrease
with time? Since u (v ) dv Sdw represents the energy in the layer within frequency range v
and v -f- dv , we can write the rate of change of [lie energy with time as

IEI, represents intensity, I,, dv signifies the energy crossing a unit area per unit time
whose frequency lies between v and v + dv. Then

denotes the rate at which the energy flows out of the layer. Since u ( v ) dv Sdw
represents radiation energy contained in the layer with frequency in the range v and
v f dv, we will have

From Eq. (13.9) and (13.10), we have

arv
-=
ax - Itv [ B,, N, (v) - B,, N2 ( v ) ] 11 (v)
But
I,, = u (v) V
Lasers and their Applicntioms

where v = velocity of light in the active medium ( = C/IZ;IZ = refraction index of the
medium). Thus, we get

where B ( = B12 = Bzl ) denotes either Einstein's coefficient. Hence

If the light beam is propagating in absorbing media, the loss of inteasity, - d I,, will be
proportional to I,,and du;

dIv = - a, I,, dr

where a,, is absorption coefficient. We can rewrite it as

O n integration we find that

If we compare Eqs. (13.12) and (13.13), we get the expression for absorption
co-efficient:

At thermal equilibrium, N1 > N2, that is, the population of ground state is greater than
the population of the excited state and as can be seen from Eq. (13.15), a, is positive.
Positive a, implies, (from equation 13.14) that the intensity of the beam decreases as it
propagates through the material. The lost energy is used up in the excitation of atolils to
higher energy states.

O n the other hand, if we have a situation in which N2> Nl, a, will be ncgative and
intensity of the light beam would increase, that is, get amplified as it propagates through I
the material. This process is light amplification. Since this occurs when there is a higher
population in excited state than in the ground (or lower energy) state, the material is
said to be in the state of population inversion. Thus, the condition of population
inversion is necessary for amplification of intensity of lig'ht beam. I

13.3.2 Excitation (or Pumping)

In the previous sub-section, you have learnt about the necessity of population inversion
in the active medium for obtaining laser light. The process of obtaining population
inversion is known as pumping or excitation. The aim of the pumping is to see that upper
energy level is more intensely populated than the lower energy level. Alternatively, we
can obtain the population inversion by depopulating lower energy level (other than
ground state) faster than the upper energy level. There are several ways of pumping a
laser and achieving the population inversion necessary for stimulated emission to occur.
Most commonly used are the following: Physics of Iascrs

1. Optical Pumping
2. Electric Discharge
3. Inelastic Atomic Collision
4. Direct Conversion

In Optical Pumping, a source of light is used to supply encrgy to the activc medium.
Most often this energy comes in the form of short flashes of light, a method first used in
Maiman's Ruby Laser and widely used even today in Solid-State Lasers. The laser
material is placed inside a helical xenon flash lamp of the type customary in
photography. The xenon flash lamp for pumping is shown in Fig. 13.5.

Another method of pumping is by direct electron cxcitatio~ias it occurs in an electric

discharge. This method is preferred for pumping Gas lasers of which the argon laser is a
good example. The electric field (typically several KV m") causcs elcctrons, emitted by
the cathode, to be accelerated towards the anodc. Some of the electrons will impinge on
the atoms of the active mcdium (electron impact), and raise thcm to thc excited statc.
As a result, thc population inversion is achieved in the active mcdium.

In the inelastic atomic collision methocl of pumping, the electric discharge provides the
initial excitation which raises one typc of atoms to their excited statc or states. Thcse
atoms subsequently collide inelastically with anotlicr type of atoms. The energy
transferred illelastically raises thc later typc of atonls to thc excited states and these are
the atoms which provide the population inversion. An example is Helium-Neon Laser,
to be discussed later, in which such a pumping proccss is employed.

A direct conversio~lof electrical energy into radiation occurs in light cmitting diodes.
Such light emitting diodes (LED) are used for pu~npingby direct conversion in
semi-conductor lascrs.

These are some of the proccsscs used for pumping atonls of the active medium to
achieve population inversion. Atoms (or molecules) used as active ccntrcs often exhibit
rather .complexsystem of energy levels. However, for all t.be variety of thesc slrt~ctures,
the actual pumping schemes may be narrowecl dowil to a few rather simple diagrams
correctly showing the puinping process. Typically, these puliiping schcmes involve three
to four levels. We think you would like to know about thcin.

Let us consider some of the pumping schcmcs. To do so, lct us iclcntify diffcrcnt energy
states necessary to explain the pumping schelnc as: thc ground state as 0; tlic lower
lasing state as 1; the upper lasing statc as 2; and the puinping state as 3. We shall
indicate pumping transition by upward arrow, thc lasing transition by downward arrow
and non- radiative fast decay by slantecl arrows. Now Ict us consider a three-level
pumping scheme shown in Fig. 13.8a. Lct us assumc that by onc of the pumping Atoms or ~noleculcstend lo
methods, more than half the number of atoms 01activc spccies havc becn pumped from OCCU~~IOW cnerastatc.
C~~

ground state to pumping statc 3. Thc pulnpcd a t o m in statc 3 dccay non-racliatively to Thcrcforcl Lllc~o~~llationoft~lc
-8 ground statc (lowcst encrgystatc)
upper lasing state 2. This decay is vcry fast, (lifc time is typieillly of the order to 10 s). ishigh.
The upper lasing state 2 is generally a metastable state i.c. tbe lire time of this statc
-
( lo5 s) is much higher than the pumping state (or the excited state). Therclore, we
have a situation of population inversion bctwccn lasing states 2 and 1 and hence lasing
may take place. You may notc that in this pumping schcmc, thc ground statcS(0)and thc
lower lasing slate (1) are the samc state. This fcatwe of the pumping schenle proves too
demanding for the pumping proccss bccausc in norinal circumstances, the ground state
Lasen P, thew Applications

l r

Fig.13.8: Three level pumping schemes, (a) the ground slnte (0) nnd lower lasing stale (1)
are the snme, (h) pumping sfnte (3) nnd upper lnsing sitate (2) are the same. (c) Four
level pumping scheme;

is highly populated. And, as you can appreciate, an ideal lower lasing state (1) should be
empty or very thinly populated. How to get rid of this problem?
According to the uncertainty
- -
arinciule, about which YOU will This problem can be taken care of if the pumping scheme is as shown in Fig. 13.8 b. As
stud3 in the PHE-11 course on you can sec, the atoms in the lower lasing state undergo non-radiative transition to the
g enera
P h ~ i c s an ground state (0). Since this transition is very fast (- logs) ,the lower lasing level is empty
with longer life time will have
narrow frequency band. for all practical purposes. You may, however, note that the same energy stale acts as
pumping state (3) and the upper lasing state (2). This stale or affairs has its own
shortcoming. If the pumping state has to act as upper lasing state, it must have a longer
lifc time (metastable state) which implies that it must have very narrow frequency width.
On the other hand, for proper ulilisation of pumping energy, this state must have a wide
frequency width so that more and more atoms get accomodated there. So, you see, il is a
kind of conflicting requirements put on a single energy slates.

The pumping scheme free from the shortcomings mentioned above with reference to
three-level pumping scheme is what we call four-level pumping scheme shown in Fig.
13.8~.In this case, the pumping stale (3) and the upper state (2) are seperate; atoms in
the pumping state undergo non-radiative transition to the upper lasing state. The four
level pumping scheme, however, has some limitations. Substantial energy is lost during
non-radiative transitions between pumping state (3) and the upper lasing state (2) and
between the lower lasing state (1)and the ground stale (0).

You may now ask: Which pumping scheme is better and preferred? Each pumping
. scheme has its own advantages and disadvantages. The choice of the pumping schemc in
designing a laser depends upon the active media, the kind of use we want to put the laser
light to, elc. We will discuss these aspects in the following sections. You may now like
to answer an SAQ

SAQ 2
Spertd
If laser action occurs by the transition from an excited state to the ground state and it
2 ntirt
produces light of 693nm wavelength, what is the energy of the excited state. Take the I
energy of the ground state to be zero. 1
I

13.3.3 Feedback Mechanism: Optical Resonant Cavity

I
i
On the basis of the discussion in the previous sections, you now know that when a state 1
of population inversion exists in an active medium, a light beam of particular frequency fI
passing through it would get amplified. It happens because in such a situation,
stimulated emission dominates spontaneous emission. This is the basic principle of i
optical amplifier. But a laser is much more than a simple optical amplifier. The laser,
which produces a highly coherent beam of light, docs not include a coherent light beam
to initiate stimulated emission. Instead, it is the spontaneously emitted photon from Physics of Lasers
upper lasing state which stimulates the emission of new photons. Each spontaneous
photon can initiate many other stimulated transitions which, in turn, may cause light
amplification. Well, in this way, we do get atnplification of light by stimulated emission.
~ u thow
, is coherence of this amplified light ascertained'? In other words, how can wc
ensure that the laser light has a very narrow band width (monochromaticity) and a high
degree of phase correlation? As such, the amplified light from laser is not cohcrent. It is
because the spontaneous photolls are indcpcndcnt of each other and travel in different
directions. Therefore, the correspondillg stinlulated photons will also travcl in diffcrcnt
directions.

