LASER 1

Datta Meghe College Of Engineering

First Year Engineering A.Y 2025-26

Course : Applied Physics Module I : LASERS

INTRODUCTION: LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Laser
technology started with Albert Einstein in 1917, he has given theoretical basis for the development
of Laser. The technology further evolved in 1960 when the very first laser called Ruby Laser was built
at Hughes Research Laboratories by T.H. Mainmann.

INTERACTION OF LIGHT WITH MATTER AND THE THREE QUANTUM PROCESSES:

When the radiation interacts with matter, results in the following three important phenomena.

They are (i)Induced or Stimulated Absorption

(ii)Spontaneous Emission

(iii)Stimulated Emission

STIMULATED ABSORPTION (OR) INDUCED ABSORPTION (OR) ABSORPTION:

An atom in the lower energy level or ground state energy level (E1) absorbs the incident photon and
goes to excited state (E2) as shown in figure below. This process is called induced or stimulated
absorption.

Let E1 and E2 be the energies of ground and excited states of an atom. Suppose, if a photon of energy
E2−E1 = hν interacts with an atom present in the ground state, the atom gets excitation form ground
state E1 to excited state E2 . This process is called stimulated absorption. Stimulated absorption rate
depends upon the number of atoms available in the lowest energy state as well as the energy density
of photons.

SPONTANEOUS EMISSION:

The atom in the excited state returns to ground state emitting a photon of energy (E) = E2 – E1 = hv,
without applying an external energy spontaneously is known as spontaneous emission. Let E1 and E2
be the energies of ground and excited states of an atom.

Suppose, if photon of energy E2− E1 = hν interacts with an atom present in the ground state, the
atom gets excitation form ground state E1 to excited state E2 The excited atom does not stay for a
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Prepared By: Dr. Prajakta Borgaonkar. Asst. Prof. DMCE
 LASER 2

long time in the excited state. The excited atom gets de-excitation after its life time by emitting a
photon of energy E2− E1 = hν . This process is called spontaneous emission. The spontaneous
emission rate depends up on the number of atoms present in the excited state.

STIMULATED-EMISSION:

The atom in the excited state can also returns to the ground state by applying external energy or
inducement of photon thereby emitting two photons which are having same energy as that of incident
photon. This process is called as stimulated emission.

Stimulated emission was postulated by Einstein. Let E1 and E2 be the energies of ground and excited
states of an atom. Let a Photon of energy E2-E1=hυ interacts with the excited atom with in their life
time The atom gets de-excitation to ground state by emitting of another photon. These photons have
same phase and it follows coherence. This phenomenon called stimulated emission.

Stimulated emission rate depends upon the number of atoms available in the excited state as well as
the energy density of photons.

Comparison between Spontaneous and Stimulated emission:

Spontaneous emission Stimulated emission

The spontaneous emission was Postulated The stimulated emission was Postulated by
by Bohr. Einstein.
Additional photons are not required Additional photons are required
OnePhoton is emitted Two photons are emitted
The emitted radiation is incoherent. The emitted radiation is coherent.
The emitted radiation is less intense The emitted radiation is highly intense
The emitted radiations have less directionality The emitted radiations have high directionality
Example: light from sodium or mercury lamp Example: light from laser source.
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POPULATION INVERSION:

The number of atoms present in the excited (or higher) state is greater than the number of atoms
present in the ground energy state (or lower state) is called population inversion.

At ordinary conditions N1 > N2 i.e., the population in the ground or lower state is always greater than
the population in the excited or higher states. The stage of making, population of higher energy level
greater than the population of lower energy level is called population inversion i.e., N2>N1.

Let us consider two level energy systems of energies E1and E2 and Let N1 and N2 be the population
(means number of atoms per unit volume) of E1 and E2 respectively.

According to Boltzmann’s distribution the population of an energy levels E, at temperature T is given

by

At equilibrium, we can write the ratio of population levels as follows

METASTABLE STATE:
An atom in the exited state has very short life time which is of the order of 10-8 sec. Therefore, even if
continuous energy is given to the atoms in ground state to transfer them to exited state they
immediately come back to the ground state. Thus, population inversion cannot be achieved. To achieve
population inversion, we must have energy states which has a longer lifetime. The life time of meta
stable state is 10-3 to 10-6 sec. which is less than that of exited states thus allows accumulation of large
number of excited atoms and result in population inversion. This can be achieved by appropriate
doping. (adding impurity)

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Prepared By: Dr. Prajakta Borgaonkar. Asst. Prof. DMCE
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ACTIVE MEDIUM

A medium in which population inversion can be achieved is known as active medium.

ACTIVE CENTER

The material in which the atoms are raised to the excited state to achieve Population Inversion is called
Active Center.

PUMPING MECHANISMS (OR TECHNIQUES) OF POPULATION INVERSION

A system in which population inversion is achieved is called as an active system.

The method of raising the particles from lower energy state to higher energy state is called pumping.
(Or the process of achieving of population inversion is called pumping). This can be done by number
of ways.

The most commonly used pumping methods are

I. Optical pumping
II. Electrical discharge pumping
III. Chemical pumping
IV. Injection current pumping

Optical pumping : When the atoms are exposed to light radiations of energy hv, atoms in the lower
energy state absorbs these radiations and they go to the excited state. This method is called Optical
pumping. Eg: Nd - YAG Laser, Ruby laser

Electrical discharge pumping: 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 atom. By this process, energy from the electrons is transferred to gas
atoms. Some atoms gain energy and they go to excited state. This results in population inversion. This
method is called electrical discharge method.

A + e* → A*+ e

A – gas atom in ground state e * - Electron with high kinetic energy A * - same gas atom in excited
state E – Electron with lesser kinetic energy.

Examples of Electrical discharge pumped lasers are He-Ne laser, CO2 laser, argon-ion laser, etc

Chemical pumping: Chemical reaction may also result in excitation and hence creation of population
inversion in few systems. Examples of such systems are HF and DF lasers.

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Injection current pumping: In semiconductors, injection of current through the junction results in
creates of population inversion among the minority charge carriers. Examples of such systems are InP
and GaAs.

OPTICAL RESONATOR:

An optical resonator consists of a pair of reflecting surfaces in which one is fully reflecting (R1) and
the other is partially reflecting (R2). The active medium is placed in between these two reflecting
surfaces The photons generated due to stimulated emission are bounced back and forth between
these two reflecting surfaces. This induces more and more stimulated transition leading to laser action

CHARACTERISTIC OF LASER RADIATION:

Laser is basically a light source. Laser light has the following important characteristics

1. High Directionality

[Link] Intensity

3. Highly Monochromatic

4. Highly Coherence

1. Directionality Ordinary light spreads in all directions

and its angular spread is 1m/m.

2. Intensity
Since an ordinary light spread in all directions, the
intensity reaching the target is very less. But in the case
of laser, due to high directionality, the intensity of laser
beam reaching the target is of high intense beam. For
example, 1 mill watt power of He-Ne laser appears to be
brighter than the sunlight.

3. Monochromaticity
Laser beam is highly monochromatic; the wavelength is
single, whereas in ordinary light like mercury vapour
lamp, many wavelengths of light are emitted

4. Coherence
It is an important characteristic of laser beam. In lasers
the wave trains of same frequency are in phase, the
radiation given out is in mutual agreement not only in
phase but also in the direction of emission and
polarization. Thus, it is a coherent beam. Due to high
coherence, it results in an extremely high power.

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He Ne LASER
A helium-neon (HeNe) laser is a type of gas laser that produces a continuous, visible
beam of red light at 632.8 nm by exciting a mixture of helium and neon gases using
an electrical discharge.

Construction:

➢ This consists of a mixture of helium and neon gases in a ratio of about 10:1.
➢ The setup consists of a long and narrow discharge tube of length 80 cm and diameter of 1 cm.
➢ The pressure inside the tube is about 1mm of Hg.
➢ The energy or pump source of the laser is provided by an electrical discharge of around 1000
volts through an anode and cathode at each end of the glass tube.
➢ The optical cavity of the laser typically consists of a plane, high reflecting mirror at one end of
the laser tube, and a partially transparent mirror of approximately 1% transmission at the
other end.

Energy level diagram:

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Working of a Helium Working of a Helium - Neon laser

Electric discharge is passed through the gas. As electrons have a smaller mass than ions,
they acquire a higher velocity.
The He atoms are more readily excitable than Neon as they are in higher concentration.
The role of He atoms is to assist in pumping Ne atoms to higher energy levels via inter
atomic collisions
Electrons collides with the He atoms, excite them to the metastable states F2(19.81eV)
and F3(20.61eV) stay for a sufficiently long time.
The excited He atoms losses energy through collision with unexcited Ne atoms, Ne atoms
are excited to the metastable states E4(18.7eV) & E6(20.66eV) which have nearly the same
energy as the levels of F2 & F3 of He.
The probability of energy transfer from He atoms to Neon atoms is more as there are 10
He atoms to 1Neon atoms in the medium.

