LASERs (prepared by Benjamin Teo) H2 Physics 9646 - 2011 A LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is an optical source

e that emits photons in a coherent beam.. The process of particle (atom) transfer from normal state corresponding to minimum energy of the system to a higher energy state is termed as excitation and the particle itself is said to be excited. In this process the absorption of energy from the external field takes place. The time during which a particle can exist in the ground state is unlimited. On the other hand, the particle can remain in the excited state for a limited time known as lifetime. The lifetime of the excited hydrogen atom is of the order of 10-8sec. There exist, some excited states in which the lifetime is >10-8 sec. These states are called as metastable (10-3 sec). The basic principle involved in laser action is the phenomenon of stimulated emission. There are three kinds of electromagnetic radiations between two energy levels E1 and E2 in an atom. i) Stimulated (induced) absorption:- If the atom is initially in the lower state E1 it can be raised to E2 by absorption of a photon of energy E2- E1 = h . This is called stimulated absorption. After being in the excited state, the particle returns to the ground state. ii) Spontaneous emission:- If the atom is initially in the upper state E2, it can drop to E1 by emitting of a photon of energy h. This process is known as Spontaneous emission. The spontaneous emission depends on the type of the particle and type of transition but is independent of outside circumstances. The waves coincide neither in wavelength nor in phase. Thus the radiation is incoherent and has a broad spectrum.

The rate of spontaneous emission is proportional to the number of atoms in the excited state. iii) Stimulated emission:- If an atom is already in the excited state of energy level E2 whose ground level energy is E1, at this moment, a photon of energy h = E2- E1 is incident on the excited atom, the incident photon stimulates a similar photon from the excited atom. Now the atom returns to the ground state. This type of emission is called as stimulated emission. It is coherent with the stimulating incident radiation. It has the same frequency & phase as the incident radiation. The rate of stimulated emission depends both on the intensity of external field and also on the number of atoms in the excited state. Differences between spontaneous and stimulated emission: Spontaneous emission Stimulated emission 1. Transition occurs from a higher energy level to Transition also occurs from higher energy level to a lower energy level. 2. No incident photon is required lower energy level. Photon whose energy is equal to the difference of two energy levels is required. 3. Single photon is emitted. Two photons with same energy are emitted.

4. The energy of emitted photon is equal to the The energy of the emitted photons is double the energy difference of two levels. 5. This was postulated by Bohr. energy of stimulated photons. This was postulated by Einstein.

Population Inversion: The number of particles N2, i.e., population of higher energy level is less than the population N1 of lower energy level. Making the number of particles N2 more in higher energy level than the number of particles N1 in lower energy level (N2 > N1) is called as population inversion or inverted population. A system in which population inversion is achieved is called an active system. The method of raising the particle from lower energy state to higher energy state is called as pumping. A more common method of pumping is optical pumping.

Characteristics of a laser: i) ii) iii) iv) The light is coherent with all the waves exactly in phase with each other. Laser beam hardly diverges. i.e., The laser rays are almost parallel. The beam is nearly monochromatic. The laser beam is extremely intense. The beam can produce a temperature of 104
o

C at a focused point.

Principle of operation of lasers: Consider a group of atoms all in the same excited state. A passing photon may cause stimulated emission in one of these atoms. This results in the emission of two photons. Each of these photons may cause induced emission in two other excited atoms. This process may continue in a chain reaction. The result will be an intense beam of photons moving in the same direction and all are coherent.

Ruby laser: The first successful laser utilized a ruby rod. Construction:- A ruby is a crystal of aluminium oxide Al2O3 in which some aluminium atoms are replaced by chromium atoms (Cr2O3). The active materials in the ruby are chromium ions Cr3+. In a ruby laser, a rod of 4cm length and 0.5cm in diameter is generally used. The two ends of the ruby rod are made perfectly parallel to each other.

One end A is heavily silvered and the other end B of the rod is partially silvered. The rod is surrounded by a helical xenon flash tube, which provides the pumping light to raise the chromium ions to upper energy level. Only a part of the energy is used in pumping the Cr3+ ions while the rest heats up the apparatus. For these purpose a cooling arrangement (liquid nitrogen) is used. Working:- An energy diagram illustrating the operation principle of a ruby laser is shown in figure. In the fig. E1, E2 and E3 represent the energy levels of chromium ion. In normal state, the chromium ion is in lower level. When the ruby crystal is irradiated with light of xenon flash (optical pumping), the chromium atoms are excited and pass to upper level. Few excited atoms return to ground level E1 and other to level E2. The transitions E3 E2 are non-radiative . i.e., the chromium atoms give part of their energy to crystal lattice in the form of heat. After few milliseconds, the level E2 becomes more populated than level E1 and hence the desired population inversion is achieved. The spontaneous transition may cause an induced transition (stimulated emission), which produces a photon. Photon traveling parallel to the axis of the tube (crystal) will start a cascade of photon emission while the photons traveling in any direction other than this will pass out of ruby. A photon travelling parallel to the axis of the tube is reflected to and fro by the silvered ends of the ruby rod until it stimulates the another excited atom in the level E2 and cause it to emit a fresh photon in phase with the stimulating photon. Thus, the reflections will result in further stimulated emissions and produce amplification of the stimulated emitting photons. This stimulated emission is the laser transition.

The ruby laser is an example of a three level laser. The wavelength of out put beam is 6943 A0, The duration of out put flash is 300 sec and the Intensity of out put beam is 10,000 watt. Drawbacks: i) The Ruby laser requires high pumping power ii) It is a pulsed laser.

He Ne Laser: The main drawback of Ruby laser is that the out put beam is not continuous though very intense. For the continuous laser beam, gas lasers are used. HeNe laser (fabricated by Ali Javan and his associates in USA) is the first one to be operated successfully. Construction: The laser tube is approximately 5mm in diameter and 0.5m long. It contains helium neon mixture, in the ratio 5:1 at a total pressure of about 1mm of mercury. The ends of the tube are plane and parallel. One end of the tube is heavily silvered and the other end is partially silvered. An electric discharge is produced in the gas mixture by electrodes connected to a high frequency electric source. Working:
Energy (eV)

He-Ne collisions

E3 20.6eV

E2 20.66eV

Laser 632.8 nm

E1 18.70eV

non radiative spontaneous emission.

E0 Common Ground state

Helium states

Neon states

The collisions of the He & Ne atoms with the electrons from the discharge excite (or pump) the helium & neon atoms to metastable states. Some of the excited He atoms transfer their energy to ground state Ne atoms by collisions. Thus He atoms help in achieving a population inversion in the Ne atoms. When a Ne atom passes spontaneously from the metastable state at 20.66eV to state at 18.70eV, it emits photon. However the photons are diverging in various directions. For those photons not parallel to the axis of the tube, they will escape out of the discharge tube or get absorbed within the tube. A photon moving parallel to the axis of the tube is reflected back & forth by the mirror ends until it stimulates an excited Ne atom and causes it to emit a fresh photon in phase with the stimulating photon. This stimulated transition from 20.66eV level to 18.70eV level is the laser transition. This process is continued and a beam of coherent radiation builds up in the tube. When the beam becomes sufficiently intense, a portion of it escapes through the partially silvered end. . This produces a narrow highly intense beam of monochromatic (of wavelength 632.8nm), coherent and collimated red laser beam. Helium neon laser is better than ruby laser or most of the four level lasers are better than three level lasers due to the following reasons:

The laser output is continuous in the case of helium-neon laser. But it is in the form of pulse in the ruby laser. Ruby laser requires high power pumping source, whereas Helium-neon laser requires low power pumping source like electric discharge. Efficiency of helium-neon laser is higher than ruby laser. The defects due to crystalline imperfections are also present in the ruby laser. But it is not so in the helium-neon laser.

Semiconductor (GaAs) laser: Among the semiconductors there are direct band gap semiconductors and indirect band gap semiconductors (Germanium & Silicon). GaAs (Gallium Arsenide) is a direct band gap semiconductor and hence it is used to make light emitting diodes and lasers. The wavelength of the emitted light depends on the band gap of the material. Construction:- In GaAs diode laser, the active medium is a P-N junction diode made from crystalline Gallium Arsenide. The P-N junction layer is very thin. Electric current is applied to the crystal platelet through a strip electrode fixed to its upper surface. At the junction, the sides through which emitted light is coming out are well polished. Working:- A population inversion is obtained by injecting electrons across the junction from the n- doped region to the p-region by means of a forward bias voltage. Particularly when a relatively large current of the order of 104amp/cm2 is passed through the junction to provide excitation, the direct

recombination process is taking place efficiently. Further the emitted photons increase the rate of recombination of injected electrons from the n-region by electric current and holes in p-region by inducing more recombination. Thus more no of photons are produced. The wavelength of the emitted radiation depends upon the concentration of donor and acceptor atoms in GaAs. The efficiency of laser emission increases when we cool the GaAs diode. When cooled to 20K, GaAs laser has delivered an output of more than 2 watts of continuous power.

