Contact person: Tobias Ullsperger

E-mail: tobias.ullsperger@uni-jena.de
Last edition: Felix Zimmermann, February 2016

GYROSCOPE

Group Number 14

Student Names Tadiyos Tarekegn Alemayehu

Timothy Oshiobughie Imogore

Name of TA Tobias Ullsperger

Date of Lab 08/03/2016

Date of Submission of Report 10/03/2016

Table of Contents
List of Tables and Figures............................................................................................................................. 3
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 4
Theory ........................................................................................................................................................... 4
Working principle ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Experimental setup........................................................................................................................................ 6
Experimental Realization .......................................................................................................................... 7
Results and Discussion of Results ................................................................................................................ 8
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 18
Preliminary and final questions................................................................................................................... 18
List of Tables and Figures
Figure 1: Basic elements of a HeNe laser ..................................................................................................... 4
Figure 2: working principle of HeNe laser [1] .............................................................................................. 5
Figure 3: Basic HeNe experimental setup [1] ............................................................................................... 6
Figure 4: Showing stability points for 4 cases given above in table 2 .......................................................... 7
Figure 5: A plot of the output voltage versus the tube current...................................................................... 9
Figure 6: A plot of the output voltage versus the tube current.................................................................... 11
Figure 7: A plot of the output voltage versus the distance between the two mirrors .................................. 12
Figure 8: A plot of the output voltage versus the distance between the two mirrors .................................. 13
Figure 9: The observed pattern of the𝑇𝐸𝑀10 mode .................................................................................... 15
Figure 10: Beam width variation as a function of propagation distance ..................................................... 17

Table 1: Functions of the different components used in the experiment ...................................................... 6

Table 2: Showing beam width evaluation for different mirrors combinations ............................................. 7
Table 3: Showing stability parameters for 4 cases with different mirrors combinations .............................. 7
Table 4: Measured output power for different tube current. ......................................................................... 8
Table 5: Measured output power for different tube current intensity ......................................................... 10
Table 6: Measured output power for different resonator length ................................................................. 12
Table 7: Measured output power for different resonator length ................................................................. 13
Introduction
Gas lasers are one of the most common types of lasers that are in use today. In these lasers, the
electrical discharge between the anode and cathode results in exciting the atoms in the gas which
finally emit coherent light as they return to the ground state.

The HeNe laser is the first and most common type of gas laser and consists of a mixture of Helium
and Neon gas in a ratio between 5:1 and 20:1 enclosed in a glass tube. The output power from such
laser depends on the current supplied to the Laser tube, the resonator length and the position of the
laser tube. Higher order modes can be generated by using simple techniques like perturbation by
thin filament. Different optical elements can also be used to achieve different wavelengths other
than the operating wavelength.

Theory
A HeNe Laser consists of a glass tube with Brewster's angle window at both ends that enclose a
mixture of He and Ne gases. The tube has anode and cathode that are connected to a power supply.
Outside the tube, two reflecting mirrors are placed at both ends with their reflecting side facing
the tube. One of these mirrors, known as output coupler, is partially reflecting and mostly has 2%
transmission.

A simplified diagram showing the main components of a HeNe laser is given on figure 1.

Figure 1: Basic elements of a HeNe laser

The fundamental mode in a laser resonator has a Gaussian intensity profile and the wave front at
each of the two reflecting mirrors has the same radius of curvature as the two mirrors. Given two
mirrors with radius of curvature R1 and R2 with a distance d between them, the condition for having
a stable resonator is given as

𝑑 𝑑
0 ≤ (1 − )(1 − ) ≤ 1
𝑟1 𝑟2

In addition, higher order modes can be excited which have a larger spatial extent than the
fundamental mode. Higher order modes are relatively larger compared to the TEM00 mode, and
thus, the fundamental Gaussian mode of a laser may be selected by placing an appropriately sized
aperture in the laser cavity.
The wavelength of the output laser beam can be measured easily using diffraction grating. A
typical grating has many hundreds of lines per millimeter. When a plane wave with a wavelength
𝜆 is incident normal to the grating, each slit acts as a line of point sources. When the path difference
between the light from adjacent slits is equal to the wavelength, the waves are all in phase. This
produces a bright spot on a screen and the angle from the normal line to the grating surface can be
measured to determine the wavelength as
1
𝜆 = 𝑔𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜙𝑚
𝑚
Where g is the separation of the slits and m is an integer.
Different optical elements like Litrow prism and birefringent crystal can be used to achieve other
wavelengths other than the operating wavelength.

