1

2
 3

visible electromagnetic radiation- entire electromagnetic

spectrum(Microwaves, radio waves, X-Rays, and Gamma
Rays)- human eye is sensitive to only a tiny part- that is
called light.
The wavelengths of visible light range from about 350 or
400 nm to about 750 or 800 nm.
 4

Where does light come from?

• Charged particles responsible
producing light
James Clerk Maxwell
• Charged particle has an electric field (1831-1879)

around it
• A moving charged particle makes a varying electric field /
magnetic field.
• If the charged particle oscillates, these field oscillate.
• These varying fields propagate (move) - electromagnetic
waves
• Constant speed
 5

Electromagnetic radiation - phenomenon that moves energy from one

place to another- carries with it an electric field and a magnetic field
 6
Electromagnetic radiation travels at about 186,000 miles
per second (300,000 kilometers per second)- light from
the sun takes about 8 minutes to go 93 million miles
(149 million kilometers) to earth- If you could drive to
the sun at 60 mph (100 kph), it would take you 177 years
to get there!- In one second, light can go around the
earth 7 times!
 7
Factor Prefix Symbol

1024 yotta Y
1021 zetta Z
1018 exa E
1015 peta P
1012 tera T
109 giga G
106 mega M
103 kilo k
102 hecto h
101 deka da
10-1 deci d
10-2 centi c
10-3 milli m
10-6 micro µ
10-9 nano n
10-12 pico p
10-15 femto f
10-18 atto a
10-21 zepto z
10-24 yocto y
 8
WAVE OR PARTICLE ?
• light exhibits qualities of both particles and waves
depending on the situation. .
• Thomas Young showed that light is a wave,
because it
–undergoes diffraction and interference
(Young’s double-slit experiment)

Thomas Young
(1773-1829)
 9

Problems with wave theory of

light
• The wave theory of light is unable to explain
photoemission
• For waves, energy depends on amplitude and not
frequency
• Einstein’s Explanation (1905)
– Light consists of particles,
now known as photons
» A photon hitting the emitter
plate will eject an electron
if it has enough energy
» Each photon has energy
Albert Einstein won a Nobel Prize for
his work on the photoelectric effect
E = hν
 10
Photoelectric Effect

Experiment
demonstrates
the particle
nature of light.
 Quantization of Energy
11

Max Planck (1858-1947)

Solved the
“ultraviolet catastrophe”

CCR, Figure 7.5

 12

WAVE-PARTICLE DUALITY OF LIGHT

In 1924 Einstein wrote: “ There are therefore now
two theories of light, both indispensable, and …
without any logical connection.”
Evidence for wave-nature of light
• Diffraction and interference
Evidence for particle-nature of light
• Photoelectric effect

• Light exhibits diffraction and interference phenomena that are only

explicable in terms of wave properties
• Light is always detected as packets (photons); if we look, we never
observe half a photon
• Number of photons proportional to energy density (i.e. to square of
electromagnetic field strength)
 13

Dual nature of Light

wave

photons
Coherence of light: 14

Young’s experiment tests coherence at two different

locations in space - spatial coherence.
Michelson’s interferometer tests coherence
after delay in time - temporal coherence
 Propagation Phenomena 15

When a photon collides with a solid surface there are five

phenomena that could result in the propagation of the
photon:
• reflection
• refraction
• absorption
• scattering
• Polarization
 Rainbows- light reflecting from rain drops 16

►Primary rainbow-sunlight strikes a raindrop- some of the

light is refracted at the first surface- internally reflected
from the back surface- refracted again on exiting the rain
drop

►Secondary rainbow-Some of the sunlight refracted at the

first surface- reflected twice internally from the back
surface-Primary
refracted again on exiting the rain drop.
Secondary
Bow
Bow
 Atoms and Light 17
• Atoms can either absorb or emit light. However, they can only absorb or
emit specific energies of light, based on the positions of the electrons
within the atomic energy level structure.
Atomic Spectra
• Continuum spectrum
smoothly-varying intensity versus wavelength - A blackbody
 Emission spectrum
Light only appearing at specific wavelengths
 Absorption spectrum
A continuum spectrum with certain wavelengths missing
18
 19
The invention of the laser
Lasers have not been observed in nature!
However, conditions for stimulated emission may exist in
the interstellar dust or around stellar bodies - so some
people are looking for extraterrestrial lasers.
Einstein’s hypothesis
The theoretical physics foundation for the
laser principle was created with Einstein’s
postulate of the existence of stimulated emission
along with absorption and spontaneous emission
and with the introduction of the Einstein
coefficients.
Once stimulated emission is understood the road
to the laser is opened, but nevertheless it took 30
years before it was attempted to build an optical
resonator with stimulated emission gain.
Properties of laser light 20

