Fundamentals of Lasers

Laser Types

Dr. Mohamed Al-Fadhali

Lasers can be divided into groups according to different criteria: v The state of matter of the active medium: solid, liquid, gas, or plasma. v The spectral range of the laser wavelength: visible spectrum, Infra- Red (IR) spectrum, UV spectrum. v The excitation (pumping) method of the active medium: Optical pumping, Electric pumping, Chemical pumping, etc. v The characteristics of the radiation emitted from the laser. v The number of energy levels which participate in the lasing process. v CW or pulsed. v Laser power
Dr. Mohamed Al-Fadhali 2

Types of lasers
We will somewhat arbitrarily look at lasers based on whether the gain medium is a gas, liquid, or solid.
Gas: Atomic gas laser (He-Ne laser), Ionic gas laser( Ar Ion laser), Molecular gas laser (CO2 lasers, Excimer laser) Ruby, Nd:YAG laser, Nd:glass, Ti:sapphire laser Dye lasers

Solid: Liquid:

Semiconductor: Diode (semiconductor) lasers

Dr. Mohamed Al-Fadhali

Atomic (e.g. He:Ne) or ionic (e.g. Ar+) species ( Electronic transitions: wavelengths from visible to near-IR) Molecular species (e.g. CO2) (Vibrational transitions: wavelengths in mid- to far- infrared) Typically have: Narrow linewidth Low power / CW operation with stable, high-quality beams Recirculating gain medium (replenish or cool) Liquid lasers : organic dyes ( e.g. Rhodamine 6G) Efficient emission over a range of visible wavelengths Broad emission due to rotational transitions tunable Typically optically-pumped, pulsed operation Being supplanted by solid-state lasers

Gas lasers

Solid-state lasers

Crystal or glass host doped with paramagnetic ion (e.g. Ruby, Nd:YAG, Ti:sapphire Nd:Yag Laser; Nd: Glass; YLF, YVO4; Yb:YAG Laser, Tm:Ho:YAG, Fiber Lasers. broad absorption optical pumping high powers, CW and pulsed
Dr. Mohamed Al-Fadhali 4

Other lasers:

Chemical, Color Centre, Free Electron Laser, X-Ray Laser, Gaser (Gamma Ray)

nPumping 3 Important Types

Optical Pumping:

Electrical Discharge,EM Microwave Pumping Semiconductor Diodes: e-h injection

Dr. Mohamed Al-Fadhali

Summary of some common lasers

Laser
HeNe Ar ion N2 Excimer CO2 Dye lasers Nd:YAG Alexandrite Ti:sapphire Diode lasers
*

Pulsed Tuneable Emission wavelengths or CW*

CW CW P P Both Both Both P CW Both No No No No** Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes 632.8 nm (1.15 m) 351, 455, 458, 466, 477, 488, 497, 502, 515, 529 nm 337 nm 190 350 nm 10.6, 9.6 m** 365 930 nm 1064 nm (532, 355, & 266 nm)*** 720 800 nm 670 1100 nm UV to mid-IR

Typical mode of operation Tuneable over a narrow range (or depending on particular laser) *** 2nd, 3rd etc. harmonics
**

Dr. Mohamed Al-Fadhali

GAS LASERS The Helium Neon (He-Ne) Laser

Helium Neon lasers consist of a discharge tube inserted between highly reflecting mirrors. The tube contains a mixture of helium and neon atoms in the approximate ratio of He:Ne (5:1). By applying a high voltage (a few KV) across the tube, an electrical discharge can be induced. The electrons collide with the atoms and put them in an excited state. The light is emitted by the neon atoms, and the purpose of the helium is to assist the population inversion process.
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Dr. Mohamed Al-Fadhali

