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à? The four major characteristics of laser are:

À? Coherence

À? îonochromatic

À? irectional

À? pharply focused

À? Jrightness

à? Vther than these the modern lasers have a special feature of 



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? efinition: A fixed phase relationship between the electric field values at different
locations or at different times.

? This simply means that all photons are emitted IN PHAp with one another.

There are two very different aspects of coherence:

Œ? ppatial Coherence: means a strong correlation (fixed phase relationship) between the
electric fields at different locations across the beam profile.

Œ? Temporal Coherence: means a strong correlation between the electric fields at one
location but different times.

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à? îonochromatic means that it consists of one single color or wavelength. ven through
some lasers can generate more than one wavelength, the light is extremely pure and
consists of a very narrow spectral range.

à? epending on the type of laser the color of the light varies.

à? However, this light is always a single color and not polychromatic.

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à? irectional means that the beam is well collimated (very parallel) and travels over long
distances with very little spread.

à? This simply means that the laser wave travels in only one particular direction unlike the
haphazard movement of the ordinary light.

à? It is much more "orderly" than the other light.

à? It is very organized waves with all the light exactly the same color and going in exactly
the same direction.

à? Jecause it is so orderly we can control laser light extremely well, and that is why we can
use it to do so many things.

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à? This property is related to the parallelism of the laser beam.

à? That simply means that the laser light is much sharply focused compared to the ordinary
light.

à? The illuminated area for an ordinary light is in the form of a cone while for a laser it is
just a point.

à? This explains the sharp focusing of the laser.

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? efinition: A term mostly used in a qualitative way, related to the output power and beam
quality of a laser.

à? The primary characteristic of laser radiation is that lasers have a higher brightness than
any oilier light source. We define brightness as the power emitted per unit area per unit
solid angle.
 à? polid Angle: The {

, ‰, is the two-dimensional angle in three-dimensional space
that an object subtends at a point. It is a measure of how large that object appears to an
observer looking from that point.

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? efinition: Lasers based on a gas mixture in which light is amplified by carbon dioxide
molecules.

À? îeans of bloodless surgery.

À? Heals faster with minimum tissue swelling and scarring.

À? Less post-operative pain and discomfort.

À? estroys tissue by vaporizing cells.

À? No tissue combustion at the site of action.

À? Hence used for surgical applications.

À? îain characteristic: High power continuously operating laser in the IR region.


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à? The CV
laser (6
  


) is a laser based on a gas mixture as the gain
medium, which contains carbon dioxide (CV
), helium (He), nitrogen (N
), and possibly
some hydrogen (H
), water vapor and/or xenon (Xe).

à? Laser is electrically pumped via a gas discharge, which can be operated with C current,
with AC current or RF domain.

à? He-Ne laser is used for accurate visualization of operating area.

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à? Nitrogen molecules are excited by the discharge into a metastable vibrational level.

à? Transfer their excitation energy to the CV
molecules when colliding with them.

à? Helium serves to depopulate the lower laser level and to remove the heat.

à? Vther constituents such as hydrogen or water vapor can help to re-oxidize carbon
monoxide to carbon dioxide.
 


à? CV
lasers typically emit at a wavelength of 10.6 ȝm, but there are other lines in the
region of 9±11 ȝm (particularly at 9.6 ȝm).

à? In most cases, average powers are between some tens of watts and many kilowatts.

à? The power conversion efficiency can be well above 10%, i.e., it is higher than for
most lamp-pumped solid-state lasers, but lower than for many diode-pumped lasers.

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à? îost common in micro surgeries.

à? iseases involving nose, oral cavity, nasopharynx, tracheo-branchial tree use these lasers.

à? Primary treatment for selected cancers.

à? pmaller tissues can be removed from anatomically inaccessible regions.

à? îost commonly used in opthalmic surgeries.

à? Can be used to cut the bones and determine the cause of death after decomposition.

à? Used to treat wounds without scar formations.

 

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à? CV
lasers are widely used for material processing; in particular for cutting plastic
materials, wood, die boards, etc.

à? Cutting and welding metals such as stainless steel, aluminum or copper, applying multi-
kilowatt powers.

à? CV
lasers used for material processing (e.g. welding and cutting of metals, or laser
marking) are in competition with solid-state lasers.


 

à? Care against ignition to avoid anaesthetic gases which are inflammable.

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must be handled carefully near the laser equipment.

à? Personnel and patient have to wear protective eye gear.

à? ye wear has to be labeled the wavelength to be used.

à? Committee has to be there to monitor laser practices.


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Jooks:

à? Handbook of Jiomedical Instrumentation by R.p. Khandpur.

Web Links:

à? http://ehs.unc.edu/training/self_study/laser/characteristics.html.
à? http://www.rp-photonics.com/co
_lasers.html.
à? http://www.tutorvista.com/content/physics/physics-iv/communication-systems/laser-
characteristics.php.
à? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety.