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Ruby Laser

The ruby laser was the first working laser built in 1960 using a ruby crystal as the lasing medium. [1] It emits deep red light at a wavelength of 694.3 nm. [2] The ruby laser consists of a ruby crystal doped with chromium ions as the laser medium, a xenon flash lamp as the pump source, and an optical resonator with mirrors on each end. [3]

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991 views

Ruby Laser

The ruby laser was the first working laser built in 1960 using a ruby crystal as the lasing medium. [1] It emits deep red light at a wavelength of 694.3 nm. [2] The ruby laser consists of a ruby crystal doped with chromium ions as the laser medium, a xenon flash lamp as the pump source, and an optical resonator with mirrors on each end. [3]

Uploaded by

Osaja Ali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RUBY LASER​:

Ruby laser definition​:


The first working laser was built in 1960 by using ruby crystal and so called ruby raser. Ruby is a
crystal of Al2O3 with various types of impurities. It emits deep red light of wavelength 694.3 nm.

Working principle​:
In lasers, photons are interacted in three ways with the atoms:
1. Absorption of radiation​:
Absorption of radiation is the process by which electrons in the ground state absorbs
energy from photons to jump into the higher energy level.
2. Spontaneous emission​:
Spontaneous emission is the process by which electrons in the excited state return to
the ground state by emitting photons.
3. Stimulated emission​:
Stimulated emission is the process by which incident photon interacts with the excited
electron and forces it to return to the ground state.
Construction​:
A ruby laser consists of three important elements: laser medium, the pump source, and the
optical resonator.

● Laser medium or gain medium in ruby laser​:


In a ruby laser, a single crystal of ruby in the form of cylinder acts as a laser medium.
The laser medium in the ruby laser is made of the rod of Al2O3 which is doped with
small amounts of chromium ions (Cr3+).
● Pump source or in ruby laser​:
The pump source is the element of a ruby laser system that provides energy to the
laser medium.
In order to achieve population inversion, we need to supply energy to the laser
medium.
● Optical resonator​:
The cylindrical ruby rod is placed between two mirrors. The optical coating is
applied to both the mirrors. The process of silvering will occur. Each mirror is
coated or silvered differently.
Working​:
Ruby is a three energy level laser system. When the light is absorbed the photons
of wavelength 5500 Å from xenon flash lamp, some of the Cr3+ at the ground
level E1 moves to the higher level of E3(excited stage) . At this stage of energy
they are unstable and losing a part of energy and they will fall to the energy level
of E2(metastable stage) then the number of ions of Cr3+ increases in the E2 and in
the ground state of E2 decrease due to pumping by flash lamp and soon the
population inversion will achieve between E2 and E1. After some period, the
electrons in the metastable state E2 falls into the lower energy state E1 by
releasing energy in the form of photons. When the emitted photon interacts with
the electron in the metastable state, it forcefully makes that electron fall into the
ground state E1. As a result, two photons are emitted.This is called spontaneous
emission of radiation.When these emitted photons again interacted with the
metastable state electrons, then 4 photons are produced. Because of this
continuous interaction with the electrons, millions of photons are produced. After
few seconds the red light will emitted with the wavelength of 694.3 nm called
laser.
Properties of laser​:
● It produces pulses of red visible light at a wavelength of 694.3 nm. The
active laser medium, synthetic ruby is energized by optical pumping
through a xenon flashtube.
● When the retina is exposed to direct or scattered ruby laser radiation, it has
the potential to cause permanent damage to the eyes.
​Laser is different from ordinary light:
​Ordinary light is divergent and incoherent whereas laser light is highly
directional and coherent. Ordinary light is a mixture of electromagnetic waves having
different wavelengths. Laser light, on the hand, is monochromatic. This is the main
difference between ordinary light and laser light.
References​:
Ruby Laser: ​The First Laser System – Universal Medical
Working of ruby laser– ​Winner Science
Ruby Laser construction - ​Eclipse
Diagrams/ Reason - ​Google

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