 Although it can operate on a number of transitions in the visible and near infrared regions, the most commonly used by far is the red line at 632.8 nm. A typical construction is shown in last Figure. One mirror (the end reflector) has a very high reflectivity at the lasing wavelength, while the other (output mirror) has a mirror transmission T that optimizes the laser output. The lasing transitions are all within the excited states of Ne. In the excitation scheme shown, He atoms are promoted from their ground state (both electrons in the 1s state) to the first two excited states (one electron promoted to the 2s state) by collisions with fast-moving electrons, a process termed electron-impact excitation. The two The two excited levels states 23S and 21S correspond to the two He electrons having the same or different spin orientation, respectively. The excited He atoms then collide with and transfer their energy to Ne atoms, romoting them from their ground state (1s, 2s, and 2p shells filled) to an excited state (one Ne electron in the 4s or 5s levels). The important 632.8 nm transition is from the 5s state to the 3p state, an allowed transition with l = 1.
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Neon has ten electrons in the configuration 1s22s22p6. The excited states correspond to the promotion of one of the 2p electrons to higher levels. This gives the level scheme shown in the diagram. By good luck, the 5s and 4s levels of the neon atoms are almost degenerate with the S = 0 and S = 1 terms of the 1s2s configuration of helium. Thus the helium atoms can easily de-excited by collisions with neon atoms in the ground state according to the following scheme:

The star indicates that the atom is an excited state. Any small differences in the energy between the excited states of the two atoms are taken up as kinetic energy. This scheme leads to a large population of neon atoms in the 5s and 4s excited states. This gives population inversion with respect to the 3p and 4p levels. It would not be easy to get this population inversion without the helium because collisions between the neon atoms and the electrons in the tube would tend to excite all the levels of the neon atoms equally. This is why there is more helium than neon in the tube.
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 To achieve population inversion, the 3p lower laser level must be depleted at a sufficiently high rate. Fortunately, this is the case because the 3p 3s radiative decay is fast (again, an allowed transition). However, the 3s level does not decay as rapidly, and electron impact excitation can repump the Ne atom from the 3s back up to the 3p state, thereby destroying the population inversion. This problem is partially mitigated by collisions of Ne atoms with the walls of the laser tube, which depopulate the 3s nonradiatively. The result is a practical limit on tube diameter for a given pressure. Optimum performance in the HeNe laser is found to occur when the product of tube diameter and total gas pressure is

D P= 3.6 - 4 torr mm.

Note:
The main laser transition at 632.8 nm occurs between the 5s level and the 3p level. The lifetime of the 5s level is 170 ns, while that of the 3p level is 10 ns. This transition therefore easily satisfies the population inversion criterion of the 4-level system.
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v Attempts to scale the HeNe laser up to high output power are not successful, because as the discharge current increases, the lower laser level (3p) becomes fed more efficiently than the upper laser level (5s). Beyond some optimum current density, the laser output power then starts to decrease with increasing current. v The only way to make a higher power HeNe laser is to increase the tube length, but this requires a proportionate increase in the high voltage, which at a certain point becomes impractical. v HeNe lasers are thus inherently low power, with typical output powers of a few mW for a laser 1020 cm long. v The efficiency is quite low, with electrical-to-optical conversion efficiencies of ~ 0.02%. In comparison, a diode laser in the same wavelength range can be quite efficient ( > 10%), and requires only a low-voltage power supply.

Properties of He-Ne laser beam

Excellent beam quality Narrow laser linewidth high coherence Many applications, e.g. laser interferometers
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The role of the Helium gas in He-Ne laser

to increase the efficiency of the lasing process. Two effects make Helium particularly valuable: The direct excitation of Neon gas is inefficient, but the direct excitation of He gas atoms is very efficient. An excited state of the He atom has an energy level which is very similar to the energy of an excited state of the Neon atom The excitation process of the Neon atoms is a two stages process: - The high voltage causes electrons to accelerate from the cathode toward the anode. These electrons collide with the He atoms and transfer kinetic energy to them. - The excited Helium atoms collide with the Neon atoms, and transfer to them the energy for excitation. Thus Helium gas does not participate in the lasing process, but increases the excitation efficiency so that the lasing efficiency with it increase by a factor of about 200
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Helium cadmium
The population inversion scheme in HeCd is similar to that in He-Ne except that the active medium is Cd+ ions. The laser transitions occur in the blue and the ultraviolet at 442 nm, 354 nm and 325 nm. The UV lines are useful for applications that require short wavelength lasers, such as high precision printing on photosensitive materials. Examples include lithography of electronic circuitry and making master copies of compact disks.

