Dr Raj Kumar

CSIR - Central Scientific Instruments Organisation,

Chandigarh

Overview
Introduction to basics of laser physics

Working principle of a Laser

Main components of a Laser
Lasers based on number of energy levels
Lasers modes
Main properties of a Laser
Types of Lasers

Solid State Lasers

Ruby Laser: the first laser

Nd: YAG & Nd: Glass Lasers
Tunable Solid State Lasers
Alexandrite Laser
Ti: Sapphire Laser
Colour Center Lasers
Fiber Lasers

Applications of Solid State Lasers

What is a Laser ?
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

Spontaneous emission

Stimulated emission

Working principle of a Laser

E2
h
h =E2-E1

E2
h

E1
Absorption

Spontaneous
emission

E1
Stimulated
emission

Working principle of a Laser

Let n1 be number of atoms in E1 state and n2 be number of
atoms in E2 then
If n1 > n2
E
radiation is mostly absorbed
spontaneous radiation dominates

If n2 >> n1

E1

most atoms occupy level E2, weak absorption

stimulated emission dominates
light is amplified

Necessary condition: population inversion

For stimulated emission to dominate, there must be more atoms in
excited states than in ground state. Such a configuration of atoms is
called a population inversion.

Main components of a Laser

All the lasers comprise of three basic components

Active medium,
Excitation
source/pump
Reflecting mirrors/
resonator
Lasers differ only in terms of Active medium or Excitation process.

Lasers based on number of energy levels

Three-level laser
No lasing action in two level system : no population inversion
Three level system: lasing possible but require high pump energy than
four level system
Example: Ruby Laser (three level)

Lasers based on number of energy levels

Four-level laser
Number of thermally excited ions in the lower laser level is small
Easy to achieve population inversion even by pumping a relatively
small number of ions into the upper laser level
Lower threshold compared to a three-level system
Example: Nd: YAG Laser

Lasers modes

Longitudinal mode
frequency separation

Laser oscillates in a number of transverse and longitudinal modes

Transverse mode is selected by using mechanical apertures in the cavity
to allow only selected mode and suppress other oscillating modes
Longitudinal mode is selected by using Fabry-Perot Etalon in the cavity
TEM00 is preferred for most of the applications

Main properties of a Laser

Coherence: from phase correlation

Directionality
High intensity: results from directionality
Monochromaticity: results in high temporal coherence
Short pulse duration

Types of Lasers
Several ways to classify lasers
Mode of operation :
Continuous Wave (CW) or Pulsed
Active medium:
- Solid lasers
- Gas lasers
- Liquid lasers
- Semiconductor lasers
Classification may be done on basis of other parameters
Gain of the laser medium
Power delivered by laser
Efficiency or
Applications

Solid State Laser

For historical reasons, solid-state lasers are lasers in which
active ions in crystal or glass host materials are optically
pumped to create a population inversion
Other types of lasers that employ solid-state gain media are
semiconductor lasers and optical fiber lasers and amplifiers.
Since these lasers employ very specialized technologies and
design principles, they are usually treated separately from
conventional bulk solid-state lasers
Semiconductor or diode lasers are mostly electrically
pumped (though in principle, optical pumping may be
possible with some)

Solid State Laser

Are versatile and provide a large range of average and peak power,
pulse width, pulse repetition rate, and wavelength
The flexibility of solid-state lasers stems from the fact that:
The size and shape of the active material can be chosen to achieve
a particular performance
Different active materials can be selected with different gain,
energy storage, and wavelength properties
Output energy can be increased by adding amplifiers
A large number of passive and active components are available to
shape the spectral, temporal and spatial profile of the output beam

Solid State Laser: basics

Active centers are fixed /doped (~ 1%) in a dielectric crystal or
glassy material
Electrically non-conducting
also called Doped-insulator lasers.

