DYE LASER AND CO2 LASER

NITISH K. - 19PHPH09

KOALLA RAJESH-19ACPP03

KANAKA RAVIKUMAR-
Dye lasers:
Introduction:
A dye laser is a laser which uses an organic dye as the lasing medium, usually as a liquid solution.
The laser gain medium consists of strongly absorbing and emitting organic dyes dissolved in a solvent.
The typical dye concentration is a 10-4 to 10-3molar solution, that is, from 1024 to1025 dye molecules per
cubic meter. Organic dye molecules are very complex molecules that belong to one of the several
classes. These include: polymethine dyes, which radiate in the red or near infrared spectral region at
700-1500 nm; xanthene dyes, which emit in the visible at 500-700 nm; coumarin dyes, which radiate in
the blue and green at 400-500 nm; and scintillator dyes, which emit in ultraviolet at 320-400 nm. Laser
dyes have strong absorption regions on the ultraviolet and visible spectral regions. Because of this
efficient optical absorption of dye molecules, dye lasers are produced by optical pumping techniques
using flash lamps or other lasers. The concentration of the dye in solvent is generally determined by
pumping considerations that relate to the geometry of the gain medium and desired gain of the
amplifier. For efficient pumping, the dye concentration is typically adjusted so that all of the pump
energy is absorbed within the desired gain region of the laser.

Different Classes of Laser Dyes:

1)Polymethine dyes (710-1200nm):
The polymethine dyes, a kind of organic dye, are very important materials for dye lasers, being
superior in the longer wavelength range. It is a remarkable feature of these dyes that there are many
whose chemical structures differ little from each other. Using these dyes, intense coherent light at any
wavelength from 710 to 1100 nm can be obtained by ruby laser pumping. Polymethine dyes by the
pumping of a ruby laser; high power laser emission (> 1 MW) was observed over the continuous range
from 710 to 1060 nm.

2)Xanthene Dyes (700-800nm):

Xanthene dyes cover the wavelength region from 500 to700 nm and are generally very efficient. Most
of the commercial dye lasers are from this class – Fluoresce in and Rhodamine B are the two widely used
laser dyes. Rhodamine 6G shows efficient laser action in the 590nm region and lasers with about one
percent efficiency in most flash lamp pumped dye lasers. It is used as reference dye to measure the
efficiencies of other dyes. Since Rhodamine 6G also exhibits good photostability, this laser dye is one of
the most often used and studied. Most of the xanthene laser dyes show efficient laser action in the 560
to 800 nm region. Rhodamine 700 is another efficient laser dye obtained by molecular engineering. This
efficient dye exhibits laser action between700 to 800
3)Coumarin Dyes (300-500nm):
A group of widely used laser dyes emitting in the blue-green(300-500) region of the spectrum. The
first coumarin laser dye was 7-diethylamino-4-methylcoumarin which exhibits laser action at about
460nm under flash lamp excitation. Marin dye shave the tendency for low photostability. Coumarins
degrade due to laser light. The side products formed after degradation also absorb in the laser region
which may give undesired effects. Coumarin molecule as such is non-fluorescent, but it exhibits intense
fluorescence on substitution of various functional groups at different positions. The intensity of the dye
laser beam cannot be increased over a certain range of the pump power and is limited by saturation.
This is due to photo-quenching effect. Studies on the photo-quenching proper-ties in various dyes have
shown that the effect plays a crucial role in the performance of pulsed laser pumped dye laser systems.

Working:
Energy Levels of Dye Molecules:

The energy levels associated with organic dyes suspended in solvents are shown in Figure. There are
two manifolds (sets of energy levels) within which excitation and decay can occur, these are the singlet
and the triplet manifold, referred to (respectively) as S and T. In the singlet state of the molecule, the
spin of the excited electron is anti parallel to the spin of the remaining molecule. In the triplet state, the
spins are parallel. As in the case of atoms and simple molecules, transitions between singlet states, or
between triplet states, are much more likely to occur than transitions between singlet and triplet states;
when these latter do occur, they are referred to as intersystem crossings. Thus, efficient absorption and
emission of radiation occurs either between singlet levels or between triplet levels. The singlet series of
levels S0 and S1 and the triplet series of T1 and T2. Since S1 is a very broad energy state, the range of
absorbing wavelengths (the absorption spectrum) that can pump population into that state S 1 (the
upper laser level) is also very broad. After pumping is initiated using the range of wavelengths described
by the absorption spectrum, the population within the excited singlet state S1 rapidly relaxes, within 10-
12
to 10-13 seconds, to the lowest levels of S 0 according to a Boltzmann distribution, since S1 has a
relatively long relaxation time ranging from 2 to 5 x 10 -9 s. A population inversion is thus established
between the population in the lowest-lying levels of S1 and the higher-lying levels of S0 that are not
occupied. The spontaneous emission rate between various sublevels of S 1 and those of S0 is typically 2-
5 x 108 s—I. As the population decays (by either spontaneous or stimulated emission) from S1 to a specific
sublevel of So it decays rapidly by collisions back to the lowest-lying sublevels of S0, which in effect
provides the rapid decay from the lower laser level similar to that for the four-level laser.