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 The excitation to the upper laser level of the Cadmium atoms in the gas is similar to the excitation process of the Neon gas in a He-Ne laser: Helium atoms are excited by collisions with accelerated electrons, and than they pass their energies to Cadmium atoms by collisions. The transitions in Helium-Cadmium laser are between energy levels of singly ionized Cadmium atoms, and about twelve lines are available. These wavelengths are in the shorter wavelength region, violet and Ultra-Violet (UV). Thus, the main application of the He-Cd laser is in the optics laboratory, for fabricating holographic gratings. The practical problem in Helium-Cadmium laser is to maintain homogeneous distribution of the metal vapor inside the electrical discharge tube. The ions are attracted to the cold windows at the ends of the cavity. In order to prevent coating of the windows with Cadmium, cold traps are put before the laser windows.
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Characteristics of He-Cd lasers

Output wavelengths: - Blue light 0.4416 [mm] - Ultra-Violet (UV) light 0.3250 [mm]. Maximum output power: 150 [mW] in the blue line, and 50 [mW] at UV. Maximum total efficiency: in the blue line 0.02%, and in the UV 0.01%. Spectral width: 0.003 [nm] (about 5 [GHz]), and coherence length: about 10 [cm]. Distance between two longitudinal modes: about 200 [MHz].

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Argon ion (Ar+) Lasers

Argon has 18 electrons with the configuration 1s22s22p63s23p6. Argon atoms incorporated into a discharge tube can be ionized by collisions with the electrons. The Ar+ ion has 17 electrons. The excited states of the Ar+ ion are generated by exciting one of the five 3p electrons to higher levels. The level scheme is given below. The important transitions occur between the 4p and 4s levels of the Ar+ ion. Due to fine structure (spin-orbit coupling) this is actually a doublet. The two emission lines are at 488 nm (blue) and 514.5 nm (green). Several other visible transitions are also possible, making Ar+ lasers very good for colorful laser light shows.

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Population inversion is achieved in a two-step process. First of all, the electrons in the tube collide with argon atoms and ionize them according to the scheme: Ar (ground state) + lots of energetic electrons Ar+ (ground state) + (lots + 1) less energetic electrons . The Ar+ ground state has a long lifetime and some of the Ar+ ions are able to collide with more electrons before recombining with slow electrons. This puts them into the excited states according to: Ar+ (ground state) + high energy electrons energy electrons Ar+ (excited state) + lower

Since there are six 4p levels as compared to only two 4s levels, the statistics of the collision process leaves three times as many electrons in the 4p level than in the 4s level. Hence we have population inversion. Moreover, cascade transitions from higher excited states also facilitates the population inversion mechanism. The lifetime of the 4p level is 10 ns, which compares to the 1 ns lifetime of the 4s level. Hence we satisfy tupper > tlower and lasing is possible.
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v The diagram above shows a typical arrangement used in an Ar+ laser. Argon lasers tend to be much bigger than helium-Neons. The tube length might be 12 m, and the tube might be running at 50 A with a voltage of 250 V. Hence water-cooling is usually necessary. Output powers up to several tens of Watts are possible. The tube is enclosed in a magnet to constrain the Ar+ ions and protect them from deflections by stray fields. v The windows at the ends of the tube are cut at Brewsters angle (which satisfies tan = n) to reduce refection losses. There is no reflected beam for vertically polarized light at this angle. Since there are several laser transitions with similar wavelengths, it is necessary to use a prism to select the emission line that is to be used.
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In addition to laser light shows, argon lasers are used for pumping tunable lasers such as dye lasers and Ti:sapphire lasers. There are also some medical applications such as laser surgery, and scientific applications include fluorescence excitation and Raman spectroscopy.

