LASER : Laser is an acronym that stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated mission of Radiation.

It is a device used for producing highly and strongly monochromatic, intense and coherent, beam of light. The characteristic properties of lasers are: 1. DIRE TI!"#LIT$: The convential light source emits radiations in all the directions. #pertures are used to produce a narro% beam of light from such source, but laser emits radiations only in one direction i.e. they have high degree of beam directionality. The directionality of laser beam is usually e&pressed in terms of full angle beam divergence %hich is t%ice the angle that the outer edge of the beam ma'es %ith the a&is of the beam. The outer edge of the beam is the point at %hich the strength of the beam drops to i.e. times its value at the centres. (. )!"! *R!)#TI IT$ : This is the most important property of laser light. # light of single %ave length is called monochromaticity. +o the light is more monochromatic source as compared to an ordinary source. ,. !*ERE" E:

# coherence is a measure of degree of phase correlation that e&ist in the radiation field of a light source at different location and different times. These are t%o types of coherence: a- LongitudnaI or Temporal Coherence : In %hich the field at a point and the field at the same point at a later time are correlated. # %ave is said to be a temporal coherence if the phase difference bet%een the t%o fields is constant during the period of observation of fe% micro seconds. If the phase difference changes fre.uently in an irregular fashion during the period of observation then the %aves are called noncoherent. b) Transverse of Spatial Coherence: T%o fields at t%o different points on a %ave front of a given electro/magnetic %ave are said to be spatially coherence. If a constant phase difference is maintained over any time t. 0. I"TE"+IT$ : Light from a lamp almost uniformly spreads in all the directions. #t a distance of ,1 cm from a 111/%att filament lamp, po%er entering the eye is less than 11 /, %att. Laser gives out light into a narro% beam and its energy is concentrated in a small region and therefore its intensity is very high. Even a one %att laser appears many thousands time more intense than a 111 %att filament lamp. Stimulated Absorption, Spontaneous Emission i" Stimulated Absorption: Stimulated Emission !

2hen an electron in a atom is raised from its ground state 3E 1- to higher state 3E(- by the absorption of a photon. Then the phenomenon is 'no%n as stimulated absorption as sho%n in fig. 1 3a-

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ii" Spontaneous Emission 2hen the atoms are already in a e&cited state 3E (-. "o e&ternal radiation is re.uired to start the emission process. #n atom in an e&cited state 3E (- spontaneously gives up its energy and fall to E1 releasing a photon of energy hf 4 E (/E1 . This phenomenon is 'no%n as spontaneous emission as sho%n in fig. 1. 3b- +pontaneous emission occurs %hen an atom is in an unstable e&cited state and randomly decays to a less energetic state, emitting a photon to carry o the e&cess energy. The unstable state decays in a characteristic time, called the lifetime.

"5: Spontaneous emission is a two step process iii" Stimulated Emission 2hen an incident photon of energy 3hf6 passes by an atom in an e&cited state 3E (-, it stimulates the atom to drop to the ground state 3E 1- and the atom releases a photon of the same energy, direction, phase as that of passing by photon. This produced t%o identical photons in place of one. This phenomenon is 'no%n stimulated emission fig. 1 3c-. 5y this process %e increase the intensity of incidence beam and ma'e possible, the amplification of light in laser. +timulated emission is a t%o step process.

Some substances which are used to make lasers are listed in the table below. You can see that gases (such as Helium-Neon mixture), liquids (such as dyes), and solids (such as the recious stone ruby) are all used to make lasers.
Material Helium!Neon 'rgon ion gas gas Type Wavelength "#$,% nm (%%,) nm scienti&c hologra hy medicine, Uses research,

*arbon dioxide Helium!*admium /uby

gas -a or solid!state

+)," ,m #$. nm "0(,# nm +,)"( ,m

industry (cutting, welding), surgery rinting, scienti&c research hologra hy industry, surgery, research

NeodymiumY'1 solid!state (Yttrium 'luminium 1arnet) 2itanium!Sa 3aser diode hire solid!state semiconduct or

".)!++)) nm #4.!+)%) nm

research telecommunications, industry, rinting, layers, laser ointers

*5

A simple laser ' laser consists o6 a number o6 di7erent arts that work together to create the laser beam. 8ig a hows the di7erent arts o6 the laser, while 8ig b shows how they create the laser beam. Source Energy External