If the singlet energy levels were the only levels involved in the operation of dye lasers, such lasers
would be much more practical devices than they presently are. The triplet levels cause most of the
problems associated with dye laser gain media. Not all of the decay from the S1 state goes back to the S0
state. A small portion (approximately 1 in 1,000) of the excited molecules during each excitation cycle
decays over to the triplet T1 state in a process referred to as intersystem crossing. This is a spin-
forbidden transition that provides a trap for excited molecules and consequently leads to two problems.
First, absorption from the triplet T1 state to the triplet T2 state provides an absorptive loss in the laser
gain medium also to avoid significant degradation. Thermal effects due to non-uniform pumping can
also degrade.

Pumping and Optical resonator:

1)Laser-pumped pulsed tunable dye lasers:

This class of dye lasers provides a tunable ultra narrow-frequency pulsed laser output over wavelengths ranging
from 190 nm to 4.5 µm. The basic dye laser that covers the wavelength range from 380 to 900 nm when pumped by
either a frequency-doubled or tripled Nd:YAG laser or an excimer laser. The extended frequencies at both the
shorter and longer wavelengths are produced by sum and difference frequency mixing of the basic range of
wavelengths, using additional optical components. The output pulse energies range from tens to hundreds of mill
joules (depending upon the wavelength) over pulse durations of the order of 10 ns. The pump beam (either doubled
or tripled YAG or excimer) is split off into several separate beams. One beam is used to pump a narrow-
frequency output tunable oscillator containing a beam expander, a grating, and an etalon. The other beams
are used to either side pump or end pump a series of dye amplifiers.

2)Flash lamp-pumped pulsed dye laser:

A commercial flash lamp pumped dye laser is shown

in Figure. The dye laser cell is shown surrounded by a
coaxial cylindrically shaped flash lamp. Provision for water
cooling is made between the flash lamp and the dye
cell. Reflectors surrounding the flash lamp redirect its
output toward the dye cell. Such a laser produces 5 J per
pulse in 1.5μs pulse duration or a peak power of over 3
MW per pulse. The laser has an input power of 1000 J and is capable of operating at a 0.5-Hz repetition
rate. Such a laser uses the Rh6G dye and is tuned to operate at the 585-nm wavelength for medical
applications.
3)Tunable Continuous Wave (cw) dye lasers:

Tunable cw dye lasers are generally pumped by other cw lasers such as the argon ion laser. A basic
standing-wave cavity arrangement for such a laser is shown in Figure . It consists of a three-minor
cavity in which two of the mirrors focus the
beam into the thin flowing dye region (referred
to as a jet stream) that is oriented at Brewster's
angle as shown. The dye would flow in a
direction perpendicular to the printed page. The
dye is end-pumped, either by pumping at a slight
angle into the jet stream with an additional
mirror (as shown in the figure) or by pumping
directly through the third mirror. Such a cavity
can be modified to provide tuning by inserting a
prism and rotating the laser mirror located beyond
the prism, as shown in Figure. The pump beam
can also enter the cavity through the prism, since
it is at a shorter -wavelength than the dye output and can therefore enter the prism at a different angle
than the laser beam.

Applications:

Dye lasers are very versatile. In addition to their recognized wavelength agility these lasers can offer
very large pulsed energies or very high average powers. Flashlamp-pumped dye lasers have been
shown to yield hundreds of Joules per pulse and copper-laser-pumped dye lasers are known to yield
average powers in the kilowatt regime.