Krypton ion Kr+

Krypton ion lasers work by very similar principles to the argon laser. All you have to do is change the gas in the discharge tube and choose the mirror reflectivities to match the emission lines. The strongest line is in the red at 676.4 nm. Some laser manufacturers sell lasers with a mixture of Ar+ and Kr+ in the tube. We then get emission at 676 nm (red), 514 nm (green) and 488 nm (blue): this is great for laser light shows.

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Excimer lasers
Excimer lasers are pulsed, high power lasers
Excimer: excited dimer Exciplex: excited complex (dissimilar atoms) (E.g., He2) (E.g., ArF)

Excimers and exciplexes are molecules characterised by a dissociative ground state, but by a bound potential for an excited electronic state: Since the lower state is very short-lived, a population inversion can also be achieved relatively easily.
v The name Excimer comes from the combination of the two words: exited dimer, which means that the molecule is composed of two atoms, and exists only in an excited state

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Noble gas-halogen exciplexes are useful for many laser applications. Exciplexes lasers, these lasers are usually called Excimer lasers.) E.g., ArF (193 nm), KrF (248 nm), XeF (351 nm), KrCl (222 nm), XeCl (308 nm), XeBr (282 nm) An electric discharge is used to pump the laser. Although the ground energy level is short-lived, in some cases the lower level potential may be very slightly bound, allowing some tuneability of the laser. Note that the Excimer laser can be changed by exchanging the gas mixture (along with the HR and OC).
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Operation of the Excimer Laser

The composition of the gas mixture inside the tube of the Excimer laser is: q Very little halogen (0.1-0.2%). q Little noble gas (Argon, Krypton or Xenon). about 90% Neon or Helium. q The halogen atoms can come from halogen molecules such as: F2, Cl2, Br2, or from other molecules which contain halogens such as: HCl, NF3. q The advantage of using a compound and not a pure halogen, is the strong chemical activity of the halogen molecule (especially Fluorine).

Properties of Excimer Lasers

Excimer lasers emit in the Ultra-Violet (UV) spectrum. The radiation is emitted only in short pulses. The length of each pulse is between pico-seconds to micro-seconds (10-12-10-6 [sec]). The gas pressure inside the laser tube is high: 1-5 [At]. The efficiency of commercial Excimer lasers is up to a few percent.

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The Common Excimer lasers

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Applications of the Excimer Laser:

Commercial Excimer lasers can emit (UV) radiation up to an average power of 100 Watts. Since the emitted wavelengths are very short, each individual photon carries a large amount of energy, which is enough to break the bond between molecules in the material that absorbed the radiation. Every pulse of Excimer laser radiation contains a large number of photons, since it has a very high peak power. Thus, the Excimer laser is the perfect cutting tool for almost every material Special Applications: Photolithography - Material processing at a very high degree of accuracy (up to parts of microns !). Cutting biological tissue without affecting the surrounding. Correcting vision disorders - Cutting very delicate layers from the outer surface of the cornea, thus reshaping it, to avoid the necessity for glasses. Marking on products - Since the short wavelength radiation from the Excimer laser is absorbed by every material, it is possible with a single laser to mark on all kinds of materials, such as plastics, glass, metal, etc. The price of an Excimer laser is relatively high (tens of thousands of dollars), but it is used a lot because of its unique properties.
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properties :
- active media : excimers, e.g. ArF, KrK, XeCl, - pumping mechanism : electron impact in a gas discharge, ion-ion recombination, harpooning reactions - low efficiency (with respect to the partial pressures of the initial reactants, i.e. typically in the regime of 1 bar); compensation of low efficiency by large partial pressures, large media length (typically 1 m), and large pump rate (i.e. in high-voltage gas discharge, typically in the regime of 20 kV) efficiency (optical output/electric input) of approx. 1 % large output powers and repetition rates possible (e.g. excimers provide very high-energy pulses in the UV and near-VUV regime), e.g. several 100 mJ per laser pulse with repetition rates of several 100 Hz - small lifetime excited state (approx. 10 ns) large pump rate required - laser wavelengths from 108 nm (NeF) to 397 nm (XeF)