Fig a

Fig a: Diagram of a laser showing the main components. 2he basis o6 the laser is the laser material. 2he laser material consists o6 the atoms that are Fig

used to create the laser beam. 9any di7erent materials can be used as laser material, and their energy le-els determine the characteristics o6 the laser. 2he laser material is contained in the o tical ca-ity. :e6ore the laser is turned on, all the atoms in the laser material are in their ground state. 2he &rst ste in creating a laser beam is to add energy to the laser material to raise most o6 the electrons into an excited metastable state. 2his is called pumping the laser. 2he creation o6 the laser beam starts through the rocess o6 s ontaneous emission, shown in 8igure +. 'n electron dro s down to the ground state and emits a hoton with energy equal to the energy di7erence o6 the two energy le-els. 2his laser hoton is the beginning o6 the laser beam. !"ternal !nergy Source

Fig b: Diagram of a laser showing the process of creating a laser beam. (+) ' source o6 external energy is a lied to the laser medium, raising the atoms to an excited state. ($) 'n excited atom decays though s ontaneous emission, emitting a hoton. (#) 2he hoton encounters another excited atom and causes it to decay through stimulated emission, creating another hoton. (() 2he hotons bounce back and 6orth through the laser medium between the mirrors, building u more and more hotons. (.) ' small ercentage o6 the hotons ass through the artially-sil-ered mirror to become the laser beam we see. Sometimes a laser hoton runs into another excited electron. 2hen stimulated emission occurs and the electron dro s down to the ground state and emits an additional identical hoton. Since the laser material ty ically has a large number o6 atoms, one laser hoton assing through this material will ra idly cause a large number o6 hotons ;ust like it to be emitted. 2he o tical ca-ity kee s the laser hotons inside the laser ca-ity

so they can build u the laser beam. 't each end is a conca-e mirror< one is a 6ull mirror and one is a artial mirror. 2he 6ull mirror is totally re=ecti-e. 2he artial mirror transmits a small amount o6 the light that hits it(less than +>). 2he mirrors are care6ully aligned so that hotons that re=ect o7 one mirror become ?tra ed@, and bounce back and 6orth between the mirrors many times causing more and more stimulated emission. 2he hotons that e-entually esca e through the artiallysil-ered mirror become the laser beam that we see. 's the hotons bounce between mirrors, they continually ass through the laser material, stimulating those atoms to emit more hotons. 2his creates an e-er increasing beam o6 hotons, all with the same characteristics, all tra-eling in the same direction. An this way, the o tical ca-ity hel s to am li6y the original laser hotons into a concentrated, intense beam o6 hotons.
%RI&CI%LE '# LASER: The basic principle of the laser action is that of stimulated emission. +uppose a substance #ig ( consists of a large number of e&cited atoms all in the same energy state. 2hen a photon of light fre.uency interacts %ith the atoms in the e&cited state. It may induce the election to ma'e transition to the lo%er state. *ence a photon is emitted from the atom %hich agrees %ith the incident photon in phase, direction as sho%n in fig. (. This is called stimulated emission. These t%o identical photons cause stimulated emission from the e&cited atoms. The process is repeated %hen these photons pass over e&cited atoms. The net result of stimulated emission becomes stronger and stronger. 5ut on the other hand same une&cited atom in the ground atoms also gets the energy from photons and is raised to e&cited state. This process is 'no%n as stimulated absorption. *ence there are t%o process in progress, namely stimulated emission and stimulated absorption. 5ut the principle of laser is based upon the stimulated emission so %e dominate the stimulated emission over the stimulated absorption by population inversion . Thus the process %hich dominates the stimulated emission over stimulated absorption is 'no%n as population inversion.

The population inversion is brought out by the process called optical pumping. !ptical pumping means raising of all the atoms from ground state to e&cited state . The e&cited incident photons raise the atoms from the lo%er energy level E I to the higher energy level E(. )ost of the electron reaching E ( %ill ma'e non/radiated emission to the metastable state E, as sho%n in fig.,. )etastable state is the stage bet%een the ground state and e&cited state in %hich a atoms lies in the order of 11 /7 s. only. A meta!stable state is an e&cited atomic state that has an unusually long lifetime, compared to the lifetimes of other e&cited states of that atom. 2hile most e&cited states have lifetimes measured in microseconds and nanoseconds 31187 s and 1189 s-, meta/stable states can have lifetimes of milliseconds 311 8, s- or even seconds.

