Dr.

Rajesh Kumar
Associate Professor of Physics
University School of Basic and Applied Sciences
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi
Syllabus
 What is Laser?
A laser produces a very narrow
beam of light that is useful in many
technologies and instruments. The
letters in the word laser stand
for Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
• ight
• mplification of
• timulated
• mission of
• adiation
 Physics of the Laser
• The theoretical basis for the development of laser was provided by Albert
Einstein in 1917.

• In 1954, the prediction of Einstein was put to practical use by C.H.

Townes and his co-workers.

• In 1960, the first laser device was developed by T.H. Maiman. It is often
called as Ruby laser.

• Wave length of Ruby Laser: 694.3 nm.

• Wave length of Helium-Neon Laser: 632.8 nm.
• Wave length of Semiconductor: 850–1500 nm, depending on material

• With the advancement of technology, laser has revolt the world of

Industry, Medicine and Science & Technology.
 Physics of the Laser
• We know that light from a source comes as the
sum total of radiation by billions and billions of
atoms or molecules in the source.

• Now, the question is that to what extant may the

radiation from different atoms of a given source
be related in phase, in direction of emission and
in polarization, i.e., the coherence of given
source

• In recent years, some sources are developed

which are highly coherent. These coherent
sources called lasers.
 Normal Light vs. Laser Light

1. Many wavelengths 1. Monochromatic

2. Multidirectional 2. Directional
3. Incoherent 3. Coherent
 WHY NEED LASER?

Laser is useful and very efficient method in various fields

 Experiments: there are many experiment where the interference between
two light sources is to be performed ,which is impossible with natural
source of light.

 Medical: many vital operations on human body are being performed by

using lasers. It is also used in detecting cancer in the human body.

 Communication: laser is used as a source in fibre optic communication

system

 Industry: many manufacturing process which were not possible to

perform with traditional methods were now easily be done using lasers.
 The most important features of Laser are:
1. Highly degree of coherence
2. High directionality
3. Extraordinary monochromacity
4. High intensity
LASER BEAM CHARACTERISTICS
 The most important features of Laser are:
LASER BEAM CHARACTERISTICS

3. Divergence: - The light from conventional source spread out in the

form of spherical wave fronts. Hence they are highly divergent. The
divergence or angular spread of the laser beam is extremely small.

4.Monochromacity:-Light from a laser beam is nearly monochromatic

while light from an ordinary source is never monochromatic. The light from
normal monochromatic source spreads over a wavelength range of the
order of 100Å to 1000Å. On the other hand, In case of laser, the spread is
of the order of a few Å only.

Coherence: - The laser beam is completely coherent. It is possible to

observe interference effect from two independent laser beams.
 Basic concepts for a laser

• Absorption

• Spontaneous Emission

• Stimulated Emission

• Population inversion
 Physics of the Laser
ABSORPTION OF RADIATION
• We know that light is absorbed or emitted by particle during their transition from one energy level
to another.

• When a incident photon having energy hν=E2- E1 absorbed by the atom in lower energy state
E1, then it will jump to the excited state E2, this transition is known as stimulated emission or
Induced absorption or simply absorption.
OR
• When an atom in ground state is being strike by photon of suitable energy the atom
goes to their excited state. This is called induced absorption.
 Emission of radiation
• Atoms which are in the excited state always try to come down to the ground state by
emitting the extra energy in form of emission of radiation. Atom can emit radiation
in two ways :
• Spontaneous emission
• Stimulated emission
• Spontaneous emission of radiation: - Consider fig.2 where the atom initially is in the
excited state E2. An atom in excited state is unstable due to its tendency to restore
its lower energy state configuration so it does not stay in excited state for longer
time (more than 10-8sec) but return to lower energy state by releasing energy
hν=E2-E1 in the form of radiation, this transmission is known as Spontaneous
emission of radiation.

Fig.2 Spontaneous emission of radiation process

 Stimulated Emission
The stimulated photons have unique properties:

– In phase with the incident photon

– Same wavelength as the incident photon

– Travel in same direction as incident photon

2. Stimulated emission of radiation : -There is another mechanism by which an atom returns back to
lower energy state by releasing radiation.

• Fig.3 Stimulated emission process

• In this mechanism, a incident photon of energy hν=E2-E1 induced the excited atom to make a downword transition
with the release of photon of same frequency here, the interaction of incident photon with excited atom triggers
the excited atom to jump to the lower energy state by giving up a photon.

• Hence for one incident photon we get another photon of same frequency in the same phase, traveling in the same
direction and are in the same state of polarization. Such transition is called stimulated emission.
OR
• When an atom in metastable state emit a photon due to its interaction with a photon incident on it, the process is
called stimulated emission. The emitted photon has the same energy , phase and direction as the incident photon.
 Characteristics of simulated emission:
1. The process of stimulated emission is controllable from out side .
2. The photon induced in this process propagate in the same direction as that of
simulating photon
3. The induced photon has features identical to that of the inducing photon. It
has the same frequency, phase and plane of polarization as that of the
stimulating photon.
4. Multiplications of Photons: - The outstanding feature of this process is the
multiplication of photons. For one photon interacting with an excited atom,
there are two photons emerging.
• The two photons travelling in the same direction interact with two more excited
atoms and generate two more photons and produce a total of four photons. These
four photons in turn stimulate four excited atoms and generate eight photons and
so on.

5. Light Amplification: - All the light waves generated in the medium are due to one
initial wave and all of the waves are in phase. Thus, the waves are coherent and
interfere constructively.
Fig.3 Multiplication of stimulated photon into an avalanche
a) Coherent Radiation b) Component waveform c) Resulting waveform
of waves of 1, 2 & 3.
net intensity of light will be proportional to the square of the number of atoms
radiating light.
Itotal = N2I
The light emitted through the process of stimulated emission is of very high
intensity and we say light is amplified.
The Principle of the Laser
 The difference between spontaneous and stimulated emission

S.No. Spontaneous Emission Stimulated Emission

1. Emission of light photon takes place Emission of light photon takes place by
immediately during the transition inducement of photon having energy
of atom from higher energy level to equal to emitted photon’s energy.
lower energy level.
2. The emission has broad spectrum, The emission has monochromatic
i.e., many wavelengths. radiation, i.e., single wavelength.
3. Incoherent radiation. Coherent radiation.
4. Less intense. High intense.
5. Less directionality and more High directionality and less angular
angular spread. spread during propagation.
Example: Light from sodium Example: Light from laser source.
 Einstein’s A and B coefficient and Transition Probabilities

 Let us calculate the rate of transition between two energy state 1 and 2 having energie
E1 and E2.

 The probable rate of occurrence of the absorption rate 1 → 2 depends upon the propert
of state 1 and 2.

 This is proportional to the density u(ν) of the radiation of frequency ν incident on atom.
The energy density is defined as radiant energy per unit volume in the frequency
interval ν and ν + dν.
 Therefore, the probable rate of occurrence of absorption transition is given by

P12 = B12 u(ν) ……(1)

Where B12 is proportionality constant and is known as Einstein’s coefficient of absorption
of radiation.
The probability of spontaneous emission 2→ 1 is determined only by the properties of state 2 and 1.
This is independent of energy density u(ν).
The probability of stimulated emission transition 2→1 is proportional to energy density u(ν)
of stimulating radiation and is given by
B21 u(ν)
Where B21 is known as Einstein’s coefficient of stimulated emission of radiation.
The total probability for an atom in state 2 to state 1 is therefore,
P21 =A21 + B21 u(ν) …..(2)
 Relation Between Different Einstein’s Coefficient

Let us consider an assembly of atoms in thermal equilibrium at temperature T with

radiation of frequency ν and ν + dν and energy density u(ν). Let N1 and N2 be the no
of atoms in lower energy state 1 and higher energy state 2 respectively at any
instant.
The number of atoms in state 1 that absorb a photon and rise to state 2 per unit time is
give by
N1 P12 =N1 B12 u(ν) …………(3)

The number of atoms in state 2 that drop to state 1, either by spontaneous emission or
by stimulated emission is given by

N2 P12 = N2[A21 +B21 u(ν)] ………….(4)

Under the condition of equilibrium, the number of atoms absorbing radiation per unit
time is equal to the number of atoms emitting radiation per unit time.
Hence,
N1 P12 = N2 P12

N1 B12 u(ν) = N2[A21 +B21

[N1 B12 – N2 B21]u(ν) = N2 A21

 Relation Between Different Einstein’s Coefficient

increases rapidly with the increasing of energy difference of two stats.

to the cube of frequency. This shows that the probability of spontaneous emission
emission to Einstein’s coefficient of stimulated emission is directly proportional
Equation (10) shows that the ratio of Einstein’s coefficient of spontaneous
Where c is speed of light
Thermodynamically, it was proved by Einstein that the probability of stimulated absorption
is equal to the probability of stimulated emission, i.e.,
B21=B12

According to Boltzmann distribution law, the ratio of N1 and N2 is given by

Where k is Boltzmann constant.

Substituting the value of (N1/N2) from equation (7) in eq. (6), we get

According to plank’s radiation law, the energy density of radiation is given by

Comparing eq. (8) and (9), we get

 Lasers - Population Inversion
Under normal conditions, the higher an energy level is, the less it is populated
by thermal energy. Under some conditions (for example, the presence of an
upper energy level that has a relatively long lifetime), a system can be
constructed so that there are more atoms/molecules in an upper energy level
than is allowed under conditions of normal thermodynamic equilibrium. Such
an arrangement is called a population inversion.

When a population inversion exists, an upper-state system will eventually give off a
photon of the proper wavelength and drop to the ground state. This photon,
however, can stimulate the production of other photons of exactly the same
wavelength because of stimulated emission of radiation. Thus, many photons of the
same wavelength (and phase, and other similar characteristics) can be generated in
a short time. This is light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation,
or LASER—usually seen in lowercase as laser. Lasers typically have a very narrow
wavelength range of emission.
OR
 Population Inversion
 Figure shows the process of population inversion in which N2 >N1. Here we
consider a three level quantum system which has three energy level E1, E2 and E3.
Here E1<E2< E 3 and E2 is a metastable state. Suppose an appropriate energy
from an external source is applied to the system.