• Monochromatic
• high Intense
• Less divergence
• Coherent
 Laser Fundamentals 21

 The light emitted from a laser is monochromatic,

 it is of one color/wavelength.
 ordinary white light is a combination of many colors
(or wavelengths) of light.
 Lasers emit light that is highly directional,
 laser light is emitted as a relatively narrow beam in
a specific direction.
 Ordinary light, such as from a light bulb, is emitted
in many directions away from the source.
 The light from a laser is said to be coherent,
 wavelengths of the laser light are in phase in space
and time.
 Ordinary light can be a mixture of many
wavelengths.
 22

Energy is “quantized”

 To raise an electron from one Higher energy level

energy level to another,
“input” energy is required
 When falling from one ENERGY OUT
energy level to another,
there will be an energy
“output”
 Energy is absorbed/ emitted
in the form of a photon:
E =hν
ENERGY
IN

Lower energylevel
Lower energy level
 23
Spontaneous emission

BACK
 24

Stimulated Absorption
Higher energy level

Electron is
initially in level 1.
We send in an EM
wave and the
electron goes UP
from level 1 to
level 2.

ENERGY IN

Lower energy level

 25

Spontaneous Emission

Electron initially in level 2 Higher energy level

“falls” to level 1 and gives
off energy
(just happens spontaneously) ENERGY
OUT
E = hν

Lower energy level

 26

Stimulated Emission
Higher energy level

emission - we MAKE
it happen by sending
in an EM wave of
ENERGY IN
frequency ν 0 (frequency =
ν 0)

ENERGY IN
(frequency =
A photon is given ν 0)

off with the

energy
E=hν 0

Lower energy level

 laser 27

Einstein’s hypothesis
The theoretical physics foundation for the
laser principle was created with Einstein’s
postulate of the existence of stimulated
emissionalong with absorption and spontaneous
emission and with the
introduction of the Einstein coefficients.
Stimulated emission Spontaneous emission
 The invention of the laser 28
Maiman
built a ruby laser at Hughes Aircraft in 1960.

The He-Ne-laser
was first operated in 1961 at Bell Labs.
 29

Basic Laser Operation

Electromagnetic wave in

Active medium Output beam

EM wave is repeatedly reflected within

the laser cavity

If the frequency (f ) of the output beam is . . .

microwave region (1 GHz - 30 THz) . . . MASER
optical region (430 THz - 750 THz ) . . . LASER
 30

Lasing Action Diagram

Excited State
Spontaneous
Energy
Emission
Metastable State

Stimulated
Emission of
Radiation
ygr en E
cu dort nI

Ground State
 Laser parts 31

The laser starts to oscillate because mirror gain medium mirror

gain for a light beam in a round trip
through the resonator exceeds the internal field output beam
loss. The internal field grows until a
steady state is reached where gain
in the active medium equals losses l
L
including the output.
The gain medium can be a gas discharge, a liquid or a solid -
almost anything can lase! All that is required is transparency
(low absorption) and ability to hold atoms or molecules in an
exited state long enough to form a population inversion,
providing gain by stimulated emission.
The feedback resonators are most often high quality
mirrors, e.g. dielectric, multi-layer coatings on a glass
substrate. A certain fraction of the light is allowed to leak out
to provide the output beam.
laser modes- light beam is confined to oscillate in certain
electromagnetic patterns
 32

Components of a Laser

Active medium

Output beam

Laser cavity
Mirror (partially reflecting,
Mirror (fully reflecting) partially transmitting)
 33
WAVELENGTHS OF MOST COMMON LASERS

Laser Type Wavelength (µ m)

Argon fluoride (Excimer-UV) 0.193 Helium neon (yellow) 0.594
Krypton chloride (Excimer-UV) 0.222 Helium neon (orange) 0.610
Krypton fluoride (Excimer-UV) 0.248 Gold vapor (red) 0.627
Xenon chloride (Excimer-UV) 0.308 Helium neon (red) 0.633
Xenon fluoride (Excimer-UV) 0.351 Krypton (red) 0.647
Helium cadmium (UV) 0.325 Rohodamine 6G dye (tunable) 0.570-0.650
Nitrogen (UV) 0.337 Ruby (CrAlO3) (red) 0.694
Helium cadmium (violet) 0.441 Gallium arsenide (diode-NIR) 0.840
Krypton (blue) 0.476 Nd:YAG (NIR) 1.064
Argon (blue) 0.488 Helium neon (NIR) 1.15
Copper vapor (green) 0.510 Erbium (NIR) 1.504
Argon (green) 0.514 Helium neon (NIR) 3.39
Krypton (green) 0.528 Hydrogen fluoride (NIR) 2.70
Frequency doubled 0.532 Carbon dioxide (FIR) 9.6
Nd YAG (green) Carbon dioxide (FIR) 10.6
Helium neon (green) 0.543
Krypton (yellow) 0.568
Copper vapor (yellow) 0.570

