Population inversion
• Necessary condition for Stimulated emission
• More atoms in excited state than in ground state
• Not a natural process
In what energy levels do molecules reside? Boltzmann
population factors
Ni is the
number
density of
E3 N3 molecules in
state i (i.e.,
N i exp Ei / k BT the number
of molecules
E2 N2 per cm3).
Energy
T is the
temperature
, and kB is
Boltzmann’s
N1 constant.
E1
Population density
Pumping schemes
• Population inversion is not a natural process
• Requires external energy
• Energy is supplied from external source by pumping
• Various techniques
Optical pumping
Electric discharge
Inelastic atom-atom collision
Direct conversion
Thermal pumping
Chemical reaction
Optical pumping
• Light is shine to excite atom from ground state to excited state
• Sources
Discharge lamp
Arc lamp (continuous laser)
Flash lamp (Pulse laser)
Laser diode
[Link]
Electric discharge
• Electric discharge acts as source of energy
• Discharge passing through lasing medium, accelerated electrons
• High speed electrons collide with neutral atoms in lasing medium
(gas)
• Atoms in lower energy state, get excited by the energy provided by
the fast moving electrons
Inelastic atom-atom collision
• Happens in active medium with two types of species
• One of the types (say A) get excited (A*) by electric discharge
• This atom collides with the ground state atoms of the other species, say
(B)
• Atoms in the ground state (B) is excited to higher state (B* ) by inelastic
collision with the other species (A*)
A + e → A* + e 1
A* + B → A + B *
Eg:- He-Ne laser
Direct conversion
• In case of semiconductor lasers it is not the atoms that are excited but
it is the electrons and holes which are excited and the population
inversion is obtained at the junction region.
• The recombining electrons with holes in the junction region produces
laser light.
• In semiconductor lasers direct conversion of electrical energy into
light energy takes place.
Thermal pumping and chemical
reaction
• Thermal pumping- when heating the laser medium is used for
creating population inversion
• Chemical reaction- if atom or molecule produced through a chemical
reaction is in excited state and remains in that state for long time
• population inversion can be obtained by making many such excied
molecules
Two level laser
• What is required of the photon energy for absorption to occur?
• What do you notice about the direction and characteristics of the
emissions?
• What do you notice about the emission and its direction at higher
intensities?
• What do you notice as you increase the lifetime? What do you notice
as you decrease the lifetime?
Two level laser
• When absorption is more, population of excited state increases
• More stimulated emission, thus reducing population of excited state
• Absorption and stimulated emission
neutralizes each other
• Cannot achieve population inversion
Difficult to keep the collection of atoms in the
excited state until they are stimulated to emit
photons
The atoms in the ground state will undergo
absorption and will thus remove photons from
the beam as it builds up
Material becomes transparent
With very intense pumping source, maximum achievable is
Excited state population = ground state population
So, TWO LEVEL LASER system is “Unimaginable”
How to overcome the issues with two level laser?
A three level laser: with an intermediate meta stable state
Three levels
Ground state
Meta stable state
Excited state
Life Time of metastable state will be much higher (10-3 s) compared
to excited state (10-9 s)
Three-level Laser System
• Initially excited to a short-lived
high-energy state .
• Then quickly decay to the
intermediate metastable level.
• Population inversion is created
between lower ground state and
a higher-energy metastable state.
Can we have a four level laser?
• Yes we can.
• Advantages?
• Population inversion and lasing action is between two intermediate
states and does not involve the most populated ground state
• Less energy required than three level laser
• Can operate in continuous mode
Four-level Laser System
FOUR LEVEL LASER:
• STEP 1- PUMPING: atoms are excited to higher energy level by
providing energy from ext. source.
• STEP 2- POPULATION INVERSION:
atom via radiation less decay, decays to metastable state and hence
population inversion take place.
• STEP 3- LASER ACTION: atom from metastable state decays to lower
state by stimulated emission and hence laser action take place.
• STEP 4- BACK TO GROUND STATE:
atom from excited state decays to lower state by spontaneous emission.
Requirements for Laser Action
fast
Metastable state
efficient pumping
slow relaxation
slow Population
inversion
Fast relaxation
FOUR LEVEL LASER:
Can we have five level laser?
• Yes we can. But, maximum efficiency is obtained from 4 level
• So, not required.