Population inversion is achieved between E6 & E5, E6 &E3, E4 &E3.  E6 E3 transition

generates a laser beam of red colour of wavelength 6328Å.
E4 to E3 transition produces laser beam of wavelength 1.15µm (not in visible region).
E6 to E5 transition results in a laser beam of 3.39µm (not in visible region).
E3 to E2 transition generates incoherent light due to spontaneous emission (~6000Å)
From the level E2 , the Ne atoms are brought back to the ground state through collisions
with the walls.
Also since E2 level is a metastable state, it can decrease the population inversion by
exciting atoms from E2 to E3 . Hence the tube is made narrow so that Ne atoms in level E2
deexcite by collision with the walls of the tube.
By a proper design of resonator, laser action in Ne is obtained in the visible region (6328Å)
Advantages of helium-neon laser: Helium-neon laser emits laser light in the visible portion of
the spectrum. Low cost Operates without damage at higher temperatures
Disadvantages of helium-neon laser: It has Low efficiency and low gain Helium-neon lasers
are limited to low power tasks

Applications of lasers
Due to high intensity, high monocromacity and high directionality of lasers, they are widely
used in various fields like
1. communication 2. computers 3. chemistry 4. photography 5. industry 6. medicine 7. military
8. scientific research

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1. communication: In case of optical communication semiconductors laser diodes are used

as optical sources and its band width is (1014Hz) is very high compared to the radio and
microwave communications.
More channels can be sent simultaneously.
Signal cannot be tapped
As the band width is large, more data can be sent.
A laser is highly directional and less divergence, hence it has greater potential use in space
crafts and submarines.
2. Computers: In LAN (local area network), data can be transferred from memory storage of
one computer to other computer using laser for short time.
Lasers are used in CD-ROMS during recording and reading the data.
3. Chemistry: Lasers are used in molecular structure identification
Lasers are also used to accelerate some chemical reactions.
Using lasers, new chemical compounds can be created by breaking bonds between atoms are
molecules.
4. Photography: Lasers can be used to get 3-D lens less photography. Lasers are also used in
the construction of holograms.
5. Industry: Lasers can be used to blast holes in diamonds and hard steel
Lasers are also used as a source of intense heat
Carbon dioxide laser is used for cutting drilling of metals and nonmetals, such as ceramics
plastics glass etc.
High power lasers are used to weld or melt any material.
Lasers are also used to cut teeth in saws and test the quality of fabric.
6. Medicine: Pulsed neodymium laser is employed in the treatment of liver cancer.
Argon and carbon dioxide lasers are used in the treat men of liver and lungs.
Lasers used in the treatment of Glaucoma.
Lasers are used for Eye treatments and Dental treatments.
Lasers used in the elimination of moles and tumors which are developing in the skin tissue.
7. Military: Lasers can be used as a war weapon.
High energy lasers are used to destroy the enemy air-crofts and missiles.
Lasers can be used in the detection and ranging likes RADAR.
8. Scientific research: Lasers are used in the field of 3D-photography
Lasers used in Recording and reconstruction of hologram.
Lasers are employed to create plasma.
Lasers used to produce certain chemical reactions.
Lasers are used in Raman spectroscopy to identify the structure of the molecule.
Lasers are used in the Michelson- Morley experiment.
A laser beam is used to conform Doppler shifts in frequency for moving objects.

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is an active remote sensing technology that uses laser
pulses to create precise, dense 3D models of environments.

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How LiDAR Works

1. Light Emission:

A laser-equipped unit emits pulses of light energy.

2. Reflection:

These pulses travel to the ground or an object and reflect back to the sensor.

3. Time-of-Flight (ToF):

The system precisely measures the time it takes for the light to travel to the object
and return.

4. Distance Calculation:

Using the speed of light and the ToF, the system calculates the precise distance to
the object.

5. Point Cloud Generation:

Millions of these data points are collected, forming a detailed, three-dimensional
"point cloud" that maps the environment's shape and structure.
LiDAR is used in various engineering fields, including surveying, construction, autonomous
vehicle development, robotics, and the mapping and analysis of natural and human-made
infrastructure.

Mechanism of barcode scanning: Principles of bar code reading

1.A bar code consists of white and black bars. Data retrieval is achieved when bar code
scanners shine a light at a bar code, capture the reflected light and replace the black and white
bars with binary digital signals.
[Link] are strong in white areas and weak in black areas. A sensor receives reflections
to obtain analog waveforms.
[Link] analog signal is converted into a digital signal via an A/D converter. (Binarization)
[Link] retrieval is achieved when a code system is determined from the digital signal obtained.
(Decoding process)

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Types of bar code scanners

CCD method This method uses a semiconductor

device called CCD(Charge Coupled Device), which
converts light signals into electric signals.
The CCD method bar code scanner has a built-in light. A
scanner shines this light at a bar code and its reflection
is captured via CCD for reading.
A bar code is captured once, allowing fast reading.
There are no movable parts and impact resistance is
excellent.

Laser method
Laser light is shone on the label surface and its reflection
is captured by a sensor (laser photo detector) to read a
bar code.
A laser beam is reflected off a mirror and swept left and
right to read a bar code Using laser allows reading of
distant and wide bar code labels.

Pen method
This method only has a LED light source and a
sensor to capture its reflection. Since a person
moves a scanner to read a bar code, practice is
required for operation.
The mechanism is simple, making this method
inexpensive.

END

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Prepared By: Dr. Prajakta Borgaonkar. Asst. Prof. DMCE