Can you suggest as to what should we do for obtaining a highly coherent laser beam'?
For obtaining a coherent light beam, we need to havc a lncchanism by which a colldition
is created such that sponlancous emission only in certain selected dircction can dcvelop
stumulated emission. This tnechanism is known as fccdback ~ncchanism.The
spontaneous photons emitted in othcr directions leave thc activc medium without
initiating much stimulated emission.

Now, you may ask; how do we actually achieve this favourable condition for
spontaneously emitted photons in some preferred direction to furthcr sti~nulate

Fig.13.9: Optlcnl resonntor consisting of two nilrrors M I and M2; M I is totnlly reflecting
whereas M2 is semltronspnrent; tile nxis of the nlirrors is ~ l i g n e dwit11 tl~ntof the active
mrrterlal.

emission? Well, this is accomplished by means of an optical resonator-an essential

component of a laser. Let us understand how an optical resonator works.

Optical cavity resonator can have nlally conligurations. Thc schcmalic arrangcmcnl of a
simple resonator is shown in Fig. 13.9. It consists of a pair of planc mirrors, M I and M2,
set on an optic axis which defincs the dircction of the lascr bcarn. The activc material is
placed in betwccn these mirrors. The photons enlittcd spo1lta11col1sly along theAA
direction or sufficiently close to it travcl a relativcly longcr distance within thc active
material, It is so because photons travelling al&g AA will be reflected back and forth
by the mirrors MI and Mz, You tnay notice that the direction of travel of these photons is
quite fixcd. Now, as a result of spcnding morc timc in the activc material, these
spontaneous photons will interact with more ancl more atoms in upper lasing level. Thus,
the stimulated emission will add iclentical photons in the samc direction, providing an
ever-increasing population of coherent photons that bounce back and forth betwccn the You may rccall tliat thc spatial
col~e~~cnccis a measure of the
mirrors. On the other hand, spontaneous photons and thc corresponding stimulated uniformity oithe phasc across the
emission in other directions will traverse rclatively shorter distances (and hence spend optical wavefront. And Lhc
lesser time) in the activc meclium. Hence thcy will sooll dic out. Thus the optical temporal coherence is a measure
of the nionochromaticity of thc
resonant cavity provides the desirecl selectivity of propagation clirection and tllcreby light.
ensures the spatial coherence of the lascr bcarn.

Now, what about monochromaticity of the lascr light? Well, the laser light is highly
-
monochromatic due to very nature of its origin thc stimulatccl crnission. It is so bccausc
the spontaneously emitted photons whosc frcquency do not match with the frcquency
difference betwcen lasing Icvels will not give rise to stimulated cmission. Thus, the band
1,nsersnnd ihcEr Applicnlicms of wavclengtlis cmitted during sponlancous emission is narrowed down. The
monochromaticity of the laser light can further be enhanced by the optical resonant
cavity. Suppose there are more than one upper lasing levels in a particular active
medium. In that case, the laser output will consist radiations of more than one
frequency. Now, if the ~iiirrorsof the resonant cavity are such that their reflectivity is a
function of frequency, the radiations due to undesired lasing between levels will be
damped out. l'lierefore, resonant cavity is the most vital component of the laser to
obtain highly coherent light beam as output.
In this section, you learnt basic constituents of a laser. Since the invention of ruby laser
by Maiman in 1960, the research and developme~~t in this field has produced a variety of
lasers. It is not possible to discuss all of them in detail here. However, we will discuss
some of them now.

13.4 ES OF LASERS
As such, lasers can be classified in a variety of ways. One of these is in terms of their
active media. As mentioned earlier, materials in all the three states of matter, namely,
solid, liquid and gas, have been used as active mediilnl to produce laser beam. Further,
lascrs have also been colistructed using semi- conductors and plasma as active medium.
In the following, let us know about sonie of them with particular reference to the
physical properties of the activc medium and the pumping mcthods employed.

