Presentation on

GAS LASER
ABHISHEK SAINI
M. Sc. Physics
2nd SEmester
 LASERS & ITS TYPES
 A LASER is a device that emits light through a
process of optical amplification based on the
stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation.
Types:
 Solid-state laser
 Gas laser
 Liquid laser
 Semiconductor laser
 GAS LASER:
A gas laser is a laser in which an electric current
is discharged through a gas inside the laser
medium to produce laser light.

Types of Gas laser:

•He-Ne LASER
•Co2 LASER
•Argon LASER
 HE- NE LASER
Helium-Neon laser is a type of gas laser in which a mixture
of helium and neon gas is used as a gain medium. Helium-
Neon laser is also known as He-Ne laser.

•Helium-neon lasers are the most widely used gas lasers.

•These lasers have many industrial and scientific uses and are
often used in laboratory demonstrations of optics.
•In He-Ne lasers, the optical pumping method is not used instead
an electrical pumping method is used.
•The excitation of electrons in the He-Ne gas active medium
is achieved by passing an electric current through the gas.
•The helium-neon laser operates at a wavelength of 632.8 nm, in
the red portion of the visible spectrum.
CONSTRUCTION OF HE-NE LASER
 The setup consists of a discharge tube of length 80 cm and bore diameter
of 1.5cm.
 The gain medium of the laser, as suggested by its name, is a mixture of
helium and neon gases, in a 5:1 to 20:1 ratio, contained at low pressure
(an average 50 Pa per cm of cavity length ) in a glass envelope.
 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. A current of 5 to 100 mA is typical for CW
operation.
 The optical cavity of the laser typically consists of a plane, high-reflecting
mirror at one end of the laser tube, and a concave output coupler mirror
of approximately 1% transmission at the other end.
 HeNe lasers are normally small, with cavity lengths of around 15 cm up
to 0.5 m, and optical output powers ranging from 1 mW to 100 mW.
WORKING OF HE-NE LASER
 A description of the rather complex HeNe excitation process can be given
in terms of the following four steps.
 (a)When the power is switched on, An energetic electron collisionally
excites a He atom to the state labeled 21So . A He atom in this excited
state is often written He*(21So), where the asterisk means that the He
atom is in an excited state.
 (b) The excited He*(21So) atom collides with an unexcited Ne atom and
the atoms exchange internal energy, with an unexcited He atom and
excited Ne atom, written Ne*(3s2), resulting. This energy exchange
process occurs with high probability only because of the accidental near
equality of the two excitation energies of the two levels in these atoms.
Thus, the purpose of population inversion is fulfilled.
 When the excited Ne atom passes from metastable state(3s) to lower
level(2p), it emits photon of wavelength 632 nm.
 This photon travels through the gas mixture parallel to the axis of
tube, it is reflected back and forth by the mirror ends until it
stimulates an excited Ne atom and causes it to emit a photon of
632nm with the stimulating photon.
 The stimulated transition from (3s) level to (2p) level is laser
transition.
 This process is continued and when a beam of coherent radiation
becomes sufficiently strong, a portion of it escape through partially
silvered end.
 The Ne atom passes to lower level 1s emitting spontaneous emission.
and finally the Ne atom comes to ground state through collision with
tube wall and undergoes radiationless transition.
HE-NE ENERGY LEVEL DIAGRAM
 The left side of the representation shows the lower levels of the helium
atoms.The energy scale is interrupted and that there is a larger
difference in energy in the recombination process than is evident in the
diagram.
 A characteristic of helium is that its first states to be excited, 21S1 and
21S0 are metastable, i.e. optical transitions to the ground state 11S0 are
not allowed, because this would violate the selection rules for optical
transitions. As a result of gas discharge, these states are populated by
electron collisions
 A collision is called a collision of the second type if one of the colliding
bodies transfers energy to the other so that a transition from the
previous energy state to the next higher or lower takes place. Apart from
the electron collision of the second type there is also the atomic collision
of the second type. In the latter, an excited helium atom reaches the
initial state because its energy has been used in the excitation of a Ne
atom. Both these processes form the basis for the production of a
population inversion in the Ne system.
APPLICATIONS OF HE-NE LASER
 The Narrow red beam of He-Ne laser is used in supermarkets
to read bar codes.
 The He- Ne Laser is used in Holography in producing the 3D
images of objects.
 He-Ne lasers have many industrial and scientific uses, and are
often used in laboratory demonstrations of optics.
that's it for today
 CO2 LASERS

Theory & Conception

ABHISHEK SAINI
CONTENTS

• Introduction
• CO2 Lasers Theory
• Low power CO2 lasers
• High power CO2 lasers
• Conclusion
CO2 LASERS THEORY

• Vibration levels
Energy storage

Bending mode

Symmetric Stretching mode

Asymmetric Stretching mode: (001) 0.3eV

Vibrational energy: Ev  (k  1 )hv

Rotational energy: 2
Ej  J ( J  1) Bhc
CO2 LASERS THEORY
• Transfer collision resonance

E=2meV<25meV

CO2: 10-20%
N2: 10-20%
He: 60-80%
LOW POWER CO2 LASERS
• Sealed C02 lasers

Regeneration of CO into CO2

Infrared specific optic

Brewster angled windows

 DC Discharge
LOW POWER CO2 LASERS
• Sealed C02 Lasers

 Low power output

 Small Size for a CO2 laser

 No heavy cost and maintenance

LOW POWER CO2 LASERS
• Waveguide CO2 Lasers

 Very small BeO waveguide

 High pressure active medium

 Radiofrequency pumping
LOW POWER CO2 LASERS
• Waveguide CO2 Lasers

 Yield up to 20% higher than others

classical CO2 laser

 High-quality beam

 Can betuned to any discrete CO2 line

HIGH POWER CO2 LASERS
• Fast axial flow lasers

 Increase the gas flow

Heat exchanger
Convection

1 kW/m
HIGH POWER CO2 LASERS
• Fast transverse flow lasers

Gas flow controlled by a

turbine (100 Torr)

The laser beam crosses the

cavity many times

10 kW/m

Poorer beam quality than

axial flow lasers
HIGH POWER CO2 LASERS
• TEA lasers

Transverse excited atmosphere lasers

Electric discharge : few tens of kV

10 atm : broadering effects

10 MW
The CO2 LASER:

•Lasers discussed above – use transitions among various excited electronic

states of an atom or ion
•CO2 laser – uses transition between different vibrational states of CO2
molecule
•One of the earliest Gas lasers
•Highest power continuous wave laser currently available
•The filling gas within the discharge tube consists primarily of:

Carbon dioxide
Hydrogen
Nitrogen
Helium
(proportions vary according to a specific laser)
•Electron impact excites vibrational motion of the nitrogen.
•Collision energy transfer between the nitrogen and the CO2 molecule
causes vibrational excitation of the carbon dioxide
•Excite with sufficient efficiency to lead to the desired population inversion
necessary for laser operation.
•Laser transition occurs at 10.6µm
•CO2 laser……

•CO2 laser possesses an extremely high efficiency

•Atomic quantum efficiency – Ratio of energy difference
corresponding to the laser transition to the energy difference
of the pump transition
•Atomic quantum efficiency is very high for a CO2 laser
•Large portion of input power is converted into useful output power
•Output power of several watts to several kilowatts can be obtained
ARGON LASER
 Four level laser; Operates in Visible region over
wavelength, 350 - 520 nm
 Most powerful CW laser operating in visible
region (powers 100W)
 Extensively used in laser light shows
 Provides approx 25 Visible and 10 UV
wavelengths