Uses of laser: In consumer electronics, telecommunications, and data communications, lasers are used as the transmitters in optical communications over optical fiber and free space. They are used to store and retrieve data from compact discs and DVDs, as well as magneto-optical discs. Laser lighting displays (pictured) accompany many music concerts. In science, lasers are employed in a wide variety of interferometric techniques, and for Raman spectroscopy. Other uses include atmospheric remote sensing, and investigation of nonlinear optics phenomena. Holographic techniques employing lasers also contribute to a number of measurement techniques. Lasers have also been used aboard scientific spacecraft. In medicine, the laser scalpel is used for laser vision correction and other surgical techniques. Lasers are also used for dermatological procedures including removal of tattoos, birthmarks, and hair. In industry, laser cutting is used to cut steel and other metals. Laser line levels are used in surveying and construction. Lasers are also used for guidance for aircraft. Lasers are used in certain types of thermonuclear fusion reactors. In law enforcement the most widely known use of lasers is to detect the speed of vehicles. Military uses of lasers include use as target designators for other weapons; their use as directed-energy weapons is currently under research.

A metastable state is an excited state of an atom in which the atom can remain for a relatively longer time interval (~10-3 s) than most other normal excited states (~10-8 s). Population inversion is a situation in which there are more atoms or molecules in excited states than in lower energy states (or ground state). Stimulated emission is the process by which, when perturbed by a photon whose energy exactly matches the difference between the energy of the excited state and a lower energy state (usually the ground state), atoms in the excited state de-excites to the lower energy state, releasing a photon which has the same frequency, direction and phase as the incoming photon (which is not absorbed in the process). Spontaneous emission is the process by which an atom or molecule in an excited state de-excites to a lower energy state without external provocation, releasing a photon in a random direction. Laser light is monochromatic, coherent and highly intense with minimal divergence.

LASER TYPE Ruby Laser The first type of visible light laser invented; He-Ne Gas Laser

OPERATION WAVELENGTH 628 to 694.3 nm

PUMP SOURCE Flash lamp

APPLICATIONS Holography, tattoo removal. industrial cutting and welding. Interferometry, holography, spectroscopy, barcode scanning, alignment, optical demonstrations. Optical discs, laser pointers, data communications. 780 nm Compact Disc player laser is the most common laser type in the world. Solid-state laser pumping, machining, medical.

632.8 nm

Electrical Discharge

Semiconductor Laser diode AlGaInP, AlGaAs

0.63-0.9 m

Electrical Discharge

LASERS 1) What is the definition of diffraction? 2) What is the definition of plane-polarization? How would you confirm if a laser beam is plane polarized? 3) 4) What does the acronym LASER stand for? Which of the following is not a characteristic of a laser beam? a. High penetration power b. Intense monochromatic beam c. Coherent uni-directional radiation d. Not divergent State the 4 unique characteristics of laser light. [4]

5) 6) 7) 8)

Give 2 reasons why a 1W laser may appear brighter than a 210W filament lamp. Explain what is meant by stimulated emission in laser light. Explain what is meant by amplification in laser light. [3] [2]

9) Explain what is meant by population inversion and why this must necessarily occur in order for light to be amplified. [3] 10) How can population inversion be achieved?

11) The table below shoes some typical characteristics of a He-Ne gas laser Wavelength Beam diameter at laser exit Wavelength 633 nm Beam diameter at laser exit 0.50 nm Beam intensity at laser exit 5100 mW/cm

a. From the data given, show that the energy of each photon in the laser beam is approximately 1.96eV [2] b. Hence determine the rate of emission of photons from the laser exit [3] c. Show that the momentum of each photon is 1.05 x 10 -27 kgms-1 [1] d. Since photons have momentum, light can exert forces on atoms, slowing down the fast moving atoms. i. State the changes in momentum of an atom as it absorbs a photon of momentum given in part (c) [1] ii. For an atom of mass 20.18 u moving at a speed of 105 cms-1 , show that the maximum change in velocity when it absorbs a photon of momentum given in (c) is of the order cms-1 [2] iii. Hence, estimate the order of magnitude of the rate of photon absorption if the atom is to be stopped in 1ms [2]

