Basic Laser Principles

Lasers are devices that produce intense beams of light which

are monochromatic, coherent, and highly collimated. The
wavelength (color) of laser light is extremely pure
(monochromatic) when compared to other sources of light, and
all of the photons (energy) that make up the laser beam have a
fixed phase relationship (coherence) with respect to one
another. Light from a laser typically has very low divergence.
It can travel over great distances or can be focused to a very
small spot with a brightness which exceeds that of the sun.
Because of these properties, lasers are used in a wide variety of
applications in all walks of life.
The term ―laser‖ is an acronym for (L)ight (A)mplification by
(S)timulated (E)mission of (R)adiation. To understand the
laser, one needs to understand the meaning of these terms. The
term ―light‖ is generally accepted to be electromagnetic
radiation ranging from 1 nm to 1000 mm in wavelength. The
visible spectrum (what we see) ranges from approximately 400
to 700 nm. The wavelength range from 700 nm to 10 mm is
considered the near infrared (NIR), and anything beyond that is
the far infrared (FIR). Conversely, 200 to 400 nm is called
ultraviolet (UV); below 200 nm is the deep ultraviolet (DUV).
To understand stimulated emission, we start with the Bohr
atom.

THE BOHR ATOM

In 1915, Neils Bohr proposed a model of the atom that
explained a wide variety of phenomena that were puzzling
scientists in the late 19th century. This simple model became
the basis for the field of quantum mechanics and, although not
fully accurate by today’s understanding, still is useful for
demonstrating laser principles.
In Bohr’s model, shown in figure 1, electrons orbit the nucleus
of an atom. Unlike earlier ―planetary‖ models, the Bohr atom
has a limited number of fixed orbits that are available to the
electrons. Under the right circumstances an electron can go
from its ground state (lowest-energy orbit) to a higher (excited)
state, or it can decay from a higher state to a lower state, but it
cannot remain between these states. The allowed energy states
are called ―quantum‖ states and are referred to by the principal
―quantum numbers‖ 1, 2, 3, etc. The quantum states are
represented by an energy-level diagram.
For an electron to jump to a higher quantum state, the atom
must receive energy from the outside world. This can happen
through a variety of mechanisms such as inelastic or
semielastic collisions with other atoms and absorption of
energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation (e.g., light).
Likewise, when an electron drops from a higher state to a
lower state, the atom must give off energy, either as kinetic
activity (nonradiative transitions) or as electromagnetic
radiation (radiative transitions). For the remainder of this
discussion we will consider only radiative transitions.
PHOTONS AND ENERGY
In the 1600s and 1700s, early in the modern study of light,
there was a great controversy about light’s nature. Some
thought that light was made up of particles, while others
thought that it was made up of waves. Both concepts explained
some of the behavior of light, but not all. It was finally
determined that light is made up of particles called ―photons‖
which exhibit both particle-like and wave-like properties. Each
photon has an intrinsic energy determined by the equation:

where υ is the frequency of the light and h is Planck’s constant.

Since, for a wave, the frequency and wavelength are related by
the equation
where λ is the wavelength of the light and c is the speed of
light in a vacuum, equation can be rewritten as

It is evident from this equation that the longer the wavelength

of thelight, the lower the energy of the photon; consequently,
ultraviolet light is much more ―energetic‖ than infrared light.

Returning to the Bohr atom: for an atom to absorb light (i.e.,

for the light energy to cause an electron to move from a lower
energy state En to a higher energy state Em), the energy of
asingle photon must equal, almost exactly, the energy
difference between the two states. Too much energy or too
little energy and the photon will not be absorbed.
Consequently, the wavelength of that photon must be

