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6.2 Basic concepts

To gain an understanding of the light-generating mechanisms within the major optical
sources used in optical fiber communications it is necessary to consider both the funda-
mental atomic concepts and the device structure. In this context the requirements for the
laser source are far more stringent than those for the LED. Unlike the LED, strictly speak-
ing, the laser is a device which amplifies light – hence the derivation of the term LASER
as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Lasers, how-
ever, are seldom used as amplifiers since there are practical difficulties in relation to the
achievement of high gain while avoiding oscillation from the required energy feedback.
Thus the practical realization of the laser is as an optical oscillator. The operation of the
device may be described by the formation of an electromagnetic standing wave within a
cavity (or optical resonator) which provides an output of monochromatic, highly coherent
radiation. By contrast the LED provides optical emission without an inherent gain mecha-
nism. This results in incoherent light output.
In this section we elaborate on the basic principles which govern the operation of both
these optical sources. It is clear, however, that the operation of the laser must be discussed
in some detail in order to provide an appreciation of the way it functions as an optical
source. Hence we concentrate first on the general principles of laser action.

6.2.1 Absorption and emission of radiation

The interaction of light with matter takes place in discrete packets of energy or quanta,
called photons. Furthermore, the quantum theory suggests that atoms exist only in certain
discrete energy states such that absorption and emission of light causes them to make a
transition from one discrete energy state to another. The frequency of the absorbed or
emitted radiation f is related to the difference in energy E between the higher energy state
E2 and the lower energy state E1 by the expression:

E = E2 − E1 = hf (6.1)

where h = 6.626 × 10−34 J s is Planck’s constant. These discrete energy states for the atom
may be considered to correspond to electrons occurring in particular energy levels relative
to the nucleus. Hence, different energy states for the atom correspond to different electron
configurations, and a single electron transition between two energy levels within the atom
will provide a change in energy suitable for the absorption or emission of a photon. It must
be noted, however, that modern quantum theory [Ref. 1] gives a probabilistic description
which specifies the energy levels in which electrons are most likely to be found. Never-
theless, the concept of stable atomic energy states and electron transitions between energy
levels is still valid.
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Figure 6.1 Energy state diagram showing: (a) absorption; (b) spontaneous emission;
(c) stimulated emission. The black dot indicates the state of the atom before and after
a transition takes place

Figure 6.1(a) illustrates a two energy state or level atomic system where an atom is ini-
tially in the lower energy state E1. When a photon with energy (E2 − E1) is incident on the
atom it may be excited into the higher energy state E2 through absorption of the photon.
This process is sometimes referred to as stimulated absorption. Alternatively, when the
atom is initially in the higher energy state E2 it can make a transition to the lower energy
state E1 providing the emission of a photon at a frequency corresponding to Eq. (6.1). This
emission process can occur in two ways:

(a) by spontaneous emission in which the atom returns to the lower energy state in an
entirely random manner;
(b) by stimulated emission when a photon having an energy equal to the energy differ-
ence between the two states (E2 − E1) interacts with the atom in the upper energy
state causing it to return to the lower state with the creation of a second photon.

These two emission processes are illustrated in Figure 6.1(b) and (c) respectively. The
random nature of the spontaneous emission process where light is emitted by electronic
transitions from a large number of atoms gives incoherent radiation. A similar emission
process in semiconductors provides the basic mechanism for light generation within the
LED (see Section 6.3.2).
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Basic concepts 299

It is the stimulated emission process, however, which gives the laser its special proper-
ties as an optical source. Firstly, the photon produced by stimulated emission is generally*
of an identical energy to the one which caused it and hence the light associated with them
is of the same frequency. Secondly, the light associated with the stimulating and stimu-
lated photon is in phase and has the same polarization. Therefore, in contrast to spon-
taneous emission, coherent radiation is obtained. Furthermore, this means that when an
atom is stimulated to emit light energy by an incident wave, the liberated energy can add
to the wave in a constructive manner, providing amplification.