Crystal atoms act as host lattice to active centers

Crystal usually shaped as rod
Pumping: Flash lamp or diode laser

Active centers are from the rare earth, transition metals, or actinides
Water cooled

Solid State Laser: schematic

Mirrors on both sides of laser rod form a resonant cavity

Solid State Laser: requirements

Requirements for Host material :

Should not absorb light at laser wavelength

Must possess sharp fluorescent lines, strong absorption
bands, and high quantum efficiency
Crystal should have good thermal conductivity
Problems with Host material :

o Most of excitation energy ends up as heat rather than light

o Excess heat damages the laser crystal

Active centres are ions from:

Chromium (Cr), Neodymium (Nd), Titanium (Ti), Cerium (Ce),
Erbium (Er), Holmium (Ho) and Cobalt (Co)

Chromium is active centre in Ruby and Alexandrite lasers

Neodymium is active centre in commonly used Nd: YAG laser

Representative Solid State Laser

Ruby Laser
Nd:YAG Laser

Nd:Glass Laser
Tunable Solid State Lasers
Alexandrite Laser
Titanium-Sapphire Laser
Colour-Centre Laser

Fiber Lasers
Erbium in a Glass host

Ruby Laser: the first laser

First Laser developed in 1960 (TH Maiman)
Ruby laser rod:
A synthetic pink Ruby crystal (Al2O3 doped with Cr3+ ions)
Cr3+ ions concentration: 0.05%, Approx 1.61025 ions per cubic
meter.

Active Centres (Cr3+ ions)

have a set of three energy

Ruby crystal as cylindrical

rod (4cm length 0.5 cm in
diameter)

Aluminum & Oxygen

ions are inert

Helical photographic flash

lamp filled with Xenon.

The Al2O3 (sapphire) host is hard, with high thermal conductivity, and
transition metals can readily be incorporated substitutionally for the Al

Ruby Laser: the first laser

A typical Ruby laser (a) with internal mirrors (b) with external mirrors

Ruby Laser: commercial

End faces grounded and polished
Mostly silvered faces (100% & 90 % reflection)
Febry-Perot Resonator

System is cooled with the help of a

coolant circulating around the ruby rod

In practical lasers flash lamps of helical

design no longer used
Most commonly used are linear lamps

Ruby Laser : energy levels

Energy levels of chromium ions is Ruby laser

Ruby Laser : working principle

A Three level laser system
E2 - metastable state (3ms)
Ruby rod pumped with an intense Xenon flash lamp
Ground state of Cr3+ ions absorb light at pump bands
550nm
400nm
Non-radiative transitions to E2
Population Inversion at E2

Radiative transitions from E2 to E1 Red wavelength at 694.3 nm

Under intense excitation: Pumping > Critical threshold
A spontaneous fluorescent photon (red) acts as input and trigger
Stimulated emission; SYSTEM LASES

Ruby Laser: output

Laser Output: Pulsed with low repetition rate (1 to 2 per sec)
Ruby laser light pulses

Series of irregular spikes stretching over the duration of pump pulse

Q-switching concentrates output into a single pulse

Ruby Laser: output

Stimulated transitions faster than rate at which population
inversion is maintained
Once stimulated emission commence, the metastable state E2,
depopulate very rapidly
At the end of each pulse, population at E2 falls below the
threshold value required for sustaining emission of light
Lasing ceases & Laser becomes inactive
Next pulse will arrive only after P.I. is restored
High

energy storage capability due to long upper laser level

lifetime
Pulse energy upto 100J
Relatively inefficient; 0.1 to 1%
Variety of applications: Plasma diagnostics; Holography.