Likewise, when an electron decays to a lower energy level in a

radiative transition, the photon of light given off by the atom
must also have an energy equal to the energy difference
between the two states.
SPONTANEOUS AND STIMULATED
EMISSION
In general, when an electron is in an excited energy state, it
must eventually decay to a lower level, giving off a photon of
radiation. This event is called ―spontaneous emission,‖ and the
photon is emitted in a random direction and a random phase.
The average time it takes for the electron to decay is called the
time constant for spontaneous emission, and is represented by
t.
On the other hand, if an electron is in energy state E2, and its
decay path is to E1, but, before it has a chance to
spontaneously decay, a photon happens to pass by whose
energy is approximately E24E1, there is a probability that the
passing photon will cause the electron to decay in such a
manner that a photon is emitted at exactly the same
wavelength, in exactly the same direction, and with exactly the
same phase as the passing photon. This process is called
―stimulated emission.‖ Absorption, spontaneous emission, and
stimulated emission are illustrated in figure.2.
Now consider the group of atoms shown in figure 3: all begin
in exactly the same excited state, and most are effectively
within the stimulation range of a passing photon. We also will
assume that t is very long, and that the probability for
stimulated emission is 100 percent. The incoming (stimulating)
photon interacts with the first atom, causing stimulated
emission of a coherent photon; these two photons then interact
with the next two atoms in line, and the result is four coherent
photons, on down the line. At the end of the process, we will
have eleven coherent photons, all with identical phases and all
traveling in the same direction. In other words, the initial
photon has been ―amplified‖ by a factor of eleven. Note that
the energy to put these atoms in excited states is provided
externally by some energy source which is usually referred to
as the ―pump‖ source.
Of course, in any real population of atoms, the probability for
stimulated emission is quite small. Furthermore, not all of the
atoms are usually in an excited state; in fact, the opposite is
true. Boltzmann’s principle, a fundamental law of
thermodynamics, states that, when a collection of atoms is at
thermal equilibrium, the relative population of any two energy
levels is given by

where N2 and N1 are the populations of the upper and lower

energy states, respectively, T is the equilibrium temperature,
and k is Boltzmann’s constant. Substituting hn for E2-E1
yields

For a normal population of atoms, there will always be more

atoms in the lower energy levels than in the upper ones. Since
the probability for an individual atom to absorb a photon is the
same as the probability for an excited atom to emit a photon
via stimulated emission, the collection of real atoms will be a
net absorber, not a net emitter, and amplification will not be
possible. Consequently, to make a laser, we have to create a
―population inversion.‖
POPULATION INVERSION
Atomic energy states are much more complex than indicated
by the description above. There are many more energy levels,
and each one has its own time constants for decay. The four-
level energy diagram shown in figure.4 is representative of
some real lasers. The electron is pumped (excited) into an
upper level E4 by some mechanism (for example, a collision
with another atom or absorption of high-energy radiation). It
then decays to E3, then to E2, and finally to the ground state
E1. Let us assume that the time it takes to decay from E2 to E1
is much longer than the time it takes to decay from E2 to E1. In
a large population of such atoms, at equilibrium and with a
continuous pumping process, a population inversion will occur
between the E3 and E2 energy states, and a photon entering the
population will be amplified coherently.
THE RESONATOR

Although with a population inversion we have the ability to

amplify a signal via stimulated emission, the overall single-
pass gain is quite small, and most of the excited atoms in the
population emit spontaneously and do not contribute to the
overall output. To turn this system into a laser, we need a
positive feedback mechanism that will cause the majority of
the atoms in the population to contribute to the coherent
output. This is the resonator, a system of mirrors that reflects
undesirable (off-axis) photons out of the system and reflects
the desirable (on-axis) photons back into the excited
population where they can continue to be amplified.

Now consider the laser system shown in figure .5. The lasing
medium is pumped continuously to create a population
inversion at the lasing wavelength. As the excited atoms start
to decay, they emit photons spontaneously in all directions.
Some of the photons travel along the axis of the lasing
medium, but most of the photons are directed out the sides.
The photons traveling along the axis have an opportunity to
stimulate atoms they encounter to emit photons, but the ones
radiating out the sides do not. Furthermore, the photons
traveling parallel to the axis will be reflected back into the
lasing medium and given the opportunity to stimulate more
excited atoms. As the on-axis photons are reflected back and
forth interacting with more and more atoms, spontaneous
emission decreases, stimulated emission along the axis
predominates, and we have a laser.
Finally, to get the light out of the system, one of the mirrors is
has a partially transmitting coating that couples out a small
percentage of the circulating photons. The amount of coupling
depends on the characteristics of the laser system and varies
from a fraction of a percent for helium neon lasers to 50
percent or more for high-power lasers.
Types of Lasers

Since the discovery of the laser, literally thousands of types of

lasers have been discovered. As Arthur Shawlow is purported
to have said, ―Hit it hard enough and anything will lase.‖
However, only a relative few of these lasers have found
broadly based, practical applications.
Lasers can be broadly classified into four categories: gas
discharge lasers, semiconductor diode lasers, optically pumped
lasers, and ―other,‖ a category which includes chemical lasers,
gas-dynamics lasers, x-ray lasers, combustion lasers, and
others developed primarily for military applications. These
lasers are not discussed further here.

