Applications of Lasers

Applications of Lasers
Since Maimans invention in 1960, lasers have been
used in numerous applications. They are called
solution looking for a problem.
Application areas include scientific research, industrial
processing, medicine, military, entertainment,
telecommunication etc.
We will only discuss few of the most important
applications, under scientific and industrial.
We will see more during project presentations.
 Scientific
Applications of
Lasers
 Spectroscopy
In general, spectroscopy consists of sending light to a sample and
investigating the changes on the reflected, transmitted or scattered light.
Spectroscopy is used for chemical sensing, imaging, detecting etc.

m
e
d abs.spectrum
White light i
Spectrometer
u
m
intensity

intensity
wavelength wavelength

Since lasers can be very monochromatic, the detection becomes

very sensitive (to ppt levels).
Ultrafast laser spectroscopy: Why?
Most events that occur in atoms and molecules occur on fs and ps
time scales because the length scales are very small.
Fluorescence occurs on a ns time scale, but competing non-radiative
processes only speed things up because relaxation rates add:

1/ex = 1/fl + 1/nr

Biologically important processes utilize excitation energy for purposes

other than fluorescence and hence must be very fast.
Collisions in room-temperature liquids occur on a few-fs time scale, so
nearly all processes in liquids are ultrafast.
Semiconductor processes of technological interest are necessarily
ultrafast or we wouldnt be interested.
 Ultrafast laser spectroscopy: How?
Ultrafast laser spectroscopy involves studying ultrafast events that take
place in a medium using ultrashort pulses and delays for time resolution.

It usually involves exciting the medium with one (or more) ultrashort laser
pulse(s) and probing it a variable delay later with another.

Signal pulse energy

Signal pulse
Medium under study

Variably delayed
Probe pulse Delay
Excitation pulses

The signal pulse energy (or change in energy) is plotted vs. delay.

The experimental temporal resolution is the pulse length.

Whats going on in spectroscopy measurements?
The excite pulse(s) excite(s) molecules into excited states, which
changes the mediums absorption coefficient and refractive index.

Unexcited medium Excited medium

Unexcited Excited
medium medium
absorbs absorbs
heavily at weakly at
wavelengths wavelengths
corresponding corresponding
to transitions to transitions
from ground from ground
state. state.

The excited states only live for a finite time (this is the quantity wed
like to find!), so the absorption and refractive index recover.
The simplest ultrafast spectroscopy method is
The Excite-Probe Technique.
Excite the sample with one pulse; probe it with another a variable delay
later; and measure the change in the transmitted probe pulse energy or
average power vs. delay.

The excite pulse changes the sample

absorption seen by the probe pulse.

Excite
Sample Slow
pulse
detector

Change in probe
pulse energy
Probe
pulse Lens

Delay
Delay

The excite and probe pulses can be different colors.

This technique is also called the Pump-Probe Technique.
Excite-probe measurements in DNA
DNA bases undergo photo-oxidative damage, which can yield mutations.
Understanding the photo-physics of these important molecules may help
to understand this process.

Pecourt, et al., Ultrafast Phenomena XII, p.566 (2000).

Coherent Control

Chemical reactions proceed

in a manner determined by
the molecular Hamiltonian.

What if wed like to change this and make different products?

Bring in a light frequency to excite a bond wed like to break. But its
not so easy! Theres a lot more to it.

A long-held dream of chemists. Its now coming true. Shaped

ultrashort pulses are the key.
Intramolecular Vibrational Redistribution

A few fs later,
Excite one bond however, the
The bond entire molecule is
vibrates vibrating.

IVR occurs on a few-fs time scale, so long pulses excite entire molecule,
and the weakest bond breaks, no matter which bond was excited.
Coherent control: Using shaped
ultrashort pulses to control the reaction
Can an ultrashort pulse cause a molecule to vibrate in such a
way as to break the bond of our choice?
The physics of coherent control
The pulse electric field perturbs the molecule and potentially
dissociates it.

