Unit 4 LASERS By. Dr. M. Z. Ansari
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Differences between Stimulated and spontaneous emission of radiation S.no Stimulated Emission Spontaneous emission 1 An atom in the excited state is induced to The atom in the excited state returns to the return to the ground state , thereby resulting ground state thereby emitting a photon, in two photons of same frequency and without any external inducement is called energy is called Stimulated emission Spontaneous emission 2 The emitted photons move in the same The emitted photons move in all directions direction and is highly directional and are random 3 The radiation is highly intense , The radiation is less intense and is monochromatic and coherent incoherent. 4 The photons are in phase, there is a constant The photons are not in phase (i.e.) there is phase difference. no phase relationship between them The rate of transition is given by The rate of transition is given by R21 (St) = B21 u() N2 R21 (Sp) = A21 N2 Population Inversion: Population Inversion creates a situation in which the number of atoms in higher energy state is more than that in the lower energy state. Usually at thermal equilibrium, the number of atoms N2 i.e., the population of atoms at excited state is much lesser than the population of the atoms at ground state N1 that is N1 > N2. The Phenomenon of making N2 > N1 i.e, the number of particles N2 more in higher energy level than the number of particles N1 in lower energy level is known as Population Inversion or inverted population. The states of system, in which the population of higher energy state is more in compression to the population of lower energy state are called negative temperature states. Conditions of Population inversion. 1.There must be at least two energy levels E2 > E1. 2.There must be a source to supply the energy to the medium. 3.The atoms must be continuously raised to the excited state. Metastable State The key to the laser is the presence in many atoms of one or more excited energy levels whose lifetimes may be 103 s or more instead of the usual 108 s. Such relatively long-lived states are called metastable (temporarily stable) An atom can exist in a metastable energy level for a longer time before radiating than it can in an ordinary energy level. An atom can be excited to a higher level by supplying energy to it. Normally, excited atoms have short life times and release their energy in a matter of 108 seconds through spontaneous emission. It means atoms do not stay long to be stimulated. As a result, they undergo spontaneous emission and rapidly return to the ground level; thereby population inversion could not be established. In order to do so, the excited atoms are required to ‘wait’ at the upper energy level till a large number of atoms accumulate at that level. In other words, it is necessary that excited state have a longer lifetime. A Meta stable state is such a state. Metastable can be readily obtained in a crystal system containing impurity atoms. These levels lie in the forbidden gap of the host crystal. There could be no population inversion and hence no laser action, if metastable states don’t exist. Pumping The process to achieve the population inversion in the medium is called Pumping action. It is essential requirement for producing a laser beam. The methods commonly used for pumping action are: 1. Optical pumping (Excitation by Photons) 2. Electrical discharge method (Excitation by electrons) 3. Direct conversion 4. In elastic atom – atom collision between atoms 1. Optical pumping: When the atoms are exposed to light radiations energy h, atoms in the lower energy state absorb these radiations and they go to the excited state. This method is called Optical pumping. It is used in solid state lasers like ruby laser and Nd-YAG laser. In ruby laser, xenon flash lamp is used as pumping source. 2. Electrical discharge method (Excitation by electrons) In this method, the electrons are produced in an electrical discharge tube. These electrons are accelerated to high velocities by a strong electrical field. These accelerated electrons collide with the gas atoms. By the process, energy from the electrons is transferred to gas atoms. Some atoms gain energy and they go to the excited state. This results in population inversion. This method is called Electrical discharge method. This method of pumping is used in gas lasers like argon and CO2 Laser 3.Direct Conversion In this method, due to electrical energy applied in direct band gap semiconductor like Ga As, recombination of electrons and holes takes place. During the recombination process, the electrical energy is directly converted into light energy. Optical Pumping: Three- and Four-Level Systems In a simple two-level system, it is not possible to obtain a population inversion with optical pumping because the system can absorb pump light (i.e., gain energy) only as long as population inversion, and thus light amplification, is not achieved. Essentially, the problem is stimulated emission caused by the pump light itself. Inversion by optical pumping becomes possible when using a three-level system. Pump light with a shorter wavelength (higher photon energy) can transfer atoms from the ground state to the highest level. From there, spontaneous emission or a non-radiative process (e.g., involving phonons in a laser crystal) transfers atoms to an intermediate level, called the upper laser level. From that level down to the ground state, the laser transition with stimulated emission can occur. With sufficiently high pump intensity, population inversion for the laser transition can be reached as stimulated emission by the pump radiation is prevented by the transfer to the intermediate level. Laser gain with a much lower excitation level is possible in a four-level system, such as Nd:YAG. Here, the lower level of the laser transition is somewhat above the ground state, and a rapid (most often non-radiative) transfer from there to the ground state keeps the population of the lower laser level very small. Therefore, a moderate population in the third level (the upper laser level), as achieved with a moderate pump intensity, is sufficient for laser amplification. Three level and four level laser Characteristics of Laser Laser light has four unique characteristics that differentiate it from ordinary light: these are; Coherence Directionality Monochromatic High intensity 1. Coherence We know that visible light is emitted when excited electrons (electrons in higher energy level) jumped into the lower energy level (ground state). The process of electrons moving from higher energy level to lower energy level or lower energy level to higher energy level is called electron transition. In ordinary light sources (lamp, sodium lamp and torch light), the electron transition occurs naturally. In other words, electron transition in ordinary light sources is random in time. The photons emitted from ordinary light sources have different energies, frequencies, wavelengths, or colors. Hence, the light waves of ordinary light sources have many wavelengths. Therefore, photons emitted by an ordinary light source are out of phase. In laser, the electron transition occurs artificially. In other words, in laser, electron transition occurs in specific time. All the photons emitted in laser have the same energy, frequency, or wavelength. Hence, the light waves of laser light have single wavelength or color. Therefore, the wavelengths of the laser light are in phase in space and time. In laser, a technique called stimulated emission is used to produce light. Thus, light generated by laser is highly coherent. Because of this coherence, a large amount of power can be concentrated in a narrow space. 2. Directionality In conventional light sources (lamp, sodium lamp and torchlight), photons will travel in random direction. Therefore, these light sources emit light in all directions. On the other hand, in laser, all photons will travel in same direction. Therefore, laser emits light only in one direction. This is called directionality of laser light. The width of a laser beam is extremely narrow. Hence, a laser beam can travel to long distances without spreading. If an ordinary light travels a distance of 2 km, it spreads to about 2 km in diameter. On the other hand, if a laser light travels a distance of 2 km, it spreads to a diameter less than 2 cm. 3. Monochromatic Monochromatic light means a light containing a single color or wavelength. The photons emitted from ordinary light sources have different energies, frequencies, wavelengths, or colors. Hence, the light waves of ordinary light sources have many wavelengths or colors. Therefore, ordinary light is a mixture of waves having different frequencies or wavelengths. On the other hand, in laser, all the emitted photons have the same energy, frequency, or wavelength. Hence, the light waves of laser have single wavelength or color. Therefore, laser light covers a very narrow range of frequencies or wavelengths. 4. High Intensity You know that the intensity of a wave is the energy per unit time flowing through a unit normal area. In an ordinary light source, the light spreads out uniformly in all directions. If you look at a 100 Watt lamp filament from a distance of 30 cm, the power entering your eye is less than 1/1000 of a watt. In laser, the light spreads in small region of space and in a small wavelength range. Hence, laser light has greater intensity when compared to the ordinary light. If you look directly along the beam from a laser (caution: don’t do it), then all the power in the laser would enter your eye. Thus, even a 1 Watt laser would appear many thousand times more intense than 100 Watt ordinary lamp.