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applications :
- material processing - laser lithography (small wavelength = large resolution) - laser surgery (in particular in the human eye) - pump laser for dye laser systems

The carbon dioxide laser CO2

The CO2 laser is a high power infrared laser of high efficiency that may be pulsed or CW. It lases between vibrational levels of CO2. CO2 has 3 normal modes of vibration the symmetric stretch (1) at 1354 cm-1, the bending vibration (2) at 673 cm-1, and the asymmetric stretch (3) at 2396 cm-1.

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Since the lower state is very short-lived, a population inversion can also be achieved relatively easily.
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Lasing action in a CO2 molecule was first demonstrated by C. Patel in 1964. He transmitted an electric discharge pulse through pure CO2 gas in a laser tube, and got a small laser output. CO2 is the gas in which the lasing process occurs, but other gas additives to the laser tube improve the total efficiency of the laser. The standard CO2 laser includes in the active medium a mixture of CO2 with N2 and He. The optimal proportion of these 3 gases in the mixture depends on the laser system and the excitation mechanism. In general, for a continuous wave laser the proportions are:

CO2:N2:He ( 1:1:8)
CO2 is a linear molecule, and the three atoms are situated on a straight line with the Carbon atom in the middle.

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Pumping is achieved by electric discharge some CO2 molecules are directly excited, together with efficient transfer from excited N2 to CO2.
Transitions between vibrational levels also involve rotational transitions, giving rise to a relatively large number of closely spaced emission lines the laser can be tuned between these transitions.

Very high laser (up to kW) powers can be achieved.

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Properties of CO2 Laser

High output power. Commercial CO2 Lasers produce more than 10,000 watts continuously. Output spectrum is in the Infra-Red (IR) spectrum: 9-11 [mm]. Very high efficiency (up to 30%). Can operate both continuously or pulsed. Average output power is 75 [W/m] for slow flow of gas, and up to few hundreds [W/m] for fast gas flow. Very simple to operate, and the gasses are non-toxic.

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Solid State Lasers

Ruby laser
In 1960 Maiman demonstrated laser oscillation in the optical region of the spectrum for the first time, using as the active medium a crystal of ruby. Therefore, Ruby lasers have historical importance because they were the first successful laser to operate The active ion in ruby is Cr3+ doped at a level of around 0.05% by weight into sapphire (Al2O3). The Al2O3 host crystal is colourless. The light is emitted by transitions of the Cr3+ impurities. Ruby is a three- level laser The absorption bands of the ruby are in the green and violet parts of the visible spectrum. that cause a ruby laser rod to appear pink. Ruby gemstones contain a much higher concentration of Cr3+, about 1%, and consequently are a rich red color.

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 The upper laser levels decay predominantly by emission of radiation on transitions to the ground state. However, the radiative decay is electric dipole forbidden, and consequently the lifetime of the upper levels is long (2 3 ms). The long lifetime of the upper level means that it can act as a storage level, which helps the formation of a population inversion. Excitation of Ruby rod is achieved by a powerful flashlamp. The excited electrons relax rapidly to the upper laser level by nonradiative transitions in which phonons are emitted. This leads to a large population in the upper laser level. If the flashlamp is powerful enough, it will be possible to pump more than half of the atoms from the ground state to the upper laser level. In this case, there will then be a population inversion between upper laser level and the lower laser level, and lasing can occur if a suitable cavity is provided. The laser emission is in the red at 694.3nm.