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The probabiltiy of transition 3E(/E,- is much larger, than for the transition 3E(/E1- and the e&cess energy 3E( :E,- is used to heating the substance. In this %ay the number of electrons in the metastable state E, are made to e&ceeds the number of electrons in the state E1. This is called population Inversion. ;opulation inversion is %hen more atoms are in an e&cited state than in their ground state. It is a necessary condition to sustain a laser beam, so that there are enough e&cited atoms that can be stimulated to emit more photons.

Therefore, materials used to ma'e laser light must must have metastable states %hich can allo% population inversion to occur %hen an e&ternal energy source is applied.

R+,- LASER: It is a solid laser and first operating laser using three level scheme of population inversion. Its main part is a ruby rod called the laser rod. Ruby is a crystal of #luminium o&ide 3#l (' *) .ith the addition of /"/* to /"/01 of chromium o2ide 3Cr ('*) in %hich r ions replace some of a #I. ions in the crystal lattice. The ruby rod are ( to ,1cm in length and 1.< to ( cm in diameter. =lat end faces of the end arc made strictly parallel and are silvered so that the surface of one face # becomes fully reflected and other face 5 partially reflected. The rod is surrounded by a cylindrical glass tube through li.uid nitrogen circulates to 'eep the rod cool. The ruby rod is arranged along the a&is of helical &enon/ flash tube. The flash tube is provided %ith suitable po%er supply. The tube is made to flash for a fe% milliseconds. The diagram of ruby laser is sho%n in fig. 30-.

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4'R5I&6 :! 2hen light from the flash tube is made to fall upon the ruby rod. # ma>or part of the energy emitted by the tube is used to heat the apparatus. +ome energy in the form of blue and green radiations is absorbed by the ruby rod and used to e&cite chromium ions from ground state ? to the level E(. ) is a metastable state of the system having a life time of about , milisecond at room temp. It has t%o sublevels of separation (9cm /1. =rom the level E( most of the atoms ta'e non/radiative transitions to levels ). The probability of transition from E( to ) is much higher than that from E( to ?. /#s a resl1lt the level ) becomes more populated than the ground state ?. ;opulation inversion thus ta'es place and proper condition for the induced emission are created. +uch a system %ith population inversion is very unstable. +o the propability of spontaneous emission may be very high. The chromium ions consists of t%o bands E( and E1 respectively centred at @ 4 0(11 A and @ 4 <<11 A and are called 5lue 5and and ?reen 5and. The emitted photons from ) to ? corresponding to red light of %avelength @ 14 790, A and @(4 79(B A. 5ut @ 1 attains laser threshold much before @( so that laser action ta'es place for @ 1 only. The energy level diagram is sho%n in fig. <

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The function of a mirror at the end faces is to ma'e stimulated emission dominant over the spontaneous emission by reflecting the photons bac' and forth form the ends of the rod. # narro% intense flash emerges from the partially silvered end %hich lasts for about a micro second. #s the photons bounce bet%een mirrors, they continually pass through the laser material, stimulating those atoms to emit more photons. This creates an ever increasing beam of photons, all %ith the same characteristics, all traveling in the same direction. In this %ay, the optical cavity helps to amplify the original laser photons into a concentrated, intense beam of photons. The laser cavity also helps to narro% the fre.uency range of laser light emitted. The distance bet%een the t%o mirrors deCnes the cavity mode %hich only allo%s light of a narro% range of fre.uencies to continue being reDected bac' and forth. Light of other fre.uencies damped out. Therefore only a narro% fre.uency of light can be emitted. A%%LICATI'&S '# LASER The Laser is of high application in several fields li'e industry, communication, medicine etc. The most important application of laser are given belo%: i. The )easuring of 8istance : Lasers are used for measurement of large distances i.e. The distance bet%een the moon and earth. 5y measuring the time bet%een sending and receiving bac' by the laser beam, the distance bet%een the earth and moon can be determined. ii. Laser 4elding : Laser lights are used for both types of %elding i.e. in spot %elding and in seam %elding. +pot %elding means a>oint only at a spot in one operation and seam %elding means %e re.uired a heavy >ob li'e >oining the tips of blades of a gas turbine. iii. utting: *ard metal can be cut by the laser Iight %ith a >et of o&ygen. +o that the cutting products are side by side removed.- ?as commonly used in laser cutting are air organ and o&ygen. 5ut o&ygen gas are most commonly used for cutting the metal. #ir has (1E o&ygen and if air is used in placed of o&ygen then the speed of cutting the metal beams is slo% as compared in case of o&ygen. iv" 8rilling:

*ard materials can be easily drilled by laser light. The drilling in the material made of range from 1.1 mm to 1.(mm %ith the length to diameter ratio of 111: 1 v" Communication: The laser lights are also used for communication i.e. in optical fibres. !ptical fibre can be used for input and output such as lin' bet%een the t%o telephone e&change. #lso television programmes can be transmitted by laser light. vi. In )edical : Laser lights can be also useful in medical field. e.g. in operation theater of eye to reattach the retinas of patientsF eyes and to see the inner parts of the body by using the optical fibres. It can be often used for control the internal bleeding The heat from cutting lasers also helps to stop the bleeding on a %ound by burning the edges 3called cauterising). The treatment of 'idney and to removal the tumors are done %ith Lasers. vii. +cientific Research : Lasers are used to study the chemical reaction. )any chemical reactions are accelerated by e&posing them to a laser beam. This is used in chemistry. viii. Alignments9: 5ecause the laser lights are highly unidirectionality. so the laser light can be used for testing alignment for a layer distance. i&. Entertainment : The vidio compact discs 3G D- are operated %ith the help of laser in the D player or G D player. In computers also %e use G D by the laser light. 2" In commercialisation :e!&e Lasers are used in most grocery shops to read in the price of items using their barcodes. This ma'es the cashiersF >ob much .uic'er and easier. Safet; of lasers Lasers can be very dangerous to the human eye since a large amount of energy is focused into a very narro% beam. "EGER ;!I"T # L#+ER ;!I"TER I"T! +!)E5!D$F+ E$E+ / it can blind them

'%TICAL #I,RE : !ptical fibre is based on the phenomenon of the total internal reflection. !ptical fibres consist of thousands of very long fine .uality of glass or .uartH of refractive inde& about 1.I or so. The diameter of each fibre is of the order of 11 0 cm. The fibres are coated %ith a thin layer of material of lo%er refractive inde& of the order of 1.0B. Light incident on one end of the fibre at a small angle passes inside and undergoes repeated total internal reflection inside the fibres. It finally comes out from the other end even if the fibre is bent or t%isted in any form as sho%n in fig. 37- There is almost no loss of light though the sides of the fibres.

The condition is that the angle of incidence of I ight must be greater than the critical angle for the fibre material %.r.t. its coating. !;TI #L =I5RE )#TERI#L: The material re.uired for optical fibre are listed belo% 1. It can be made of long, thin and fle&ible fibre. (. It can be of particular %avelength in order of the optical fibre. ,. The refractive inde& of core and cladding be slightly different to each other. The plastic fibre material are not often used because they have high attenuation than the glass. T-%ES '# '%TICAL #I,RES: The optical fibres are divided pn to t%o types: i" Step Inde2 'ptical #ibre : +uch type of optical fibre are made by core of inform refractive inde& surrounded by cladding of other material that have lo%er refractive inde& as compared to the core. The incident ray incidences at different angle and travels in different directions and emerge from the optical fibre at a different time at different direction as sho%n in fig. 3Iii. 6raded Inde2 'ptical #ibre: In this types of optical fibres the core is made of non uniform refractive inde& and cladding have uniform refractive inde&. the incidence ray entering at different angles, travels %ith a periodic path %ith same period in rase and time as sho%n in fig. 3B-

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LI6:T %R'%A6ATI'&: The light propagation in step/inde& option fibre are 'no%n as single mode fibre because they have narro% core, allo% only one %ave to pass through them ,such types of fibres are called single mode option fibres. The light propagation pn graded inde& optical fibre are multi

mode because core of that fibre is %idely used and allo%s different %aves to passes through them, such fibres are called multimode optical fibre. A%%LICATI'&S '# '%TICAL #I,RES I. # bundle of optical fibre is called light pipe and this pipe can transmit on image. It is fle&ible and can be t%isted in a desired manner so it can be used in medical and optical e&amination of inaccessible parts of an human body. E&ample a patientJs stomach can be vie%ed by inserting one end of the light pipe into the stomach through mouth. (. !ptical fibres are used ;n transmission and reception of electrical signals by converting them first into light signals. ,. These are used in telephone and other transmitting cables. Each fibre can carry upto (111 telephone messages. 0. . These are used for local area net%or' 3L#"-, net%or' %ire to computers etc.