Nd: YAG Laser

Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) Y3Al5O12 best choice of a host for
neodymium ions (Nd)
YAG offers low threshold and high gain
YAG is a very hard, isotropic crystal
good thermal and mechanical properties
can be grown and fabricated in rods of high optical quality
Operation: CW and pulsed mode (high repetition rate)

Efficiency about 10 times as compared to ruby

Drastic weight reduction
Replaced ruby in military Rangefinders, other applications
Used in the semiconductor industry for resistor trimming, silicon
scribing, and marking
For continuous or very high repetition-rate operation, crystalline
materials provide higher gain and greater thermal conductivity

Nd: YAG Laser

Active center: Neodymium (Nd) ion- a rare earth metallic ion
Host: YAG
Emission at 1.064m
In Nd:YAG laser, Nd 3+ ions take place of yttrium ions
Doping conc. ; 0.72% by weight corresponds to 1.41026 atoms/m3

Rod: 10cm in length, 12mm in diameter

Nd: YAG rod & a linear flash lamp housed in an elliptical cavity
In practice, external mirrors (100% , 99% reflectivity) used
System cooled by water circulation

Nd: YAG Laser

Nd: YAG Laser

lifetime
230 s

Energy levels of Nd ions in a crystal

Nd: YAG Laser

A Four level laser system: Require lower pump energy
Terminal laser level sufficiently far from ground state

E3 metastable level (lifetime 230 s)

Two pump bands: 700 nm & 800nm

Pump: intense Xenon flash lamp
Nd3+ ions level E4, decays to upper laser level at E3
Population inversion easily achieved between E3 and E2 levels.
Stimulated to emit 1064 nm laser transition.

From E2 level, Nd3+ ions quickly drop to E1 by transferring energy to crystal

Nd: YAG Laser

Many other transitions in near IR region; all weaker than 1064 nm
Only 1318 nm transition produces 20% power as that of 1064 nm
Useful in Fiber Optic Transmission.

Laser Output:
In the form of pulses of variable repetition high rate
Overall efficiency 0.1 to 1% range
Xenon flash lamps : Pulsed output
Tungsten halide incandescent lamps ; CW output
CW output power of over 1 kW obtainable.
Can be pumped by a diode laser (GaAs) for high efficiency
2nd harmonic generation results in half the wavelength (532 nm)

Nd: Glass Laser

Glasses are more suitable for high-energy pulsed operation because of
their large size, flexibility in their physical parameters, and the
broadened fluorescent line
Can deliver much higher energies
Can be doped at very high concentrations with excellent uniformity
Practical doping limit is determined by the fact that the fluorescence
lifetime and therefore the efficiency of stimulated emission, decreases
with higher concentrations
Can be made in a variety of shapes and sizes, from fibers a few
micrometers in diameter to rods 2m long and 7.5 cm in diameter and
disks up to 90 cm in diameter and 5 cm thick

The major disadvantage of glass is a low thermal conductivity

Nd: Glass Laser

Glass: An excellent host material for Nd
Attraction for

Glass: well developed technology for making

large size glass (laser) with good optical quality

While Nd: YAG laser can be operated in CW mode; Nd: glass laser
only operate in pulsed mode because of low thermal conductivity of
glass

Nd:glass laser very high output energy per unit volume of material

High energy in short pulses can heat matter to thermonuclear

temperatures, thus generating energy in small controlled explosions
(inertial fusion)
NOVA lasers developed for Nuclear Fusion by Lawrence Livermore
National Lab. (USA) employed a large number of Nd: glass amplifiers
to produce 100 kJ of energy in a 2.5 ns pulse.

Nd: Glass Laser

An inertial confinement
fusion implosion on the
NOVA laser creates
"microsun" conditions of
tremendously high density
and temperature rivaling
even those found at the
core of our Sun.