GAS-DISCHARGE LASERS

In principle, gas-discharge lasers are inherently simple—fill a

container with gas, put some mirrors around it, and strike a
discharge. In practice, they are much more complex because
the gas mix, discharge parameters, and container configuration
must be specifically and carefully designed to create the proper
conditions for a population inversion. Furthermore, careful
consideration must be given to how the discharge will react
with its container and with the laser optics. Finally, since the
temperature of the gas can affect the discharge conditions,
questions of cooling must be addressed.
Figure 5 below shows a cutaway of a helium neon laser, one of
the simplest gas-discharge lasers. An electrical discharge is
struck between the anode and cathode. The laser bore confines
the discharge, creating the current densities needed to create
the inversion. In this example, the laser mirrors are mounted to
the ends of the tube and are effectively part of the gas
container. In other cases, the mirrors are external to the
container, and light enters and exits the chamber through
Brewster’s windows or extremely low-loss antireflection-
coated normal windows. Because most gas-discharge lasers are
operated at extremely low pressures, a getter is needed to
remove the impurities generated by outgassing in the walls of
the container or by erosion of the electrodes and bore caused
by the discharge. The Brewster’s window is used to linearly
polarize the output of the laser.

The most common types of gas-discharge lasers are helium

neon lasers, helium cadmium lasers (a metal-vapor laser),
noble-gas ion lasers (argon, krypton), carbon-dioxide lasers,
and the excimer-laser family. Each of these will be discussed
briefly below.

Helium Neon Lasers

The helium neon (HeNe) laser, shown in figure 5, the second
laser to be discovered, was the first to be used in volume
applications. Today, millions of these lasers are in the field,
and only semiconductor diode lasers are sold in greater
quantity.
The HeNe laser operates in a high-voltage (kV), low-current
(mA) glow discharge. Its most familiar output wavelength is
633 nm (red), but HeNe lasers are also available with output at
543 nm (green), 594 nm (yellow), 612 nm (orange), and 1523
nm (near infrared). Output power is low, ranging from a few
tenths to tens of milliwatts, depending on the wavelength and
size of the laser tube.
Helium is the major constituent (85 percent) of the gas
mixture, but it is the neon component that is the actual lasing
medium. The glow discharge pumps the helium atoms to an
excited state that closely matches the upper energy levels of
the neon atoms.
This energy is then transferred to the neon atoms via collisions
of the second kind (i.e., exciting the neon to a higher energy
level as opposed to transferring the energy as kinetic motion).
One characteristic of the glow discharge is its negative
impedance (i.e., increasing the voltage decreases the current);
consequently, to function with a standard current-regulated
power supply, a ballast resistor must be used in series with the
laser to make the overall impedance positive.

The popularity (and longevity) of the HeNe laser is based on

five factors: they are (relative to other lasers) small and
compact; they have the best inherent beam quality of any laser,
producing a virtually pure single transverse mode beam (M2 <
1.05) (M2 The beam propagation factor)
; they are extremely long lived, with many examples of an
operating life of 50,000 hours or more; they generate relatively
little heat and are convection cooled easily in OEM packages;
and they have a relatively low acquisition and operating cost.
OEM: original equipment manufacturer (an organization that
makes devices from component parts bought from other
organizations).

Helium Cadmium Lasers

Helium cadmium (HeCd) lasers are, in many respects, similar
to the HeNe laser with the exception that cadmium metal, the
lasing medium, is solid at room temperature. The HeCd laser is
a relatively economical, cw source for violet (442 nm) and
ultraviolet (325 nm) output. Because of its excellent
wavelength match to photopolymer and film sensitivity ranges,
it is used extensively for three-dimensional stereolithography
and holographic applications.
As mentioned above, cadmium, a metal, is solid at room
temperature. For lasing to occur, the metal must be evaporated
from a reservoir, as shown in figure 6 , and then the vapor must
be distributed uniformly down the laser bore. This is
accomplished through a process called electrophoresis.
Because cadmium will plate out on a cool surface, extreme
care must be taken in the design of the laser to contain the
cadmium and to protect the optics and windows from
contamination, since even a slight film will introduce sufficient
losses to stop lasing. The end of life usually occurs when
cadmium is depleted from its reservoir.
Noble-Gas Ion Lasers