13.4.1 Solid State Lasers

These lascrs use at1 active material which is essentially an insulator doped with ions of
ilnpurity in the host structure. These lasers invariably use optical pumping to obtain the
condition of population inversion. The sources for optical pu~ilpingmay be discharge
flaslitubes, contiuuously operating lamps or even an auxiliary lascr. Tlic active centres in
these lasers aretransition element ions doped in thc dielectic crystal. The host material
for these active centres are generally oxicle crystals. The most popular type of solid-state

Pumping sourcc

lasers are the ruby laser and Nd:YAG (neodymium: yltrium, aluminiuni, garnet) laser.
3 -k
Ruby isA1203crystal (corundum) doped with triply ionized chromium atom (Cr ).
You have learnt the functioning of this laser in section 13.2.

In solid-state lasers, the optical pumping is done by placing the active material (in the
for111of rod) at one focus and the pumping source (in the shape of a right cylinder) at
another focus of an elliptical reflector as shown in Fig, 13.10a. The advantage of such an
arrangement is that any light leaving one focus of the ellipse will pass through the other
focus aftcr reflection froni the silvcrcd surface of the pump cavity. All of the pump
radiation, therefore, is ~naxinlalIyfocussed on the active material, as shown in Fig. 13.10b.
 Physics or Lasers
The Nd: VAG Laser
This laser, unlike ruby laser, employs foul-level pumping scheme. The energy levels of
the neodymium (the active material) is shown in Fig. 13.11. In order to keep the
discussion simple, we have not used the spectroscopic notations for different energy
levels in Fig. 13.11. Rather, energy lcvels have been marked E,, El, and so on. The
optical p m p i n g raises the Nd atoms in the ground state (E,) to a few excited states (E,,
E,). The energy levels marked E4 and El are the lasing levels. The pumped atoms in the
excited states undergo non-radiative transition to the upper lasing level, E4. Out of the
group of lower lasing levels, the major portion of energy is emitted in the transition

Fig. 13.11: Enerpy level diugrnm of Nd (neodymium) ion in Nd: YAC.

E4 + El. The Nd: YAG laser is an example of four-level laser.

This solid-state laser has two advantages: (a) it has a low excitation thresl~oldand (b)
has a high thermal conductivity. Due to high thermal conductivity, it can be used for
generating lighl pulses at a high repetition rate or for conti~~uous operation.

13.4.2 Liquid Lasers

In this class of lasers, as the name indicates, the active media are either the liquid
solutions of organic dyes or specially prepared liquids doped with rare-earth ions viz
~ d " . However, majority of liquid lasers use a solution of au organic dye as active
medium and hence are also called organic dye lasers. Solvents used for the purpose are
water, methanol, benzen, aceton etc. The liquid lasers are optically pumped. The energy
states taking part in thc lasing transition are the different vibrational energy states of
different electronic energy states of the dye molecule. Since you may not be familiar with
the vibrational energy states of molecules, wc do not discuss the pumping scheme of this
class of lasers.

In contrast to solids, liquid clo not crack or shatter and can be made in sizes almost
unlimited. Another advantage of liquid lasers is due to [heir (that of organic dyes) wide
obsorption bands in the visible and near ullravoilet portion of the electromagnctic
spectrum. Therefore, liquid lasers are an ideal candidate for tunable laser i.e. the
frequency and hencc energy of [he outpul Iascr beam can be sclected with ease.
Lasers and their Applications 13.4.3 Gas Lasers
The attractive feature of gas lasers in which rarified gases are the active media, is that
they can be designed to produce output beams over a wide range of wavelengths. Except .
for the cesium- vapour laser, gas lasers are pumped electrically rather than optically. +
Can you say why? It is because the condition for amplification by stimulated emission, at
one wavelength or another, are satisfied by an electrical discharge through almost any
gas. Another reason for employing electrical pumping for gas lasers is that, unlike solids
and liquids, the absorption lines of active centres in gaseous media exhibit substantially
narrow widths. Therefore, optical pumpipg would prove very inefficient for gas lasers
because the pump radiation obtained from optical sources d o not have line spectrum of
very narrow lines. In other words, the energy of optical pump radiation has a
'
considerable spread in its value and since the gaseous active media will absorb radiation
of almost single energy, most of the pump energy will go waste. Hence, opticaI pumping
is not used for gas lasers. Further, gas tasers have advantage over solid state and liquid
lasers in that they are free from local irregularities. Most gaseous systems have a high
degree of optical perfection simply because the density of the gas is uniform.

We will now briefly describe a typical gas laser-the Helium-Neon gas laser. This was the
first gas laser operated successfully.