Key: UV = ultraviolet (0.200-0.400 µm)

VIS = visible (0.400-0.700 µm)
NIR = near infrared (0.700-1.400 µm)
 Laser Output 34
Continuous Output (CW) Pulsed Output (P)

Energy (Joules)
Energy (Watts)

Time Time
watt (W) - Unit of power or radiant flux (1 watt = 1 joule per second).
Joule (J) - A unit of energy
Energy (Q) The capacity for doing work. Energy content is commonly used to characterize the output
from pulsed lasers and is generally expressed in Joules (J).
Irradiance (E) - Power per unit area, expressed in watts per square centimeter.
 Advantages Femtosecond Lasers 35

• Short pulse duration

• Very high resolutions
• Less dispersion
 36

Femtosecond Spectroscopy
• Most chemical
reactions occur in 10-15
sec

• Femtosecond
spectroscopy
monitoring reactions in
real time

• Short pulse duration

allows the detection
short-lived transient
chemical reactions
 37

Pump and Probe

• Medium is excited with
femtosecond pulse
• Delayed probe pulse by
increasing path length
(microns)
• Short pulse duration allows
short-lived reactions to be
studied
• Very high resolutions
 38

Material Processing

• High peak power, TW with amplified systems

• Mulitphoton absorption
• Low thermal and mechanical side effects
• Ablation
• Induced structural changes
 39
Material Ablation
1) Photons generate electrons
2) Electron avalanche
3) Plasma expansion
4) Electron-phonon coupling
5) Material is ejected

e-
 40
What can we make?
• Micro gratings and
periodic nanostructures

• Machined parts for

industrial and medical
applications

• Subsurface wave guides

and all optical
components
 41
Material Processing

• Variety of materials including

dielectrics, semiconductors,
metals, plastics

• Multiphoton absorption allows for

200 fs pulse processing of materials that are
not very photosensitive.

2.3 ps pulse

(Herbert Welling, Laser Zentrum Hannover)

 42
• Laser drilling and laser cutting can produce
features down to 2 µm in size and in materials up
to 1.5mm thick.
diamond
Laser Cooling and Trapping of Atoms 43

• Atoms are cooled from room temperature to a few µK

• A magneto-optical trap (MOT) is formed

• many applications it is useful to be able to transfer the

cold atoms over distances of several centimetres
without heating and maintaining the density of the
atom cloud. We do this using an optically guided atom
fountain. The optical guide is a far-off-resonance laser
beam.
 Laser shows 44

►The intense color of laser light has opened up a whole

new world for laser artists.
►Laser shows are usually performed in planetarium
domes, and set to music ranging from new age to rockand
roll. Laser shows generally use gas ion lasers, including
Argon, Krypton-Argon, and Helium-Neonlasers.

►Sets of high-speed vibrating mirrors called scanners

move the laser beams in different patterns.

►Colors can also be changed by using multi-wavelength

lasers and sending the laser through crystals which
vibrate with sound waves (AOMs Acousto-Optic
Modulators), providing full-color imagery.
 Power Generation 45
• Laser-powered fusion holds hope of generating tremendous
amounts of electricity through the use of lasers.

• Highly focused, powerful lasers "zap" tiny fuel pellets from

all sides, triggering thermonuclear fusion.

• In experiments at the Lawrence Livermore National

Laboratory, laser pulses deliver close to 200 kJ (kilojoules) of
energy to each pellet in less than a nanosecond.

• This single pulse delivers approximately 2 X 10^14 W - about

100 times the world's installed electric power!
•
• The feasibility of a working reactor is still the subject of ongoing
research.
 Information Technology 46
• Lasers are at the heart of some of the fastest
methods of information transfer yet devised.
• Using fiber optic bundles to carry them,
modulated laser beams can transfer huge
amounts of information.
• The internet is just one information
technology taking advatage of laser fiber
optics.
• In fact, the words you are reading now were
most likely transferred most of the way to your
computer via lasers in this manner.
• Lasers in compact disc players and video discs
players read tiny reflections on CDs and
laserdiscs to play back audio and video.
• Soon, your home may be fitted with fiber
optics to carry cable TV and phone service.
 47

Medical

• Laser Surgery

• Medical biopsy

• Hard tissue processing

 48

Corneal flap removal in LASIK

(Gerard Morou, University of Michigan)

 49

Applications in dentistry
• Alternative to
mechanical drills and
CW lasers

• Reduced thermal
stress

• And micro cracks in

enamel
Laser Hazards 50
 51

”….There is no end to the

adventures that we can have if only
we seek them with our eyes
open….”
52