The noble-gas ion lasers (argon-ion and krypton-ion), have

been the mainstay of applications requiring high cw power in
the visible, ultraviolet, and near-infrared spectral regions.
High-power water-cooled systems can be found in research
laboratories around the world; lower-power air-cooled systems
are used in a wide variety of OEM applications. Argon-ion
lasers are available with output up to 7 W in the ultraviolet
(333–354 nm) and 25 W or more in the visible regions (454–
515 nm), with primary output at 488nm (blue) and 514 nm
(green). Krypton-ion lasers have their primary output at 568
nm (yellow), 647 nm (red), and 752 nm (near infrared). Mixed-
gas lasers combine both argon and krypton to produce lasers
with a wider spectral coverage.
Unlike the HeNe laser, ion lasers operate with a high-intensity
low-pressure arc discharge (low voltage, high current). A 20-
W visible laser will require 10 kW or more power input,
virtually all of which is deposited in the laser head as heat
which must be removed from the system by some cooling
mechanism. Furthermore, the current densities in the bore,
which can be as high as 105A/cm2, place large stresses on the
bore materials.
Ion lasers can be broken into two groups: high-power (1–
20=W) water-cooled lasers and low-power air-cooled lasers.
Both are shown schematically in figure 7.
The main features of both lasers are the same. Both use a
coiled, directly-heated dispenser cathode to supply the current;
both have gas return path that counteracts gas pumping (non-
uniform gas pressure throughout the length of the tube caused
by the charged particles moving toward the electrodes).

The bore of an air-cooled system is always made of beryllium

oxide (BeO), a ceramic known for its ability to conduct heat. A
fin structure is attached to the outside of the ceramic bore, and
a blower removes the generated heat, typically less than 1 kW.
Water-cooled systems are available with either BeO bores or a
construction wherein tungsten discs are attached to a thin-
walled ceramic tube surrounded by a water jacket. The heat
from the discs is conducted through the walls of the tube to the
surrounding water. The entire bore structure is surrounded by a
solenoid electromagnet, which compresses the discharge to
increase current density and minimize bore erosion.

The main life-limiting factors in ion lasers are cathode

depletion and gas consumption. The intense discharge drives
atoms into the walls of the discharge tube where they are lost
to the discharge. Over time the tube pressure will decrease,
causing the discharge to become unstable. This is particularly a
problem with krypton-ion lasers. Water-cooled systems
typically have some refill mechanism to keep the pressure
constant. Air-cooled systems typically do not, limiting their
practical operating life to approximately 5000 operating hours.

Carbon Dioxide Lasers

Because of their ability to produce very high power with

relative efficiency, carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers are used
primarily for materials-processing applications. The standard
output of these lasers is at 10.6 mm, and output power can
range from less than1W to more than 10 kW.
Unlike atomic lasers, CO2 lasers work with molecular
transitions (vibration and rotational states) which lie at low
enough energy levels that they can be populated thermally, and
an increase in the gas temperature, caused by the discharge,
will cause a decrease in the inversion level, reducing output
power. To counter this effect, high-power cw CO2 lasers use
flowing gas technology to remove hot gas from the discharge
region and replace it with cooled (or cooler)gas. With pulsed
CO2 lasers that use transverse excitation, the problem is even
more severe, because, until the heated gas between the
electrodes is cooled, a new discharge pulse cannot form
properly.
A variety of types of CO2 lasers are available. High-power
pulsed and cw lasers typically use a transverse gas flow with
fans which move the gas through a laminar-flow discharge
region, into a cooling region, and back again (see figure 8).
Low-power lasers most often use waveguide structures,
coupled with radio-frequency excitation, to produce small,
compact systems.
Excimer Lasers
The term excimer or ―excited dimer‖ refers to a molecular
complex of two atoms which is stable (bound) only in an
electronically excited state. These lasers, which are available
only as pulsed lasers, produce intense output in the ultraviolet
and deep ultraviolet. The lasers in this family are XeFl (351
nm), XeCl (308 nm), KrF (248 nm), KrCl (222 nm), ArF (193
nm), and F2 (157 nm). They are used extensively in
photolithography, micromachining, and medical (refractive eye
surgery) applications. At first glance, the construction of an
excimer laser is very similar to that of a transverse-flow,
pulsed CO2 laser. However, the major difference is that the
gases in the system are extremely corrosive and great care
must be taken in the selection and passivation of materials to
minimize their corrosive effects. A system built for CO2 would
fail in minutes, if not seconds.
The principal advantage of an excimer laser is its very short
wavelength. The excimer output beam can be focused to a spot
diameter that is approximately 40 times smaller than the CO2
laser beam with the same beam quality. Furthermore, whereas
the long CO2wavelength removes material thermally via
evaporation (boiling off material), the excimer lasers with
wavelengths near 200 nm remove material via ablation
(breaking molecules apart), without any thermal damage to the
surrounding material.
Chemical lasers