The Helium-Neon Laser

In the helium-neon laser, a mixture of helium (He) and neon (Ne) gases is used as active
medium. Lasing levels are provided by the exited states of the N e atoms, whereas the
H e atoms play an i~nporlantrole in pumping Ne atoms to the excited states. The He-Nc
Totally Partially
reflecting
mirror

He-Ne mixture
mirror
I

J-
transparent

-
Laser beam

AnA2+
AAAl+

--
-
-\Electrodes /"
Flg.13.12: The IIe-Ne h s e r

Non-radiative
transition

Flg.13.13: Energy level diagram or helium-neon laser. Arrnws (a)indicate thc lasing transition
 laser is shown schematically in Fig. 13.12. The puniping is done by a stationaryglow
discharge iired by a direct current. When thc potential difference between the anode
and cathode is about 1000V, a glow discharge is initiated in tlie working capillary
I
(containing He-Ne mixture) of a few milliicter diameter.

NOW, let us look at the pumping scheme of the He-Nc lascr. Refer to Fig. 13.13 which '
shows the energy level diagram of Hc-Ne laser. When frce clcctrons produced during
the gas discharge pass through the Me-Nc mixture, they collide with the He and Ne
atoms and excite them by impact energy transfer. Such absorptive transitions due to
electron impacts are shown by dashed arrows in Fig. 13.13. These excited states of He
( i. e. El' and E,' ) are metastable. Thus, He-atoms excitcd to these states stay there for
a long time before losing energy by collision. The interesting feature of the Hc-Ne
energy diagram is that the excited states oC Ne, namely E3 and EShave approximately
same energy as that of E l ' and E,' oC He atom. Therefore, wlien Hc-atoms in El1and E,'
collide with Ne-atoms in ground state, thc He-atoms transfer their cncrgy to Ne-atoms
and raise them to the states E3and E5. Such an cxchange of encrgy is known as resonant
collision energy transfer. Due to this energy transfer, Hc-atoms fall back to ground
state. As a result, tlie excited statcs E3 and E5 of Ne-atoms liavc a sizable population
which is much more than that of states E2 and E4. Thus a condition of population
inversion is achieved between tlic upper lasing levels E5 (or E3) and lower lasing
levels E4(E2). In such a situation, any spontaneously emitted photon can trigger laser
action betwccn tliesc lcvels. The Nc atoms then drop clown Crom the lower lasing levels
E2 and E4, to the levcl El through spontaneous cmission.

The wavclengLh of transition bctwccn lcvels E5 + E4,E5 -, E2, E3 -,E2 are 3.39pn1,
0.63pm and 1.55pm respectively. As you can easily make out, radiations corresponding
to 3.39pm and 1.55pm fa11 in tlic infrarccl rcgion of tlic clcctromagnctic spectrum. The
radiation corresponding to 0.63,~im,howcver, gives thc rcd liglit - charactcristic light oC
He-Ne laser. Proper seleclion of diCCcrcnt frequcncics may bc niade by choosing end
mirrors of the rcsonant cavity wliicli lias high reflectivity ovcr only Llic desired
wavelength rangc.

Before we concludc our cliscussion about typcs oC lascrs, you must know that apart Crom
those mentioned abovc, there are many other typcs oC gas lasers. Wc may particularly
mention molecular 1:rsers (carbon Jioxicle lascr), cl~emicallasers, plasma lasers,
semiconductor lasers, etc. Wc liavc not discusscrl tliese here since for an understanding
of their pumping schemcs, you need to know molecular spcctroscopy, se~niconductor
physics etc. It is, howcver, worth mcnlioning hcre that the csscntial principles, in so far
as laser action is conccr~iecl,rcmain tlie samc in all types of lasers.

The importance of lasers in contemporary physics lies in their so many and so varied
applications. To give you a gli~nscof these we now discuss some of the important
applications of lasers.

Applications o l any device essentially stern from its unique fcatures. What are thc
unique Cealurcs of a lascr? First and the formost, laser light is highly cohcrcnt. This
characteristic has cnablcd us to use lasers for data transmission and processing,
precision measurements, photography (holography), etc. Secondly, lascr light lias
unprecedented brightness (cncrgy pcr unit arca). Brightness of lascr light, a by -
product of ils coherence, can be many orders of magnitude greatcr than the brightcsl oC
the light produced by convenlional sources. Furthcr, laser beanis arc highly directional.
Lasers and their Applications In a typical laser, this directionality is limited only by the diffraction of the emerging
beam by the laser aperture ilsclf. The brightness and directionality of laser beam are
exploited to produce targetted effects in materials. These applications include material
working (such as heat treatment, welding, cutting, hole burning etc.), isotope seperation,
medical diagnostics, etc. In the following, you will learn some of these applications of
lasers.