Tunable Solid State Lasers

Produce output over a range of tunable wavelengths

Tunability: existence of a cluster of vibrationally excited terminal
levels near the ground state Vibronic states

laser transitions take place between coupled vibrational and electronic

states
Dye lasers, though tunable, but
suffer from dye degradation and
other limitations
Solid state tunable lasers have long
self and operational life

Applications: Remote sensing, space, spectroscopy

Tunable Solid State Lasers: Alexandrite Laser

Alexandrite (BeAl2O4 : Cr3+) is the common name for chromium-doped
chrysoberyl
Tunability is due to band of vibrational levels which are a result of
strong coupling between Cr3+ ion and the lattice vibrations
Doping ~ about 0.1% (density~31025 ions /m3); Rod shaped ; 10cm
long, 6mm in diameter
Pump levels at 380 nm & 630 nm; flash lamp pumped
Cr3+ levels in Alexandrite form upper and lower vibronic bands
Electronic levels of Cr3+ and vibrational levels of crystal lattice
Vibronic transitions can occur over a range of energies; excited ion can
drop from upper level to anywhere in lower vibronic band Gain
Bandwidth
Tunable to any desired wavelength within its emission spectrum
Can operates in a pulsed or CW mode
Widely used in cancer therapy, kidney stone removal and pollution

Tunable Solid State Lasers: Alexandrite Laser

Can lase both as a four-level vibronic laser and as a three-level

Absorption bands are very

similar to those of ruby

Energy level diagram for chromium ions in alexandrite

Tunable Solid State Lasers: Alexandrite Laser

In three level mode laser transition is from 2E state, which is coupled
to 4T2, down to ground state 4A2.
High threshold, fixed output wavelength (680.4nm at room
temperature) and relatively low efficiency

In four level mode 4T2 is the absorption state continuum

Lasing occurs between 4T2 state to excited vibronic states within 4A2
(ground state)
Laser wavelength depends on vibrationally excited terminal
Any energy not released as laser photon will be carried off by a
vibrational phonon, leaving the chromium ion at its ground state
(system comes in equilibrium)

Tunable Solid State Lasers: Ti: Sapphire Laser

Titanium-Sapphire (Ti : Al2O3) laser is widely used tunable
Broad vibronic fluorescence band allows tunable laser output between
6701070 nm, with the peak of the gain curve around 800 nm
Relatively large gain cross section (half of Nd :YAG at the peak of its
tuning range)
The energy level structure of the Ti3+ ion is unique among transitionmetal laser ions in that there are no d state energy levels above the
upper laser level
Ti3+ ions replace some of Al3+ ions
Doping concentration 0.1% by weight
Operation: Pulsed or CW modes

Tunable Solid State Lasers: Ti: Sapphire Laser

The broad, widely separated absorption and fluorescence bands are

caused by the strong coupling between the ion and host lattice and are
the key to broadly tunable laser operation

Tunable Solid State Lasers: Ti: Sapphire Laser

Pumping with other lasers like
argon and copper vapor lasers,
frequency doubled Nd :YAG and
Nd : YLF lasers due to short
lifetime of upper laser level (3.8s)
Flash lamp pumping is inefficient
and requires very high pump flux is
required.

Energy level scheme

Most widely used in laser radar (LIDAR), range finders, remote sensing
and spectroscopy

Colour Center Lasers

Broadly tunable SSLs operates in wavelength range of 800-4000nm
Tuning achieved using different colour-centre crystals in sequence.
Typical CCL consist of an alkali halide crystal that contains point
defects known as F-centre Colour Centres

Usually produced when crystal irradiated with X-rays.

Colour centres remain in crystals for duration ranging few days to
many years.

Absorb and emit light as the atoms at the defect site change position.

CCLs must be pumped with other laser & maintained at very low temperatures.
Need for a pump lasers & Cryogenic cooling limits the use of CCLs in
practical application.

Colour Center Lasers: Energy Levels

CCLs must be pumped with other laser & maintained at very low
temperatures

Fiber Lasers
Erbium in a glass host forms a three level laser with wavelength
centered around 1550nm (range: 1520-1560nm).
1550 nm is important operational window in OFC technology

EDFA is used as an optical amplifier in DWDM technology

Highly useful in undersea and long haul OFC links

Fiber Lasers: Energy Levels

Needs lasers for pumping to get desired output.