Chemical lasers are powered by a chemical reaction permitting

a large amount of energy to be released quickly. Such very
high power lasers are especially of interest to the military,
however continuous wave chemical lasers at very high power
levels, fed by streams of gasses, have been developed and have
some industrial applications. As examples, in the hydrogen
fluoride laser (2700–2900 nm) and the deuterium fluoride laser
(3800 nm) the reaction is the combination of hydrogen or
deuterium gas with combustion products of ethylene in
nitrogen trifluoride.
Solid-state lasers

Solid-state lasers use a crystalline or glass rod which is

"doped" with ions that provide the required energy states. For
example, the first working laser was a ruby laser, made from
ruby (chromium-doped corundum). The population inversion is
actually maintained in the dopant. These materials are pumped
optically using a shorter wavelength than the lasing
wavelength, often from a flashtube or from another laser. The
usage of the term "solid-state" in laser physics is narrower than
in typical use. Semiconductor lasers (laser diodes) are typically
not referred to as solid-state lasers.
Neodymium is a common dopant in various solid-state laser
crystals, including yttrium orthovanadate (Nd:YVO4), yttrium
lithium fluoride (Nd:YLF) and yttrium aluminium garnet
(Nd:YAG). All these lasers can produce high powers in the
infrared spectrum at 1064 nm. They are used for cutting,
welding and marking of metals and other materials, and also in
spectroscopy and for pumping dye lasers. These lasers are also
commonly frequency doubled, tripled or quadrupled to
produce 532 nm (green, visible), 355 nm and 266 nm (UV)
beams, respectively. Frequency-doubled diode-pumped solid-
state (DPSS) lasers are used to make bright green laser
pointers.
Ytterbium, holmium, thulium, and erbium are other common
"dopants" in solid-state lasers. Ytterbium is used in crystals
such as Yb:YAG, Yb:KGW, Yb:KYW, Yb:SYS, Yb:BOYS,
Yb:CaF2, typically operating around 1020–1050 nm. They are
potentially very efficient and high powered due to a small
quantum defect. Extremely high powers in ultrashort pulses
can be achieved with Yb:YAG. Holmium-doped YAG crystals
emit at 2097 nm and form an efficient laser operating at
infrared wavelengths strongly absorbed by water-bearing
tissues. The Ho-YAG is usually operated in a pulsed mode,
and passed through optical fiber surgical devices to resurface
joints, remove rot from teeth, vaporize cancers, and pulverize
kidney and gall stones.
Titanium-doped sapphire (Ti:sapphire) produces a highly
tunable infrared laser, commonly used for spectroscopy. It is
also notable for use as a mode-locked laser producing
ultrashort pulses of extremely high peak power.
Thermal limitations in solid-state lasers arise from unconverted
pump power that heats the medium. This heat, when coupled
with a high thermo-optic coefficient (dn/dT) can cause thermal
lensing and reduce the quantum efficiency. Diode-pumped thin
disk lasers overcome these issues by having a gain medium
that is much thinner than the diameter of the pump beam. This
allows for a more uniform temperature in the material. Thin
disk lasers have been shown to produce beams of up to one
kilowatt.
Fiber lasers
Solid-state lasers or laser amplifiers where the light is guided
due to the total internal reflection in a single mode optical fiber
are instead called fiber lasers. Guiding of light allows
extremely long gain regions providing good cooling
conditions; fibers have high surface area to volume ratio which
allows efficient cooling. In addition, the fiber's waveguiding
properties tend to reduce thermal distortion of the beam.
Erbium and ytterbium ions are common active species in such
lasers.
Quite often, the fiber laser is designed as a double-clad fiber.
This type of fiber consists of a fiber core, an inner cladding and
an outer cladding. The index of the three concentric layers is
chosen so that the fiber core acts as a single-mode fiber for the
laser emission while the outer cladding acts as a highly
multimode core for the pump laser. This lets the pump
propagate a large amount of power into and through the active
inner core region, while still having a high numerical aperture
(NA) to have easy launching conditions.
Pump light can be used more efficiently by creating a fiber
disk laser, or a stack of such lasers.
Fiber lasers have a fundamental limit in that the intensity of the