8I##ERE&CE ,ET4EE& I&TRI&SIC SE)IC'&8+CT'R SE)IC'&8+CT'R:! I&TRI&SIC SE)IC'&8+CT'R

E<TRI&SIC

E<TRI&SIC SE)IC'&8+CT'R

1. It is pure semiconductor and no impurity 1. It is prepared by doping a small .uantity of atoms are added to it. impurity atoms to the pure semiconductor. (. +i and ?e are the e&ample of ;ure semiconductor. ,. Its electrical conductivity is lo%. 0. The number of electron in conduction bond and number of holes in valance bond are e&actly same. <. Its electrical conductivity is a function of temperature alone. (. E&amples are +i, ?e atoms %ith impurity atoms of 5oron, ;hosphorous, antimony, indium, aluminium etc. ,. Its electrical conductivity is high. 0. The number of electrons and holes is never same. <. Its electrical conductivity depends upon the temperature as %ell as on the .uantity of impurity atoms dopes in the structure.

8I##ERE&CE ,ET4EE& &!T-%E SE)IC'&8+CT'R SE)IC'&8+CT'R :!

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&!T-%E SE)IC'&8+CT'R

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1. It is obtained by doping the impurity 1. It is obtained by doping the impurity atoms of atoms of ;antavalent atoms li'e ;, 5i, #s trivalent atoms li'e 5oron, indium, alluminium into +i and ?e atom. into +i and ?e atom. (. It is also semiconductor. 'no%n as Donor type It I+ also 'no%n as acceptor type semiconductor.

,. Electrons are ma>ority carrier and holes are *oles are ma>ority carriers and electron are minority carriers. minority carriers. 0. The electron density ne is much greater than the hole density nh i.e ne K nh 0. The hole density nh is much greater than the electron density. ne i.e nh K ne

="7"0 Applications of laser Due to high coherence, high intensity, laser beams have %ide applications in various branches of science and engineering. Industrial applications 3i- The laser beam is used to drill e&tremely fine holes in diamonds, hard sheets etc., 3ii- They are also used for cutting thic' sheets of hard metals and %elding. 3iii- The laser beam is used to vapouriHe the un%anted material during the manufacture of electronic circuit on semiconductor chips. 3iv- They can be used to test the .uality of the materials. )edical applications 3i- In medicine, micro surgery has become possible due to narro% angular spread of the laser beam. 3ii- It can be used in the treatment of 'idney stone, tumour, in cutting and sealing the small blood vessels in brain surgery and retina detachment. 3iii- The laser beams are used in endoscopy. 3iv- It can also be used for the treatment of human and animal cancer. Scientific and Engineering applications 3i- +ince the laser beam can stay on at a single fre.uency, it can be modulated to transmit large number of messages at a time in radio, television and telephone. 3ii- The semiconductor laser is the best light source for optical fiber communication. 3iii- "arro% angular spread of the laser beam ma'es it a very useful tool for micro%ave communication. ommunication %ith earth satellites and in roc'etry. Laser is also used in accurate range finders for detecting the targets. 3iv- The earth/moon distance has been measured %ith the help of lasers. 3v- It is used in laser Raman +pectroscopy. 3vi- Laser is also used in holography 3three dimensional lensless photography-

3vii- Laser beam can determine precisely the distance, velocity and direction as %ell as the siHe and form of the ob>ects by means of the reflected signal as in radar. ="7"= )ASER The term )#+ER stands for )icro%ave #mplification by +timulated Emission of Radiation. The %or'ing of maser is similar to that of laser. The maser action is based on the principle of population inversion follo%ed by stimulated emission. In maser, the emitted photon, during the transition from the metastable state belongs to the micro%ave fre.uencies. The paramagnetic ions are used as maser materials. ;ractical maser materials are often chromium or gadolinium ions doped as impurities in ionic crystals. #mmonia gas is also a maser material. )aser provides a very strong tool for analysis in molecular spectroscopy.