Working principle

The process in a He-Ne laser starts with collision of electrons from the electrical discharge with the helium
atoms in the gas, which excites helium from the ground state to the 23S1 and 21S0 metastable excited states.
Collision of the excited helium atoms with the ground-state neon atoms results in transfer of energy to the
neon atoms, exciting neon electrons into the 3S2 level. The difference between the energy states of the two
atoms is in the order of 0.05 eV, which is supplied by a kinetic energy. The number of neon atoms in the
excited states builds up as further collisions between helium and neon atoms occur, causing a population
inversion. Spontaneous and stimulated emission between the 3S2 and 2p4 states results in emission of
632.82nm wavelength light. After this, fast radioactive decay occurs from the 2p to the 1s ground state.
When highly reflecting mirrors are placed at each end of the He-Ne gas tube, thus completing the resonator
structure; it produces a stimulated radiation by the reflected light photons from the mirrors. To extract a
light beam from the resonator, it is only necessary to have one of the two resonator mirrors, usually called the
output coupler, have a reflectivity of only 99% so that 1% of the photons incident on it travel out of the
resonator to produce an external laser beam. The whole process is summarized in the figure 2 given below.

Figure 2: working principle of HeNe laser [1]

Experimental setup
The setup of all tasks in this experiment has the same basic components while some tasks require
additional optical elements. The combination of mirrors and the distance in between also depends
on the specific task. A diagram showing the basic setup of the experiment is given on figure 3
below.

One important component not shown on the diagram is a controlling unit that is used to display
the output of the photodetector on a digital meter. It has different amplification options based on
the strength of our signal. The boxes on the top of the diagram are power supplies for the alignment
laser and the HeNe laser tube.

Figure 3: Basic HeNe experimental setup [1]

The functions of the components numbered on the above diagram are tabulated
on Table 1. In addition to the tabulated components, a diffraction Grating and a thin filament are
used in the experiment.

Number Function
1 Profile Rail. Helps for aligning the laser and has a length scale for arranging
components properly.
2 HeNe Laser tube. It encloses the He and Ne gases and has power supply to its anode
and cathode.
3,4 Mirror holder. It holds the mirrors firmly and can be used to adjust the mirrors
vertically and horizontally.
5 Photodetector. It sends signal to the controlling unit based on the intensity of the light
from the laser.
6 Alignment Laser. It helps to align the mirrors and the laser tube for better output.
10 Mirrors. These are reflecting mirrors and can be plane or concave
with ROC 700mm or 1000mm.
Table 1: Functions of the different components used in the experiment
Experimental Realization
1. Evaluation of the beam width inside the resonator for a resonator length of d = 50 cm
𝜆𝑑 1/2 𝑔1 𝑔2 (1 − 𝑔1 𝑔2 ) 1/4
𝑤=( ) ( )
𝜋 𝑔1 + 𝑔2 − 2𝑔1 𝑔2

𝑑 𝑑
With 𝑔1 = 1 − (𝑟 ) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔2 = 1 − (𝑟 )
1 2

Case R1(mm) R2(mm) g1 g2 w(μm)

A ∞ 1000 1 0.5 267
B ∞ 700 1 0.29 232
C ∞ ∞ 1 1 0
D 700 1000 0.29 0.5 223
Table 2: Showing beam width evaluation for different mirrors combinations
2. Evaluation of the optical stability area
The stability area is defined as
0 < g1 . g2 < 1

Case R1(mm) R2(mm) g1 g2 g1. g2

A ∞ 1000 1 0.5 0.5
B ∞ 700 1 0.29 0.29
C ∞ ∞ 1 1 1
D 700 1000 0.29 0.5 0.14
Table 3: Showing stability parameters for 4 cases with different mirrors combinations

Figure 4: Showing stability points for 4 cases given above in table 2

 3. Aligning a stable HeNe laser
To align the HeNe laser, we turned on the alignment laser and the mirrors were tested for good
angular positioning by facing their reflecting side towards the alignment laser. By tuning the
horizontal and vertical adjustments on the mirror holder, we can turn the mirror slightly until a
flickering light is observed. The flickering light shows that we have good alignment and we can
remove the mirror and adjust all mirrors similarly. Then we can adjust the position of the HeNe
laser tube by shining the light from the alignment laser through the tube. We can adjust its position
by tuning the two vertical and two horizontal pins until we see just one bright spot on our screen.