13.5.1 Communication
You may be aware that in a typical c:ommunication system, information is communicated
(between the transmitter and the receiver) through electromagnetic waves, which are
known as carrier wave. These are rnodulated by the desired signal (the oscillations of
the information proper). Normally the signal frequency is appreciably lowcr than the
frcquency of the carrier wave. Moreover, higher tlie carrier frequency, wider frequency
range it can modulate. In other words, the capacity of a communication channel is
proportional to the frequency of the carrier wave. The frequency in the centre of the
visible spectrum is about 100,000 times greater than the frequency of 6 cm waves used in
microwave-radio relay systems. Consequently, the theoretical information capacity of a
typical light wave is about 100,000 times greater than that of a typical microwave.

Long distance communication syste~lisrely on the principle of multiplexing-the

simultaneous transmission of many different messages (information) over the same
pathway. The ordinary human voice (conversation) requires a frequency band from 200
to 4000 Hz, a band 3800 Hz wide. A telephone call, therefore, can be transmitted on any
band that is 3800 Hz wide. It call be carried by a coaxial cable in the frcquency band
between 1,000,200 and 1,004,000 Hz, in the MHz range, or a He-Ne laser beam (638.8
nm, 4.738 x 1 0 " ~ ~in) the frequency range bctwecn 473,800,000,000,200 and
473,800,000,004,000 Hz. You may note here that the telephone message requires about
0.4 percent of the available co-axial carrier frequency. And, rhc same telephone message
requires less than one-billiontli of 1 percent of the available laser-beam frequency. Thus,
the information carrying capacity could be enhanced tremendously if laser beams are
employed as carriers. So, wait for sotne more time till laser trunk lines come into use in a
big way and you may be saved from listening "11 lhc lbies itt this rorlle are busy. Please
dial ajkrsotne time"!!

Now you may ask: Light, as such, was available to us from time immemorial, then why is
it that we are using (or planning to usc!) it for communication purposes now? Is it
related to the discovery of a laser in any way? Yes, it is. As we mcntioned earlier, light
from conventional sources may not be pure (that is, it may be non-monochromatic) and
hence cannot be used for transmitting signals. Radio wavcs from an electromagnetic
oscillator are confined to fairly narrow region of electromaglletic spectrum (i.e. it has a
well defined frequency). These radio waves are, therefore, free from "noise"
(considerabte spread in frequcncy values) and hence can be used for carrying a signal.
In contrast, all conventional light sources are esscntially'noise' generators i.e. they
simultaneously emit electromagnetic radiations of different frequencies and hence are
not suitable as carrier waves. With the invention of lasers, however, the situation
changed. As you know, the light produced by lasers is highly monochromatic and
coherent which enable them to act as carrier waves in the communication systems.

Now, what is the medium through which laser beam travels while it carries information'?
The signal carrying laser beams can be transmitted througll free (unguided) space, and
by light guides. Light guides in tlie form optical fibres have found wide use in optical
communication. You will learn about the details of fibre optics in Unit 15 of this course.
 Physics of Lmsem

The discovery of a laser gave birth L O an entircly new branch of optics known as
nonlinear optics. Even at ordinary laser intensities, transparent materials (which are
nonconductors), respond in an unusual manner. You niay recall, for example,
that the dielectric constant of malerial dcpends on its nature as well as on the frequency
of thc light through it. But, it has bcen observed that when the ordinary light
beam is replaced by a lascr beam, the clielectric constant also dcpends on the
instantaneous magnitude of the electric ficlti component of the laser bcam. In other
words, the response of a ~~iatcrial to high clcctric fields is non-linear. It is just one of
the several non linear cffccts that a laser beam produccs whcn it interacts with
matter. In fact, almost all tlie laws of optics are modifiecl to sornc cxtent at high
intensities produced by pulscd lascrs.

Another important applicalion of lasers in basic rcscarcli and dcvclopment ii in the field
of thermonuclear fusion. As you know, for cffectivc fusion to take placc, extreniely high
temperature ( - 8
10 K) must be niaintaincd. In principlc, such high Lcniperatures can
be achieved by powerful laser bcams.

Yet another remarkable application of lascrs is in isotope separation. You may recall
. that one of the basic requirements of hanicssing nuclcar cncrgy from uranium is to have
2-3% of uraniuni isotopc ( 2 3 5 ~in) the fucl. 111nalural arimium, however, the
238
percentage of 3 3 5 is~ only 0.7. ( ~ h major
c conrtitucnt of natural uranium is u.)
235
Therefore, to have fucl clirichetl in U, we call usc laser bcams. Each of these
isotopes absorbs radiation oT different Srcqucncy. So when a lascr beam of parlicular
frequency is passcd through tlic mixtare of "U and *'*u , tlic atoms of2"u absorb the
radiation and get excited. The cxcitcd atoms of thc desircd isotope arc further excited
so that they get ionized. Once ioniscd, il can easily bc separated by applying a dc electric
field. This is one of the several mcthocls of using laser beam for isotope scperation.

13.5.3 Medicine
A properly focussed laser beam, is an excellent tool for surgcry. Thc advantage of lascr
surgery is that it is bloodless sincc the bcam not only cuts, il also "welds" blood vcssels. It
has a high sterility as no contact oC tissucs with surgical tools takes place. Also, the laser
surgery is painless and operations arc very fast. In fact there is not enough time for the
patient to respond to thc incision and sensc pain. Laser beams are being widely used lor
performing eye and stone surgcry.

A word of caution. As such, any light can causc damage. Laser, in parlicular, can be
highly damaging because it has spatial coherence, i.e., it can be focussed down to a
high power densities. The ~nnxirnurnperrnissilrle exposure (MPE) is 0.0005 mJ cm".
314
For exposure time from 2 x 10- 's to 10 s, the limit is MPE = 1.8t mJ cm- '.
13.5.4 Industry
Invenlion of lasers has made it possible to develop sophisticatcd 1001s of malcrial
working (such as drilling, welding, etc) processes used in industry. With appropriate
choice of lasers, a laser beam can be focusscd inlo a light spot of diameter 10-100pm!
i
Can you imagine this dimension-it will be slnaller than thc dot you mark will1 your pen
I
on a piece of paper! Due lo this sharp focussing, a very high concentration of energy is
j available within a small spot on 111e surface of thc material. For example, when a 1kW
I
output of a continuous wave (cw) lascr is focusscd a spot of 100,~ m diameter, tlie
I
Lasers and thelr Applications resultant irradiance (intensity) will be 10 W cm . This makes laser an effective tool for
drilling very fine hole through the materials.

Laser cutting, as compared to other cutting processes, offers several advantages e.g.
possibility of fine and precise cuts, minimal amount of mechanical distortion and
thermal damage introduced in the material being cut, chemical purity of the cutting
process, etc. Laser cutting is extensively used in industry. For example, in high-tech
garment factories, C02laser capable of lOOW of continuous output is used for cutting
cloth. The laser cuts l m cloth in a second! And, laser cutting is also employed in the
fabrication of spacecraft to cut the sheets of titanium, steel and aluminium. In cutting
and most of the industrial applications, carbon-dioxide (COJ laser is used,

13.5.5 Environmental Measurements

You may be aware of the conventional technique of determining the concentration of
various atmospheric pollutants such as gases (carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, oxides
of nitrogen, etc) and a variety of material particles (dust, smoke, flyash etc). In this
method, the nature and concentration of pollutants is determined by chemical analysis.
The major deficiency of this method is that it does not provide real-time data. The
technique developed with lasers for measuring the concentration of pollutants is
essentially the 'remote-sensing' technique which does not require sample to be analysed
in laboratory. Since it provides information about the change in atmospheric
composition with time, i,t can serve well for monitoring the environmental pollution.

For determination of pollutants in the form of material particles, the technique is

based on the scattering of light. The technique is known as LIDAR (light detection
andranging) and its operations are similar to those of a radar. In brief, a pulsed
laser is passed through the location under investigation and the back scattered light
in detected by a photodetector. The time taken by the back scattered light to be
detected gives information about the concentration of pollutant matter.

For the determination of gaseous pollutants, the basic principle involved is the,
absorption of tight by the gaseous atoms or molecules. As different gas absorbs at
different wavelengths, passing laser beams of different wavelengths provides information
about the gaseous constituents of the environment.

13.5.6 Photography: Holography

The conventional photographic process, as you know, consists of recording an
illuminated three-dimensional object or scene as a two-dimensional image on a
photosensitive surface. The light reflected from the object is focussed on the photo
sensitive surface by some kind of image forming device, which can be a complex series of
lenses or simply a pin-hole in an opaque screen.