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The diagrams to the right show a typical arrangements for a ruby laser. The crystal is inserted inside a powerful flash lamp. Water-cooling prevents damage to the crystal by the intense heat generated by the lamp. Mirrors at either end of the crystal define the cavity. Reflective coatings can be applied directly to the end of the rod or external mirrors can be used. The lamps are usually driven in pulsed mode by discharge from a capacitor bank. The pulse energy can be as high as 100 J per pulse. This is because the upper laser level has a very long lifetime (3 ms) and can store a lot of energy.

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Neodymium Lasers
In Nd laser, Nd+3 ions (as impurities of up to a few percent by weight) are replacing the atoms of the solid host in the active medium. Three known solid hosts are used for Nd-YAG laser where Nd+3 ions are added as impurities: Glass - YAG (Y3Al5O12 (yttrium aluminum garnet ) Crystal - YLF (LiYF4) Crystal. The choice between the three possible hosts is according to the intended use of the laser: Glass is used as the host material when a pulsed laser is needed, with

each pulse at high power, and the pulse repetition rate is slow.
The active medium of Nd-Glass Laser can be manufactured in a shape of disk or rod, with diameters of up to 0.5 meter (!) and length of up to several meters (!). Such dimensions are possible because glass is isotropic material, cheap, and can be easily worked to the right shape.
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High percentage (up to about 6%) of Nd ions can be added to glass as impurity. The problem with glass as a host is its poor thermal conductivity. Thus cooling the laser when it operates continuously or at high repetition rate is difficult. YAG crystal is used for high repetition rate pulses (more than one pulse per second). In this case a large amount of heat need to be transferred away from the laser, and the thermal conductivity of the YAG crystal is much higher than that of glass. YAG crystal with the high quality needed for lasers can be made with diameters of 2-15 [mm] and at lengths of 2-30 [cm]. The price of a YAG laser rod is high, since growing crystals is a slow and complicated process. The percentage of Nd ions in the YAG host is 1-4% by weight.

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Neodymium Lasers
The first operating neodymium laser was developed in 1964 at Bell Labs, not long after the invention of the ruby laser. Unlike the ruby laser, however, the neodymium laser has continued to find new applications and to grow in importance, right up to the present day. The reason for this difference can be understood by considering the nature of the laser transition. Neodymium (Nd) is one of the rare earths, the group of atoms with atomic number between 58 and 70. The triply ionized rare earths (Nd3+, for example) have optical transitions in the visible and near infrared regions that are fairly well defined in energy, depending only slightly on the host solid into which the ion is doped. This insensitivity of the transition energy to the ions environment comes about through a shielding effect unique to the rare earths. The shielding is not perfect, but to a first approximation the energy of the various levels is not affected by the environment surrounding the rare earth ion

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 The energies of the lower-lying levels of Nd3+ are shown in the last Figure. In principle, lasing can occur between any pair of levels, but the required population inversion is easily achieved only when the upper laser level has a long lifetime. The lifetime of most of the Nd3+ levels is rather short, due to efficient nonradiative relaxation to the next-lowest level. The most important laser transition in Nd3+ is from the upper laser level to lower laser level at wavelength of 1.064 m. Since the lower laser level here is not the ground state, this constitutes a four-level system. Achieving population inversion in a four level system is much easier than in a three-level system, because it is not necessary to take half the excited atoms out of the ground state. The required excitation rate is, therefore, much lower for the Nd3+ laser than for the ruby laser, and this is a primary reason for the Nd3+ lasers initial and continuing popularity. Other advantages of Nd3+ over ruby are an order of magnitude-higher peak cross section (for Nd3+ in a crystalline host), and the ability to use higher ion concentrations without significant lifetime quenching by ionion interactions. These both lead to a higher gain coefficient, which improves the lasing threshold and lasing efficiency.
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As can be seen from the energy level diagram of Nd:YAG Laser Nd lasers are four level lasers. Nd ions have two absorption band, and excitation is done by optical pumping, either by flash lamps for pulsed lasers, or by arc lamps for continuous wave lasers. From these excited energy levels, the Nd ions are transferring into the upper laser level by a non radiative transition. The stimulated emission is from the upper laser level to the lower laser level, and the wavelengths of the emitted photons are around 1.06 [mm]. From the lower laser level, a non-radiative transition to the ground level.

