LASERS

group two
presents
• LASER or light amplification by stimulated
emission of radiation is a device which
produces an intense beam of monochromatic
light.
• Laser emits light through a process called
stimulated emission of radiation which
amplifies or increases the intensity of light.
ABBREVIATION OF LASER
L- Light
A- Amplification by
S- stimulated
E- emission of
R- radiation
CHARACTERISTIC OF LASERS
• Monochromatic;
this means the laser beam is made of a single colour or a
single wave length. In contrast ordinary white light bulb is a
combination of many colour or wave length and is certainly
not monochromatic
• Coherence;
means the wave length of the laser light is in phase, in space
and time this is because of the orderly electronic transition that
take place in the laser. So, in contrary the light emitted from an
ordinary light source is incoherent because the radiation emitted
from different atoms has no defined phase relationship with
each other.
• Directional;
which means light emitted by the laser are relatively a
narrow beam in a specific direction without dispersion.
Moreover, the laser beam spread very little and thus can be
focused sharply and if you observe ordinary bulb light it
emits light in all directions.

• High intensity;
in laser, the light spreads in small region of space
and in a small wavelength range. Hence, laser
light has greater intensity when compared to the
ordinary light.
Applications of the laser beam
1. Bar code scanners
2. Intruder detection in high security areas e.g. golds
banks, museums especially valuable artificers.
3. Laser pointer and printers
4. Optical tweezers
5. For cutting high strength material like steel.
Working principle of laser is based on
 Spontaneous absorption
 Spontaneous emission
 Stimulated emission
 Population inversion
 Spontaneous absorption
• An atom consists of different energy states let consider the two-
energy state of an electron such as Eo and Ex.
• When the photon energy falls on the electron it jumps from the
ground Eo to the existed state Ex by absorbing the energy.

• This process of absorbing energy from photons is known as

absorption of radiation. It is known as electron absorbs energy
from lower energy from lower energy level Eo to the high
energy level Ex.
• But the exited electrons jump to the high energy state does not
remain in the same state for a long period and comes back to its
original grounds state Eo by losing it energy in the form of
protons.
CONT OF SPONTANEOUS ABSORPTION

• These photons are considered as incoherent. Thus, the electrons

in the excited item are released from its home from the higher
energy state to the ground state emitting photons this is called
spontaneous emission.

Stimulated emission
• During this process the item emits an addition photon with the
same energy this process is called stimulated emission.
COMPONENTS OF A LASER
There three main components of a laser device are:
a) Active medium
b) Pumping source
c) Optical resonator system
Active medium
When energy is given to laser medium (solid, liquid or gas), then
only a small fraction of laser medium shows lasing action. This
part of laser medium is called active medium or active center.
Thus, due to this reason the laser medium is also called the heart
of a laser.
Pumping source
As we have discussed in the previously, that principle or laser is
stimulated emission and for it to take places population inversion
has to be achieved and maintained for this, there must be a source
of external energy, which can continuously supply energy to laser
medium, so that population inversion can be achieved.
CONT OF PUMPING SOURCE
Such a source external energy is called pump or pumping source
and the process of supplying external energy to laser medium so as
to achieve the population inversion is called pumping.
Optical resonator system
Contains the lasing medium to be exited and mirrors to redirect the
emitted laser photons back along the same path. Laser beam passes
through the lasing medium many times and the emitted laser
photons is amplified at each passage.
TYPES OF LASER

 Fiber laser
 Ruby laser
 Helium-neon laser
 Nitrogen