The coherent nature of the laser beam has brought aboul a qualitativelk new method of
photography without lens system, This new method, called holography, allows
three-dimensional (tbat is, complete), pictures of a given object or a scene to be taken.
Holography (also known as photography by wave-front reconstruction) does not, as
such, record an image of the object being photographed; rather, it records the reflected
light waves themselves. The photographic record so obtained is called hologram. The
hologram bears no resemblence to the original object. It, however, contains - in a kind of
optical code - all the information about the object that would be contained in an
'
ordinary photograph. In addition, the hologram also contains information about the
 object that cannot be recorded by any other photographic process. Holography is the
subject matter of the next unit (i.e. Unit 14).

According to the Bohr's theory, if an atom makes a transition from an excited

state (of energy Ei) to a state of lower energy Ef, emission of electromagnetic
radiation (photons) take place. The energy of the emitted photon is
hv = Ei - El

When electromagnelic radiation interacts with matter, three type oE processes

may occur
(i) Spontaneous Emission
(ii) Absorption
(iii)Stimulated Emission

Light emitted by ordinary sources is due to spoi~taneousemission,

The existence of stimulated emission of radiation was predicted by Einstein on
the basis of thermodynamic considerations. If the population oE [he energy
level El be Nl and that oE E2 be N2 (El c E2), then, the ratio of the population
, of the two states is given as

where, u (v) is energy density of radiation at frequency v and B1,, B21.andAZ1

are Einstein co-efficients.

Einstein coefficients are related to each other through the relations

Einstein's relation clearly indicates that stimulated emission may dominate

spontaneous emission provided thecondition of population inversion exists.
And in a atomic system where a condition of population inversion exists, one
may have amplification of light, that is, laser light.
Einstein's prediction was first realised in the optical frequency range by
Maiman wlio developed a lascr using a ruby rod.
There are three prerequisits for laser operation:
(i) Active medium
(i) Pumping
(iii)Optical resonant: cavity

The change in intensity of a light beam passing through an active medium is

given by
h e r s and their Appllcntions where rz is refractive index
B is Einstein's coefficient.
This relation clearly indicates that for enhancement in the intensity of the light
beam as it traverses the active medium, N2> N1,i.e. a condition of popula-
tion inversion must exist.

There are variety of methods for pumping, such as, optical pumping, electronic
discharge, inelastic atomic collisions etc, The choice of pumping process
mainly depends upon the nature of the active medium.
@ There are two types of pumping schemes:three level and four-level.
Optical resonant cavity helps in obtaining sustained laser light.

13.7 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1. Assume that an atom has two energy levels seperated by an energy corresponding
14
to a frequency 4.7 x 10 Hz, as in the He-Ne laser. Let us assume that all the
atoms are located in one or the other of these two states. Calculate the fraction of
atoms in the upper state at room temperature T = 300K.
2. A pulsed laser used for welding produces 100 W of power during 10 m. Calculate
the energy delivered to the weld.

SAQs
I

1. The ratio of the number of spontaneous to stimulated einission is given as

The absolute temperature of an ordinary source of light has been given as

T= 103~

Let us take the wavelength of light,A = 6000 A. Hence the corresponding

frequency,

Planck's constant h = 6.6 x 10- 34 Js

Boltzmann constant k, = 1.38 X 10- 23 JK-

Hence,

A,,
B,, u (v) =
6 . 6 1~ 0 ' ~ ( J . r ) ~ 0 . 5x 1 0 " ( s - l l
1.38 x lo-' ( J K - ' ) x lo3( K )
I -l
 Physics of Lasers

Thus, for ordinary sources of light, the number of spontaneous emission is much,
much greater than the number of stimulated emission.

2. Let the energy of the excited state (upper lasing state) be E2 and that of the ground
state (lower lasing state) be El. The laser light is due to the atomic transitions from
E2 to El. Thus, the frequency of the laser light will be

Now, as per the given problem,

E2 = ? E l = 0 and A = 693nm = 693 x 10- 9m

Hence,

1. Let the two energy levcls bc El and E2 (such that El < E2) and their population be
Nl and N2respectively. According to thc Boltzma~lndistribution

.We know that

(E, - El) = hv

= 31,114 X ~o-~OJ

and

k , T = 1.38 x 10-"(J/K) x 300(K)

Lasers and their Appiications
Hence,

2. Power = Energy per unit time

=Energy
Time
Given, Power = 100W = 100 ( J/s)
Time = 10ms = 10 x 10- ( s )
.'. Energy = Power x Time

= IOO(J/S) x 10 x I O - ~ ( S )
= 1J.
.'. Energy delivered to the weld is 1 joule.