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Rear Mirror Adjustment Knobs Safety Shutter Polarizer Assembly (optional) Coolant Beam Tube Adjustment Knob

Output Mirror Beam Beam Tube

Q-switch
(optional)

Nd:YAG Laser Rod Flashlamps

Pump Cavity Laser Cavity Harmonic Generator (optional)

Courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory

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Although the average energy of the sublevels in a manifold is fairly independent of the host material, the position of the various sublevels within the manifold varies considerably. When Nd3+ is doped in a glass, it can reside in any one of a great number of different sites, each having a different local environment and symmetry. This dependence on glass composition applies equally well to other rare earth ions doped into glass, and has implications for optical amplifiers as well as for lasers. The Nd3+ laser is typically pumped with a lamp or with a diode laser. For lamp pumping, the lamp and laser rod are often placed at the foci of an elliptical reflector. The law of reflection applied to an elliptical surface dictates that a light

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 ray emitted in any direction from one focus of the ellipse is reflected so that it passes through the other focus. This geometry ensures optimal coupling of the emitted lamp light into the laser rod. The pump light enters the laser rod from the side, and the laser is said to be side pumped. In contrast to this, diode pumped lasers are often pumped from the end, or end-pumped,. If the medium urrounding the laser rod is air, the pump light is trapped in the rod by total internal reflection, and the Nd3+ ions are efficiently excited by the pump. For lamp pumping, the pump spectrum is very broad, and there are many levels above the upper laser level that simultaneously absorb the pump light. Because of the close energy spacing of these levels, they all decay rapidly (nanosecond time scale) in a nonradiative cascade to the metastable upper laser level (0.23 ms) for Nd:YAG. In this way, pump-light energy over a broad wavelength range is funneled into the upper laser level.

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For diode laser pumping, in contrast, the excitation is at a single pump wavelength. For example, Nd:YAG has a strong absorption peak at a wavelength of 808 nm, which can be generated by an AlGaAs diode laser. Absorption of a photon at this wavelength excites Nd3+ to E4 which decay rapidly to the upper laser level, E3 in a single nonradiative step. An important advantage of diode laser pumping is its efficiency.

(a) Flashlamp pumping of a Nd:YAG laser, the lamp and laser rod are often placed at the foci of an elliptical reflector to maximize the coupling of pump light into the laser rod. (b) Diode laser pumping, the pump light can be injected into the end of the rod as shown. Pump light that is not absorbed by the rod must then be separated from the laser beam.
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 The overall laser efficiency depends not only on how efficiently the laser medium converts absorbed pump power into laser output, but also on how efficiently the laser medium absorbs the pump light. This absorption efficiency is relatively low for lamp pumping, because the lamp spectrum contains many photons with an energy that falls in between the Nd3+ energy levels. However, the corresponding efficiency for diode laser pumping is high, since all of the diode laser power is concentrated at a wavelength at which the medium is highly absorbing. The overall efficiency of a laser is often defined as the laser output power divided by electrical input power. Diode-pumped Nd:YAG lasers have a much higher efficiency (~ 30%) than their lamp-pumped counterparts (~ 3%), due to the difference in pump absorption efficiency.

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Applications of Nd lasers
Neodymium lasers have been industrial workhorses ever since their introduction. They can be operated efficiently in either continuous or pulsed mode, and have found application in cutting and drilling and other types of materials processing, as well as various medical applications (most of which involve cutting tissue). Although YAG has been the most commonly used crystalline host, other crystals such as YVO4 and YLiF4 have been used as well. Glass hosts have a much lower thermal conductivity than crystalline hosts, and heat dissipation becomes a problem for Nd:glass lasers operated at high average power. Also, the peak cross section for a glass host is smaller. For these reasons, Nd:glass lasers are mostly operated in pulsed mode.