Results and Discussion of Results

Task 1: In this task the dependence of the laser output power on the tube current for a cavity
length of 50cm for a mirror combination of M1: plane, M2: R2=700mm is investigated. The
maximum of current 6.5mA was then continuously decreased in steps of 0.1mA to a minimum
current intensity of 5.0 mA. The corresponding laser output from the photo diode, placed behind
the plane mirror (M1), was observed for each tube current. Two sets of measurements, with
increasing and decreasing the current, were taken. The values obtained are shown in table 4 below.
The result are measured at a gain of 50.

I (mA) Output Output average error

Voltage voltage
6.5 6.58± 6.56± 6.57 0.02
6.4 6.18± 6.1± 6.14 0.08
6.3 5.92± 5.93 5.925 -0.01
6.2 5.79± 5.79± 5.79 0
6.1 5.75± 5.77± 5.76 -0.02
6 5.42± 5.5± 5.46 -0.08
5.9 5.37± 5.39± 5.38 -0.02
5.8 5.33± 5.35± 5.34 -0.02
5.7 5.32± 5.28± 5.3 0.04
5.6 5.27± 5.25± 5.26 0.02
5.5 5.18± 5.18± 5.18 0
5.4 5.07± 5.09± 5.08 -0.02
5.3 5.02± 5.06± 5.04 -0.04
5.2 4.94± 4.9± 4.92 0.04
5.1 4.89± 4.89± 4.89 0
5 4.81± 4.81± 4.81 0
Table 4: Measured output power for different tube current.
This average voltage is plotted against tube current as shown in figure 5.

6.5

y = 0.9855x - 0.2389
R² = 0.9128
6
output coltage(V)

5.5

4.5

4
5 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6 6.2 6.4 6.6
Tube current(mA)

Figure 5: A plot of the output voltage versus the tube current

As can be seen from figure 5, the output power has a linear dependence on the injection current
with some deviations from the fitted curve. The linear curve is fitted and is plotted along with the
data points. Its equation is
y = 0.9855x - 0.2389
As in every experiment, there were possible causes of errors. First of all, the last digit in the display
of the controlling unit was not stable when we took the results. We had to wait for some time and
record the most frequent value. For example, if we recorded the output power to be 6.05v then the
actual reading was fluctuating between 6.03v and 6.07v. This gives rise to an uncertainty of ±0.02v
for all measurements. This is close to the standard deviation of the data points from the linearly
fitted curve which is found to be 0:017v.

The difference in readings may be due to environmental factors like temperature change, vibrations
and surface impurities on the mirror surface. It is easy to find that the output power increase
monotonously with the current intensity in this area. That means the more input power, the larger
population inversion we get, thus the more output power we get. But theoretically, there is a
maximum of the output power dependent on the current intensity. The power does not increase
with the current monotonously. When the current is larger than the particular number, the output
power will decrease. The maximum depends on the ratio of the quantity of He and that of Ne.

Task 2. In this task the dependence of the laser output power on the tube current for a cavity length
of 50cm for a mirror combination of M1: plane, M2: R2=1000mm is investigated. The maximum
of current 6.5mA was then continuously decreased in steps of 0.1mA to a minimum current
intensity of 5.0 mA. The corresponding laser output from the photo diode, placed behind the plane
mirror (M1).was observed for each tube current. The values obtained are shown in table 5 below.
The result are measured at a gain of 50.