 As a result, some atom from lower energy state E1 are excited to higher energy
state E3. Most of the excited atoms undergo spontaneous downward transition to
state E1 while some have transition to state E2.

 We know that the probability of transition from state E2 to state E1 is very low.
Therefore the atoms which go to state E2 stay there for a long duration. In due
course of time, the population of E2 state increases then the population of E1 state.
Thus a state is reached when N2>N1. i.e., population is achieved.
 MAIN COMPONENTS OF LASER

1. Active medium: when active medium is excited , it

achieves population inversion.

2. Energy source: the energy source raise the system to an

excited state.

3. Optical resonator: the optical resonator consists of two

mirrors facing each other . The active medium is enclosed
in this cavity.
The process of achieving population inversion is known as pumping
of atoms. The following methods are commonly used for pumping.

1. Optical pumping (used in Ruby laser)

2. Electrical discharge (used in He-Ne Laser)

3. Direct conversion (used in Semiconductor laser)

4. Chemical reaction (used in CO2 Laser)

Optical pumping: - In optical pumping a light source such as a flash direction
discharge tube is used. This method was first used in ruby laser where a helical
xenon flash lamp is used for pumping and now is adopted in solid state laser.

Electrical discharge: - In Electrical discharge method the electrical filed causes

ionization of the medium and raises it to excited state. A gas is filled in discharge
tube and a potential difference is applied between the cathode and anode, the
electrons emitted from the cathode collides with some of the atoms of the medium
and raises it to higher energy level. This technique is used in gaseous-ion laser.

Inelastic-Elastic collision: - In this method, one type of the atoms are raised to
their excited state by same method, these excited atoms collide in-elastically with
the atoms of other type and raised them to the higher state which creates
population inversion. This method is adopted in Helium-Neon laser.

Direct Conversion: - In semiconductor diode laser (LED), a direct conversion of

electrical energy into light energy takes place.

Chemical conversion: - In chemical laser like CO2 chemical energy from the
chemical reactions is used to create population inversion.
 Coherences (Temporal and Spatial):
The coherence between two sources of light concerns with the
existence of a constant phase relation between them. This is of
the following two types.

1. Temporal 2. Spatial coherence

Spatial coherence: If there exists either zero or constant phase angle

difference between two points on a wave front then
wave is said to have spatial coherence.

Temporal: If there exists either zero or constant phase angle difference

between two light fields measured at two instants at the
same point then wave is said to have temporal coherence.
 The difference between Temporal and Spatial Coherence

S.No. Temporal Coherence Temporal and Spatial Coherence

1. This type of coherence is time This type of coherence is time

dependent. independent.

2. The source becomes purely The source becomes highly intense.

monochromatic.
3. This is called longitudinal This is called as lateral or transverse
coherence coherence.
Based on the mode of operation
(i) Pulsed Laser systems
(ii) Q-switched systems
(iii) Continuous wave Laser systems

Based on the mechanism in which Population Inversion is achieved

(i) Three level lasers

(ii) Four level lasers

Based on state of active medium used

(i) Gas Laser

(ii) Solid state Laser
(iii) Semiconductor Laser
(iv) Tunable dye Laser
 Semiconductor Diode Laser Principle
 Semiconductor lasers are basically PN junction diode. When a p-
type semiconductor (has an excess of holes) is in intimate
contact with n-type semiconductor (has an excess of the
electron), PN junction is formed at the interface.

 When the PN junction is forward biased with an external supply

voltage, electrons from the n- region and hole from the p- region
are forced into the junction.

 These electrons and holes attract each other. When they collide,
they neutralize each other and as a result, emit recombination
radiation.

 The electrons in n-type semiconductors are in the conduction

band (i.e.higher energy) and the hole in p-type semiconductors
are in the valence band (i.e lower energy).

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Semiconductor Laser:

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Characteristics of Solid State Semiconductor laser

S. No TITLE Description
1. Type Solid State Semiconductor laser.
Active The active medium of a semiconductor laser is a p-n
2.
Medium junction.
Pumping
3.
Method
Direct conversion method.
Power
4.
output
The power output from this laser is 1mW.
Nature of
5.
output
Continuous-wave or pulsed output.

Wavelengt
6. h of 8300 to 8500Å.
output
 Advantages of Semiconductor Lasers
 Semiconductor laser requires low power for its
operation.
 They are compact and lightweight.
 They have a long life.
 The output of the laser can be easily increased by
controlling the junction current.
 The laser has a continuous wave output or pulsed
output.
 This laser exhibits high efficiency.
 The arrangement is simple and compact.
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 Application or uses of the Semiconductor Laser

 They are used in optical fiber communication

to provide high-frequency waves for
modulating the low-frequency signal.
 They are used as a laser pointer.
 They are used for storing data on CD or DVD.
 They are used as a pumping source in a
solid-state laser.

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