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 One of the more impressive applications of Nd:glass lasers is in the generation of power by nuclear fusion. In nuclear fusion, two hydrogen nuclei (or a nucleus of hydrogen and one of deuterium) are joined together to create a nucleus of helium, thereby releasing considerable energy. To get the nuclei to come together requires extraordinary conditions of temperature and compression that are quite difficult to achieve. One proposed scheme is to illuminate a small pellet of the hydrogen/deuterium mixture from all sides with a high-power laser pulse, which will then implode the pellet and create the necessary compression.

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Emission spectrum of the Nd3+ in various hosts. In crystalline hosts (left two panels) the spectra consist of a series of narrow lines, with a distribution that depends strongly on the type of crystal. In glasses, the spectra are broad and smooth, with a weaker dependence on the type of glass. (After Weber 1979.)
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Titanium Sapphire Laser

Titanium ion (Ti+3) embedded in a matrix of Sapphire (Al2O3) gives: Ti:Al2O3. This material is the active medium of the laser called Titanium doped Sapphire laser. The amount of Titanium ions inside the host material is about 0.1%, and they replace Aluminum atoms in the crystal. Ti:Saphire lasers belong to a family of lasers called Vibronic Lasers, in which trivalent Chromium or Titanium are embedded in solid host. Ti: Sapphire laser was first demonstrated in 1982 by Peter Moulton MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Commercial continuous wave systems entered the market in 1988. They replace the Dye lasers in the Near-Infra-Red (NIR), because they are much more reliable and easier to use. Titanium is a transition metal, thus Titanium Sapphire lasers belong to transition metal lasers. Titanium doped Sapphire laser is an efficient, reliable Tunable laser in the visible spectrum and Near-Infra-Red (NIR) spectrum.
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properties of Titanium Sapphire lasers:

v Usually optically pumped by another laser.
v Can operated continuously or pulsed. v Continuous power of a few watts can be achieved by pumping with Argon Ion Laser. v Has the broadest tuning range of all lasers known today, With possible lasing wavelengths: 670 - 1100 [nm]. v Operate at room temperature. v Very efficient (up to 80% quantum efficiency at room temperature).. v The excited state lifetime of Titanium doped Sapphire is only 3.2 microseconds [msec], too short for pumping with flash- lamp. Thus, the pumping source is another laser. v Absorption spectrum peaks near 500 [nm], so Argon ion lasers or copper vapor lasers can be used as pumping sources.

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Applications of Ti:Saphire Lasers:

The main applications of Titanium doped Sapphire laser are in research laboratories, particular in spectroscopy. The large tuning range makes these lasers (with the appropriate non linear crystal for multiplying frequencies) attractive for generating a tunable sub-Pico-second pulses at short wavelengths. As an example, Titanium Sapphire laser is used in NASA project LASE (Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment) for measuring water vapor and aerosols, and their effects on atmospheric processes. Titanium Sapphire amplifiers can produce: Tera-watt (1012 [W]) power levels. In femto-seconds (10-15 [sec]) pulses. At 10 [Hz] repetition rate. At wavelengths 760-840 [nm].

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Free electron laser (FEL)

concept : an electron beam with relativistic energy is forced by a magnetic field (wiggler), which varies periodically in space, to oscillate transverse to the propagation direction z, the electrons emit synchrotron-radiation; consider a plane wave introduced in propagation direction; depending on the position along the wiggler, the radiation is either in or out of phase with the motion of the electrons; the radiation will either accelerate or decelerate the electrons (depending on the position in the wiggler); a stable situation is reached, when the electrons form bunches (i.e. the slow electrons catch up the fast ones) : the electrons are now synchronized with the formed plane wave and hence the emitted radiation and electron motion are in phase

Diode Lasers CLASS 3a

Laser Pointers

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Laser-Professionals.com

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LASER RADIATIONAVOID DIRECT EXPOSURE TO BEAM 2w ND:YAG Wavelength: 532 nm

Output Power 80 mW CLASS IIIb Laser Product

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