Output Output Average

I (mA) Voltage voltage o/p voltage error
6.5 4.79 4.78 4.785 0.01
6.4 4.75 4.75 4.75 0
6.3 4.73 4.74 4.735 -0.01
6.2 4.72 4.72 4.72 0
6.1 4.71 4.7 4.705 0.01
6 4.66 4.66 4.66 0
5.9 4.59 4.59 4.59 0
5.8 4.58 4.54 4.56 0.04
5.7 4.47 4.46 4.465 0.01
5.6 4.43 4.45 4.44 -0.02
5.5 4.34 4.36 4.35 -0.02
5.4 4.28 4.28 4.28 0
5.3 4.26 4.26 4.26 0
5.2 4.21 4.24 4.225 -0.03
5.1 4.16 4.18 4.17 -0.02
5 4.12 4.12 4.12 0
Table 5: Measured output power for different tube current intensity
This average voltage is plotted against tube current as shown in figure 6.
 4.9
4.8 y = 0.4755x + 1.7542

4.7

output Voltage (v)

4.6
4.5
4.4
4.3
4.2
4.1
4
5 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6 6.2 6.4 6.6
I (mA)

Figure 6: A plot of the output voltage versus the tube current

The output power increase linearly with the tube. That means the more input power, the larger
population inversion we get, thus the more output power we get. The difference in readings in the
output voltage may be due to environmental factors like temperature change, vibrations and
surface impurities on the mirror surface. The power output for a particular setup also depends on
the alignment accuracy of the person doing the experiment.

It can be seen that the power output for this setup is lower than the PLAN-FL700 mirror
combination. This doesn't mean the first configuration always yields higher power than the second
one. This is because the power output for a particular setup depends on the alignment accuracy of
the person doing the experiment. Higher power can be achieved for the same setup if the person
spends more time aligning the laser. But the dependence on injection current is done for the same
alignment and, therefore, is valid for any alignment even though better alignment results in a more
stable and thus less erroneous measurement.

A linear fit to the data points is also plotted on the same figure. The equation describing the linear
fit is
y = 0.4755x + 1.7542
The measurement errors described for the previous measurement also holds here. On average, the
same amount of fluctuation in the value of the second digit of the display is observed. Therefore,
the uncertainty in measurement is also ±0.02v for this experiment.

Task 3. In this task, the dependence on the lasers output power on the resonator length measured
at a maximum tube current of 6.5mA for a mirror combination of M1: plane, M2: R2=700mm.
The resonator length “d” was increased from 50cm in steps of 2cm to 70cm (700mm) by changing
the position of the curved mirror. The output power from the photo diode is measured for each
cavity length. The measured data is shown in the table 6 below.
 Distance(cm) Output voltage
50 7.28
52 6.75
54 6.72
56 6.22
58 6.62
60 6.18
62 5.68
64 4.08
66 0
68 0
70 0
Table 6: Measured output power for different resonator length

5
output Voltage (v)

0
40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75
-1
resonator length

Figure 7: A plot of the output voltage versus the distance between the two mirrors

Generally, the output power of the laser for the two kinds of combinations is decreasing with the
cavity length increasing. This phenomenon could be explained from several aspects. Firstly, when
the distance between two mirrors increase, the mode density increases and causes the competition
between different modes in the cavity and decrease the population inversion. Thus the output
power will get lower. Also, the diffraction loss of the laser increase with the resonator length. The
larger the distance between two mirrors, the more loss we get.
The uncertainty in output voltage is already determined to be ±0.02v as the last digit fluctuates in
a similar manner. Unique to this experiment is that we had to relocate one of the mirrors and do
the tuning of the mirror adjustment again. This is an additional source of error because the setup
at two different resonator lengths is now different. This readjustment will have at least an error of
±0.1 resulting in a total error of ±0.12v. The uncertainty in the resonator length is due to our
inability to exactly locate the position of the mirrors. We have estimated the uncertainty for one of
the mirrors to be ±0.1cm which makes the uncertainty in resonator length ±0.2cm.

Task 4. In this task, the dependence on the lasers output power on the resonator length measured
at a maximum tube current of 6.5mA for a mirror combination of M1: plane, M2: R2=1000mm.
The resonator length “d” was increased from 50cm in steps of 2cm to 100cm (1000mm) by
changing the position of the curved mirror. The output power from the photo diode is measured
for each cavity length. The measured data is shown in the table 7 below.
Distance(cm) Output voltage
53 3.28
56 3.22
59 2.26
62 2.18
65 2.15
68 2.23
71 2.13
74 2.12
77 1.97
80 1.98
83 1.96
86 1.92
Table 7: Measured output power for different resonator length

3.5

3
output coltage(v)