Output transitions in the range from 1520-1560nm

Optical Parametric Oscillator

Parametric oscillators based on lithium niobate introduced in 1971
Discovery of damage-resistant nonlinear crystals with large nonlinear
coefficients in the early 1990s revived interest in OPOs
OPO can provide tunable range through UV-visible-IR
OPO works on the principle of non-linear harmonic generation
In the parametric process, a nonlinear medium (usually a crystal)
converts the high energy photon (the pump wave) into two lower
energy photons (the signal and idler waves)
Wavelengths of signal and idler beams are determined by the angle that
pump wave-vector makes with crystal axis
Energy can be transferred efficiently to the parametric waves if all three
waves are traveling at the same velocity (phase matching condition)
Variation in index of refraction with crystal angle and wavelength
allows "phase matching condition to be met only for a single set of
wavelengths for a given crystal angle and pump wavelength

Optical Parametric Oscillator

pump energy = signal energy + idler energy

Signal and Idler beam generated in a non-linear crystal

Optical Parametric Oscillator

Variation of OPO output energy (signal and idler) with wavelength

Diode Laser as optical pumping source

As diode lasers became less expensive, these are being used as optical
pump in solid-state lasers
Diode pumping offers significant improvements in overall system
efficiency, reliability, and compactness
Radiation from laser diodes can be collimated providing great
flexibility of designing solid-state lasers with regard to shape of laser
medium and orientation of pump beam
In end-pumped lasers, pump beam and resonator axis are collinear
which led to highly efficient lasers with excellent beam quality
A number of solid-state lasers with outputs up to 20 W are pumped with
diode arrays
Lasers at multi-hundred watt level are pumped by arc lamps because of
high cost of laser diode arrays

Applications of Solid State Lasers

Solid State Lasers have a wide spectrum of applications
Materials processing (cutting, drilling, welding, marking, heat
treating, etc.),
Semiconductor fabrication (wafer cutting, IC trimming),
Graphic arts (high-end printing and copying),
Medical and surgical (Welding of detached retinas, correction of
vision defects, surgery, treatment of skin cancer)
Defence (ranging, anti-missile shield, laser detonators, instruments,
spying and in war time)
A high energy pulsed YAG laser has even been used in rocket
propulsion experiments
The largest lasers (with the highest peak power) in the world are solid
state lasers
Space, remote sensing, spectroscopy, holography

LASER APPLICATION EXAMPLES

Laser for Cutting Fabric in a Clothing Factory

Laser in Material Processing

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

LASER APPLICATION EXAMPLES

Laser at
War time

LASER APPLICATION EXAMPLES

Laser
fusion

LASER APPLICATION EXAMPLES

HOLOGRAPHY

References / suggested books

Solid State Laser Engineering , W. Koechner

Principles of Lasers, O. Svelto

Lasers and Non-linear Optics, B. B. Laud

Laser Fundamentals, W. T. Silfvast

Thank you

Why Alexandrite is tunable and Ruby not?

Equilibrium coordinate for both the 4T2 and 4T1 states, due to their
symmetry, is shifted to a larger value than that of 4A2 and 2E states
As in other Cr3+-doped hosts, the decay between the 4T2 and 2E states
is via a fast internal conversion (decay-time of less than 1 ps) probably
due to the level-crossing which occurs between the two states.
These two states can be considered to be in thermal equilibrium at all
times, and, since the energy difference between the bottom vibrational
levels of 4T2 and 2E states in alexandrite is only a few kT, an
appreciable population will be present in vibrational manifold of 4T2
state when 2E state has been populated.
Invoking the Franck-Condon principle, one sees that the vibronic
transitions from the 4T2 state end in empty vibrational levels of the 4A2
state, thus becoming the preferred laser transition.
Because there is a very large number of vibrational levels involved,
the resulting emission is in the form of a broad continuous band