Dye lasers are used in many applications including:

 medicine
 spectroscopy
 astronomy
 manufacturing

In laser medicine these lasers are applied in several areas, including dermatology where they are
used to make skin tone more even. The wide range of wavelengths possible allows very close matching
to the absorption lines of certain tissues, such as melanin or hemoglobin, while the narrow bandwidth
obtainable helps reduce the possibility of damage to the surrounding tissue. They are used to treat port
wine stains and other blood vessel disorders, scars and kidney stones. They can be matched to a variety
of inks for tattoo removal.
 In spectroscopy, dye lasers can be used to study the absorption and emission spectra of various
materials. Their tunability, (from the near-infrared to the near-ultraviolet), narrow bandwidth, and high
intensity allows a much greater diversity than other light sources. The variety of pulse widths, from
ultra-short, femto second pulses to continuous-wave operation, makes them suitable for a wide range of
applications, from the study of fluorescent lifetimes and semiconductor properties to lunar laser ranging
experiments.

CO2 laser:
Introduction:

The CO2 laser was one of the earliest gas laser invented by Kumar Patel of Bell labs in 1964, CO2 gas
laser are the highest power continuous wave laser that are currently available. They are also quite
efficient: the ration of output power of pump power can be as lager than 20 percent. The CO2 laser
produces a beam of infrared light with the principle wavelength bands centering on 9.6μm and
10.6µm.

Principle:

1.For the laser action two points are important one is the population inversion between the two levels
and second increase density of the incident radiation.

2. The principle of CO2 laser is transition between vibrational states of the same electronic state by
achieving population between these states.

Vibrational and transition states of CO2:

1)The Asymmetric stretching mode:

In Asymmetric mode both the oxygen atom are approaching to carbon atom and carbon atom
move towards any one of the oxygen.

2)Bending mode:

In Bend mode if both oxygen moves towards upward then carbon atom moves in downwards and
vice versa.

3)Symmetric stretching mode:

In symmetric mode both the oxygen atom move away from the carbon and carbon atom are
fixed
Construction of the CO2 laser:

 It consists of discharge tube of size about 2.5cm diameter and 5.0cm in length. Two optically
plane and parallel mirror, typically the mirrors are silvered, while windows and lances are made
of either Germanium or zinc selenide.

 Discharge tube is filled with a mixture of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and helium gas in the ratio
15p, 15, and 70p respectively at a pressure of few mm of Hg.

 A high DC voltage is used for electric discharge in the tube due to which CO2 molecules break
into CO and O to maintain the equilibrium, a small amount of water is added to regenerates the
CO2 molecules.
Working of CO2 laser:
 The vibrational and rotational modes of the CO2 cannot be excited themselves by photons.

 When the voltage is placed across the gas, electrons collide with the N2 molecules and excite
them to their lowest vibrational levels.

 These vibrational levels happen to be at energy very close to the energy of the asymmetric
vibrational states in the CO2 molecules. Now the excited N2 molecules populate the asymmetric
vibrational states in the CO2 molecule through collision.

 Helium is added to the mixture for excite the CO2 molecules from ground level, with transfer the
excitation energy through the collision. And Helium is also conduct the heat away to the walls
keeping CO2 cold this is because He has high thermal conductivity.

 The infrared output of t he laser is the result of transition between rotational states of the CO2
molecule of the first asymmetric vibrational mode (001) to the rotational states of both the first
symmetric stretch

 Mode (100) and the second bending mode (020).

 Pumping diagram:

Application:

 Because of the high power CO2 laser are frequently used in industrial application for using
welding and cutting.

 They are also very useful in surgical procedures because water absorbs this frequency of light is
very well.

 Some example of medical use is laser surgery, skin resurfacing and destroy cancer tissues.
 Parameters Co2 laser Dye laser

1 Active medium Mixture of CO2,N2 and He Organic dyes

2 Wavelength Range 10.6µm and 9.4µm 320-1200nm

9
3 Output Power 1-10,000 W/pulse Up to10 W/pulse or 400 J/pulse

4 Resonator Plane parallel cavity Astigmatic compensated cavity

5 Pumping Method Electrical excitation, collisional Laser or Flash lamp

transfer

6 Upper level lifetime(τ) 4s 2 to 5x10-9s

7 Laser Transition probability 0.25/s 2 to 5x108s

8 Inversion density (∆Nul) 3x1021/m3 2x1022/m3

9 Doping concentration(∆N0)

10 (