Molecule E-field Perturbed System

Wave- of Laser
function Wave-
function

Potential Potential

The trick is to compute the required pulse electric field.

 Interferometry

High monocohromaticity and hence long coherence lengths of

lasers also serve for interferometry.
An interferometer generally cobnines light beams and measures
interference fringes. Changes in the interference pattern gives
information about what happens to the beams.
There are many different types of interferometers including
michelson, Fabry-Perot, Sagnac etc.
Interferometers are used for many purposes, including range
detection, surface measurements, spectrum measurements etc.
 Input
The Michelson beam
Interferometer L2 Output
Mirror beam
I0
The Michelson Interferometer
I0 L1
splits a beam into two and then Beam-
recombines them at the same splitter
Delay
beam splitter. Mirror

I out = 2 I 0 + 2 I 0 cos( ) = 2 I 0 + 2 I 0 cos(k L)

where L = 2(L2 L1) Fringes (in delay)

Dark fringe I Bright fringe

Measure the wavelength

of monochromatic light!
L = 2(L2 L1)
 The building
The LIGO project containing an arm
CalTech LIGO

A small fraction
of one arm of the
CalTech LIGO
interferometer

Hanford LIGO

The control center

Micrsocopy: Multi-photon imaging
In multi-photon imaging, we focus an ultrashort pulse tightly into an
object and observe the multi-photon signal light.

F ~ I2
F = Two-photon
Fluorescence
energy
Two-photon fluorescence emission
from a focused pulse

One-photon fluorescence
from a beam entering
from the right

Two-photon fluorescence
from an identical beam
entering from the left
Two-photon fluorescence of brain tissue

Living rat hippocampal

neurons were stained
with DiO, and imaged
using pulsed
illumination at 900 nm.
The image is a
projection through 50
sections of 0.3 m each.
No dye bleaching was
observed during
scanning. The imaging
had no adverse effect
on the health of the
cells.

Steve Potter, Georgia Tech

 Industrial
Applications of
Lasers
 Laser Cutting and Welding
When a high power laser is focused on an absorbing material, the absorbed
electromagnetic energy will be turned into heat. Sufficient heating can result in
melting and evaporation.
High power CO2, Nd:YAG, excimer etc. Laser are used to cut a broad
spectrum of materials.
Long- vs. short-pulse micromachining

Long pulse Short pulse

Clark-MXR web site

Ultrashort pulse lasers can precision
machine many materials.

100 m

Ceramics Metals

Diamond

Teeth Polymers High Explosives

M.D. Feit, A.M. Komashko, A.M. Rubenchik, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Sub-micron sculpting

Photo-polymerization: light
causes a polymer to solidify.
Structural details of 120 nm
(due to two-photon photo-
polymerization).

S. Kawata, et al., Osaka Univ. Nature 412, 697, 2001.

Safe fs-pulse cutting of explosives and
propellants confirms that absorbed energy
is removed with ejecta.
Otherwise, these guys might not be here to tell us about it!

Comp B Double-base propellant - HPC-95

high explosive Composition:
Nitrocellulose - 78%
Nitroglycerin - 21%
other - 1%
Courtesy E.Roos,LLNL
Some everyday applications of diode
lasers

A CD burner Laser Printer

 Laser Surgery
Lasers can also be used to cut and weld living tissues.
When a suitable laser is found, a touch-free scalpel
can be used.
Lasers are used to cure many diseases, from
opthalmological to cardiological.
 LASIK
The most common example of laser surgery is the LASIK (laser-assisted in
situ keratomileusis). Excimer lasers are used to reshape the cornea, in order
to correct for refractive problems.
Lasers are still looking for a problem.
Many applicationa are continouosly being suggested for lasers. Some of
them become commercially very successful, some dont.

Laser
cigarette
lighter

A. Siegman