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
40 50 60 70 80 90
Distance(cm)

Figure 8: A plot of the output voltage versus the distance between the two mirrors
Generally, the output power of the laser for the two kinds of combinations is decreasing with the
cavity length increasing. This phenomenon could be explained from several aspects. Firstly, when
the distance between two mirrors increase, the mode density increases and causes the competition
between different modes in the cavity and decrease the population inversion. Thus the output
power will get lower. Also, the diffraction loss of the laser increase with the resonator length. The
larger the distance between two mirrors, the more loss we get. The same error calculations, as task
3, are used which results an overall error of ±0.12v for the output voltage and an error of ±0.2cm
for the resolution length.

Task 5. Wavelength measurement: To determine the wavelength of the laser, we replace the
photo diode with a transmission grating of 600 lines/mm. as a result of the grating we observe a
diffraction pattern on the wall. The distance “g” between adjacent slits of the grating is calculated
as:
1
𝑔=( ) 𝑚𝑚 = 1.67 × 10−3 𝑚𝑚 = 1670 × 10−9 𝑚
600
The distance (𝑑) from the wall is measured as 97cm and the diffraction orders are observed on the
wall, 97cm from the grating. The zeroth order being the order with the highest intensity is observed
and the distance (𝑦1 ) between the first order and the zeroth order is measured as (40.0±0.2) cm.
Also the distance (𝑦2 ) between the second order and the zeroth order is measured (114.3±0.4) cm.
Having obtained this information, we calculate the angle between the zeroth order and the first and
second order using the relation;
Let 𝜃1 be the angle between the zeroth order and the first order, then ;
𝑦1 40
𝜃1 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ( ) = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ( ) = (22.38 ± 0.08)𝑑𝑒𝑔
𝑑 97
Let 𝜃2 be the angle between the zeroth order and the first order, then;
𝑦2 114.3
𝜃2 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ( ) = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 ( ) = (49.68 ± 0.06)𝑑𝑒𝑔
𝑑 97
The wavelengths for the corresponding order is calculated using the diffraction grating relation:
𝑔𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃𝑚 = 𝑚𝜆𝑚
𝑔𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃𝑚
𝜆𝑚 =
𝑚
For first order (m=1);
𝜆1 = 𝑔𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃1 = 1670 × 10−9 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃1 = 1670 × 10−9 sin(22.4) = 636.38 × 10−9 𝑚.
= (636.38 ± 6.47)𝑛𝑚

For second order (m=2);

𝑔𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃2 1670 × 10−9 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃2 1670 × 10−9 sin(49.68)
𝜆2 = = = = 636.63 × 10−9 𝑚
2 2 2
= (636.63 ± 3.86)𝑛𝑚
The mean wavelength is evaluated as:
𝜆1 + 𝜆2 636.38 + 636.63
𝜆= = = (636.51 ± 5.16)𝑛𝑚
2 2
The measured value can be taken to be the average of the two wavelengths which is = (636.51 ±
5.16)𝑛𝑚. Error in the measured value can be caused by the usage of handheld scale to measure the
distances. We estimated such an error to be ±0.5cm for all distance measurements. Applying the
error propagation formula, we can find that the uncertainty in measuring the wavelength is
±5.16𝑛𝑚.

Task 6: Achievement of higher TEM modes

We also achieved a higher mode TEM10 mode, by using a thin wire. In general the laser with
cylindrical symmetry can have many transverse modes but only TEM00 can be seen. When we
introduced a thin filament in the center of laser beam vertically, TEM10 mode can be observed
because the laser beam is blocked in perpendicular direction and as the laser has many TEM modes
it can choose a mode such that the intensity in minimum at the position where it is blocked. Figure
9 shows the TEM10 along TEM00 we observed in the lab.