10

e. By comparing your answer to (b) and (d)(iii), suggest if it is feasible to slow down and hence cool atoms through absorption of photons from a laser beam [1] 12) The beam divergence of a laser beam is 1.2 milli-radians. It is directed normally at a wall 6.0m away. Estimate the diameter of the spot of light on the wall. 13) In a ruby laser, light of wavelength 550nm from a xenon flash lamp is used to excite the chromium atoms in the ruby from ground state E1 to state E3. In subsequent de-excitations, laser light is emitted. Which of the following statements regarding this laser is incorrect?

a. E3 cannot be the metastable state because, if it is, then there will be no net production of light when equilibrium is reached, since stimulated absorption and stimulated emission will then occur at the same rate because the numbers of electrons in E3 and E1will be the same at steady state. b. E3 is the metastable state because, having a longer lifetime than a normal excited state, the metastable state allows the accumulation of excited electrons, resulting in population inversion and net light production. c. E2 is the metastable state because it is not subject to stimulated emission caused by the 550nm photons used in optical pumping, and so allows the accumulation of excited electrons to achieve population inversion. d. The transition from state E2 to E1 produces the laser light. 14) The process of lasing involves an incident photon stimulating the emission of another photon with which of the following? a. Same energy and phase b. Same energy but different phase c. Different energy and phase d. Different energy but same phase 15) A youngs double slit experiment usually involves the use of a primary slit. Explain why a similar experiment repeated with laser as the light source does not require a primary slit.

11

16)

Why is laser light monochromatic? a. The excited electrons are in a metastable state b. The system is in a state of population inversion c. Stimulated emission causes the emitted photon and the incident photon to be of the same phase d. Photons of the same energy as that of the incident photons are emitted when the electrons transit down from a higher energy level Which of the following statements concerning a laser system is false? a. An external energy source is needed to create population inversion b. The laser beam produced is coherent and of a single wavelength c. By changing the reflective coefficient of the partially reflecting mirror, the intensity of the laser beam can be varied d. High-end laser systems can produce perfectly collimated beams (i.e. beams that would not spread)

17)

12

1) Diffraction is the spreading of waves around an obstacle or aperture 2) Plane polarization is the process of producing waves which vibrate in only one plane. To confirm, pass the beam through a polarizer. As the polarizer is rotated in a plane perpendicular to the beam, the intensity of the emerging beam should vary from a maximum to zero. 3) Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation 4) High penetration power is NOT a characteristic of a laser beam. 5) > Monochromatic (one wavelength and frequency) > High intensity > Coherent (in phase or constant phase difference) > Minimal divergence (i.e. very low emittance emittance is a measure of how wide the beam is and how strongly it diverges. The lower the emittance, the less it diverges and the more focused the beam becomes) 6) A laser beams power is incident on a smaller area and thus more intense A laser beams radiation energy is concentrated only in the visible spectrum, while a filament lamp radiates energy in the invisible spectrum as well. 7) When an electron in an atom is in an excited state, it could interact with a photon and de-excite, emitting a photon. The incoming photons energy is equal to the energy difference between the excited and lower energy state of the electron. The emitted photon has the same energy, phase and direction as the incident photon. An incoming photon stimulates an excited electron to de-excite and emit a photon. 8) These 2 photons will in turn cause emission of identical photons from other excited atoms, causing a cascading effect which results in the amplification of light. 9) Population inversion is a condition when there are more atoms in the excited state compared to ground state If there are more atoms in the higher metastable state than the ground state, on a whole, the number of photons that cause stimulated absorption is clearly much less than the number of photons that produce stimulated emission. As such, a single stimulated emission event multiplies the number of photons by a factor of 2, and a series of stimulated emission events can cause a cascade or exponential increase in the number of photons emitted, resulting in amplification. 10) It may be achieved by supplying energy to the system using a continuous light source to raise the atoms to a higher energy state, optical pumping. 11) 1.96eV; 3.19 x 1016 s-1; 1.05 x 10-27 kgms-1; 1.05 x 10-27 kgms-1;3.13cms-1; 3.19 x 107 s-1; feasible 12) 7.2 x 10-3 m 13) Statement B is incorrect. 14) The correct answer is option A: Same energy and phase. 15) The use of a primary slit is to ensure that the light incident on the double slit is coherent. Since the light emitted from a laser is coherent, there is no need for a primary slit. 16) The correct answer is option D: 17) Option D is incorrect: Some diffraction/deviation of photons in a laser beam is inevitable.

13