light in the fiber cannot be so high that optical nonlinearities
induced by the local electric field strength can become
dominant and prevent laser operation and/or lead to the
material destruction of the fiber. This effect is called
photodarkening. In bulk laser materials, the cooling is not so
efficient, and it is difficult to separate the effects of
photodarkening from the thermal effects, but the experiments
in fibers show that the photodarkening can be attributed to the
formation of long-living color centers.
Photonic crystal lasers
Photonic crystal lasers are lasers based on nano-structures that
provide the mode confinement and the density of optical states
(DOS) structure required for the feedback to take place. They
are typical micrometre-sized and tunable on the bands of the
photonic crystals.
Semiconductor lasers
Semiconductor lasers are diodes which are electrically
pumped. Recombination of electrons and holes created by the
applied current introduces optical gain. Reflection from the
ends of the crystal form an optical resonator, although the
resonator can be external to the semiconductor in some
designs.
Commercial laser diodes emit at wavelengths from 375 nm to
3500 nm. Low to medium power laser diodes are used in laser
pointers, laser printers and CD/DVD players. Laser diodes are
also frequently used to optically pump other lasers with high
efficiency. The highest power industrial laser diodes, with
power up to 10 kW (70 dBm) are used in industry for cutting
and welding. External-cavity semiconductor lasers have a
semiconductor active medium in a larger cavity. These devices
can generate high power outputs with good beam quality,
wavelength-tunable narrow-linewidth radiation, or ultrashort
laser pulses.
In 2012, Nichia and OSRAM developed and manufactured
commercial high-power green laser diodes (515/520 nm),
which compete with traditional diode-pumped solid-state
lasers.
Vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are
semiconductor lasers whose emission direction is
perpendicular to the surface of the wafer. VCSEL devices
typically have a more circular output beam than conventional
laser diodes. As of 2005, only 850 nm VCSELs are widely
available, with 1300 nm VCSELs beginning to be
commercialized, and 1550 nm devices an area of research.
VECSELs are external-cavity VCSELs. Quantum cascade
lasers are semiconductor lasers that have an active transition
between energy sub-bands of an electron in a structure
containing several quantum wells.
The development of a silicon laser is important in the field of
optical computing. Silicon is the material of choice for
integrated circuits, and so electronic and silicon photonic
components (such as optical interconnects) could be fabricated
on the same chip. Unfortunately, silicon is a difficult lasing
material to deal with, since it has certain properties which
block lasing. However, recently teams have produced silicon
lasers through methods such as fabricating the lasing material
from silicon and other semiconductor materials, such as
indium(III) phosphide or gallium(III) arsenide, materials which
allow coherent light to be produced from silicon. These are
called hybrid silicon laser. Another type is a Raman laser,
which takes advantage of Raman scattering to produce a laser
from materials such as silicon.
Dye lasers

Dye lasers use an organic dye as the gain medium. The wide
gain spectrum of available dyes, or mixtures of dyes, allows
these lasers to be highly tunable, or to produce very short-
duration pulses (on the order of a few femtoseconds). Although
these tunable lasers are mainly known in their liquid form,
researchers have also demonstrated narrow-linewidth tunable
emission in dispersive oscillator configurations incorporating
solid-state dye gain media. In their most prevalent form these
solid state dye lasers use dye-doped polymers as laser media.
Free-electron lasers

Free-electron lasers, or FELs, generate coherent, high power

radiation that is widely tunable, currently ranging in
wavelength from microwaves through terahertz radiation and
infrared to the visible spectrum, to soft X-rays. They have the
widest frequency range of any laser type. While FEL beams
share the same optical traits as other lasers, such as coherent
radiation, FEL operation is quite different. Unlike gas, liquid,
or solid-state lasers, which rely on bound atomic or molecular
states, FELs use a relativistic electron beam as the lasing
medium, hence the term free-electron.