Figure 9: The observed pattern of the𝑇𝐸𝑀10 mode

Task 7: Measurement of beam quality

In this task, the laser beam is focused with a focusing lens of focal length f=125mm. The intensity
distribution of the Gaussian beam at different propagation distance was captured at 35 different
positions with the help of a CMOS camera with a pixel pitch distance of 5.2 𝜇𝑚. Grey filters of
various optical densities are also used while capturing the images at different positions to avoid
overexposure. These images were saved in the computer with a .bmp extension. The intensity at
each pixel (pixel size = 5.2μm) of the image and the center of gravity concerning gray values was
extracted using MATLAB program. A line scan in x direction crossing the x-direction was also
done using the MATLAB program and the 1⁄𝑒 2 spot radius for every single image was extracted
as shown in table 8 below
 Position of camera (𝑐𝑚) W(z) (𝜇𝑚)
5.5 171.18
6 160.49
6.5 150.92
7 143.2
7.5 144.39
8 128.73
8.5 129.18
9 123.87
9.5 121.87
10 122.56
10.5 123.2
11 125.3
11.5 126.74
12 134.57
12.5 139.4
13 144.28
13.5 153.5
14 166.88
14.5 175.9
15 186.26
15.5 204.4
16 205.5
16.5 215
17 226.7
18 252.5
19 284.6
20 301.8
21 331.1
22 342.9
23 377.2
24 395.9
25 402.7
30 540.2
35 672.8
40 834.2
45 959.7
50 1122.2
55 1215
60 1324.3
Table 8: Beam width variation as a function of propagation distance
 1500
y = 22.059x - 112.16
1000

W(z) (𝜇𝑚) 500

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

-500

-1000

-1500
Position of camera (𝑐𝑚)

Figure 10: Beam width variation as a function of propagation distance

From the beam width variation and corresponding propagation distance shown in table 8 and figure
10, we can see that the position of the beam waist which corresponds to the minimum radius of
the spot size is at a propagation distance of 9.5 cm.
From the line equation in figure 10, the measured value of the angle can be evaluated from the
slope. Equalizing the unit of measurement to meters (m) on both axis of the plot of the caustic in
figure 10 will give a slope of 0.0023. Therefore, the measured angle is
𝜃𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 = 𝑡𝑎𝑛−1 (0.0022) = 0.126 𝑑𝑒𝑔
From table 8, the spot size at the beam waist is:
𝑤0 = 121.87 × 10−6 𝑚
Therefore, the Rayleigh length can be evaluated as
𝜋𝑤0 2 𝜋 × 121.87 × 10−6
𝑧𝑅 = = = 0.074𝑚
𝜆 632.8 × 10−9
Then
𝑤0 180 121.87 × 10−6 𝑚 180
𝜃0 = [( )× ] 𝑑𝑒𝑔 = [( )× ] 𝑑𝑒𝑔 = 0.098 𝑑𝑒𝑔
𝑧𝑅 𝜋 0.074 𝜋
𝐵𝑃𝑃 = 𝑀2 𝜃0 𝑤0 = 𝜃𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑤0
Therefore;
𝜃𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑤0 𝜃𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 0.126
𝑀2 = = = = 1.29
𝜃0 𝑤0 𝜃0 0.098
For an ideal Gaussian beam M2 =1. But since no laser source has a perfect Gaussian distribution,
M2 value is always slightly different, which corresponds to diffraction effects on the beam. There
is an error in the measurement of the position of the camera, and we assumed it to be ±0.1𝑐𝑚. and
the error from the fitted curve can also be calculated but due to shortage of time we were not able
to do so.

Conclusion
In this Lab work, parameters that determine high output power of a HeNe Laser are investigated.
To meet this goal, dependence of the laser output power on the tube injection current, the resonator
length and the laser tube position is measured.

We found that the laser output power increases linearly with the injection current for both the
PLAN-FL700 and PLAN-FL1000 mirror combinations. The laser output power is shown to
decrease as we increase the resonator length to approach the stability limit for both combinations.
In addition, we measured the operating wavelength using a grating and we found it to
be (636.51 ± 5.16)𝑛𝑚. We have also seen the effect of blocking the fundamental mode by using
a thin filament.

Preliminary and final questions

Most of the questions are discussed in the body of the report. Therefore, only those that are not
dealt with are answered below.

A HeNe laser with an operating frequency of 632.8nm is used in the experiment. In order to have
a stable laser operation, we should have a lasing medium, a pump source, a reflecting mirror and
an output coupler at separation that fulfills the stability condition. To achieve high laser output,
the separation between the mirrors, the position of the laser tube and the accuracy of alignment are
important parameters. Different output wavelengths can be achieved by using a Litrow prism or a
birefringent crystal. And the output wavelengths can be measured using a diffraction grating.