6.2.2 The Einstein relations

Prior to a discussion of laser action in semiconductors it is useful to consider optical
amplification in the two-level atomic system shown in Figure 6.1. In 1917 Einstein
[Ref. 2] demonstrated that the rates of the three transition processes of absorption, spon-
taneous emission and stimulated emission were related mathematically. He achieved this
by considering the atomic system to be in thermal equilibrium such that the rate of the
upward transitions must equal the rate of the downward transitions. The population of
the two energy levels of such a system is described by Boltzmann statistics which give:

N1 g1 exp(−E1/KT) g1
= = exp(E2 − E1/KT)
N2 g2 exp(−E2/KT) g2
g1
= exp(hf/KT) (6.2)
g2

where N1 and N2 represent the density of atoms in energy levels E1 and E2, respectively,
with g1 and g2 being the corresponding degeneracies† of the levels, K is Boltzmann’s con-
stant and T is the absolute temperature.
As the density of atoms in the lower or ground energy state E1 is N1, the rate of upward
transition or absorption is proportional to both N1 and the spectral density ρf of the radia-
tion energy at the transition frequency f. Hence, the upward transition rate R12 (indicating
an electron transition from level 1 to level 2) may be written as:

R12 = N1ρf B12 (6.3)

where the constant of proportionality B12 is known as the Einstein coefficient of absorption.
By contrast, atoms in the higher or excited energy state can undergo electron transitions
from level 2 to level 1 either spontaneously or through stimulation by the radiation field.

* A photon with energy hf will not necessarily always stimulate another photon with energy hf.
Photons may be stimulated over a small range of energies around hf providing an emission which
has a finite frequency or wavelength spread (linewidth).
† In many cases the atom has several sublevels of equal energy within an energy level which is then
said to be degenerate. The degeneracy parameters g1 and g2 indicate the number of sublevels within
the energy levels E1 and E2 respectively. If the system is not degenerate, then g1 and g2 may be set to
unity [Ref. 1].
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For spontaneous emission the average time that an electron exists in the excited state
before a transition occurs is known as the spontaneous lifetime τ21. If the density of atoms
within the system with energy E2 is N2, then the spontaneous emission rate is given by the
product of N2 and 1/τ2. This may be written as N2A21 where A21, the Einstein coefficient of
spontaneous emission, is equal to the reciprocal of the spontaneous lifetime.
The rate of stimulated downward transition of an electron from level 2 to level 1 may
be obtained in a similar manner to the rate of stimulated upward transition. Hence the rate
of stimulated emission is given by N2ρf B21, where B21 is the Einstein coefficient of stimu-
lated emission. The total transition rate from level 2 to level 1, R21, is the sum of the spon-
taneous and stimulated contributions. Hence:

R21 = N2A21 + N2ρf B21 (6.4)

For a system in thermal equilibrium, the upward and downward transition rates must be
equal and therefore R12 = R21, or:

N1ρf B12 = N2A21 + N2ρf B21 (6.5)

It follows that:

N2 A21
ρf =
N1 B12 − N2 B21

and:

A21 /B21
ρf = (6.6)
(B12 N1/B21 N2) − 1

Substituting Eq. (6.2) into Eq. (6.6) gives:

A21 /B21
ρf = (6.7)
[(g1B12 /g2 B21) exp(hf/KT )] − 1

However, since the atomic system under consideration is in thermal equilibrium it pro-
duces a radiation density which is identical to black body radiation. Planck showed that
the radiation spectral density for a black body radiating within a frequency range f to f + df
is given by [Ref. 3]:

8πhf 3 G 1 J
ρf = (6.8)
c3 I exp(hf/KT) − 1 L

Comparing Eq. (6.8) with Eq. (6.7) we obtain the Einstein relations:

A g2 D
B12 = B (6.9)
C g1F 21
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and:

A21 8πhf 3
= (6.10)
B21 c3

It may be observed from Eq. (6.9) that when the degeneracies of the two levels are equal
(g1 = g2), then the probabilities of absorption and stimulated emission are equal. Further-
more, the ratio of the stimulated emission rate to the spontaneous emission rate is given by:

Stimulated emission rate B ρ 1

= 21 f = (6.11)
Spontaneous emission rate A21 exp(hf/KT) − 1

Example 6.1
Calculate the ratio of the stimulated emission rate to the spontaneous emission rate
for an incandescent lamp operating at a temperature of 1000 K. It may be assumed
that the average operating wavelength is 0.5 μm.
Solution: The average operating frequency is given by:

c 2.998 × 108
f= =  6.0 × 1014 Hz
λ 0.5 × 10−6

Using Eq. (6.11) the ratio is:

Stimulated emission rate 1

=
Spontaneous emission rate A6.626 × 10−34 × 6 × 1014 D
exp
C 1.381 × 10−23 × 1000 F
= exp(−28.8)
= 3.1 × 10−13
Differences between Stimulated and spontaneous emission of radiation

S.no Stimulated Emission Spontaneous emission

1 An atom in the excited state is induced to The atom in the excited state returns to the
return to the ground state , thereby resulting ground state thereby emitting a photon,
in two photons of same frequency and without any external inducement is called
energy is called Stimulated emission Spontaneous emission
2 The emitted photons move in the same The emitted photons move in all directions
direction and is highly directional and are random
3 The radiation is highly intense , The radiation is less intense and is
monochromatic and coherent incoherent.
4 The photons are in phase, there is a constant The photons are not in phase (i.e.) there is
phase difference. no phase relationship between them
The rate of transition is given by The rate of transition is given by
R21 (St) = B21 u() N2 R21 (Sp) = A21 N2

Population Inversion:
Population Inversion creates a situation in which the number of atoms in higher energy state is
more than that in the lower energy state.
Usually at thermal equilibrium, the number of atoms N2 i.e., the population of atoms at excited
state is much lesser than the population of the atoms at ground state N1 that is N1 > N2.

The Phenomenon of making N2 > N1 i.e, the number of particles N2 more in higher energy
level than the number of particles N1 in lower energy level is known as Population Inversion
or inverted population. The states of system, in which the population of higher energy state is
more in compression to the population of lower energy state are called negative temperature
states.
Conditions of Population inversion.
1.There must be at least two energy levels E2 > E1.
2.There must be a source to supply the energy to the medium.
3.The atoms must be continuously raised to the excited state.
Requisites of a laser system:

The essential components of a laser are

An active medium to support population inversion.

Pumping mechanism to excite the atoms to higher energy levels.
An optical cavity or optical resonator.

Active Medium:

It is the material medium composed of atoms or ions or molecules in which the laser action is
made to take place, which can be a solid or liquid or even a gas. In this, only a few atoms of
the medium (of particular species) are responsible for stimulated emission. They are called
active centers and the remaining medium simply supports the active centers.

Pumping Mechanism:

To achieve the population inversion in the active medium, the atoms are to be raised to the
excited state. It requires energy to be supplied to the system. The process of supplying energy
to the medium with a view to transfer the atoms to higher energy state is called pumping.
Important pumping mechanisms are:

a) Optical pumping: It employs a suitable light source for excitation of desired atoms.
This method is adopted in solid state lasers (ex: Ruby laser and Nd:YAG laser).
b) Electric discharge: In this process an electric field causes ionization in the medium
and raises it to the excited state. This technique is used in gas lasers (ex: Ar+ laser).
c) Inelastic atom-atom collision: In this method a combination of two types of gases
are used, say A and B. During electric discharge A atoms get excited and they now
collide with B atoms so that B goes to excited state. This technique is used in gas
lasers (ex: He-Ne laser).
d) Direct conversion: In this process electrical energy is directly converted into light
energy. This technique is used in semiconductor lasers (ex: GaAs laser).

Optical Resonator:

Resonance cavity consists of active medium

enclosed between two mirrors one is highly
reflective mirror (100% reflective) and the
other is partially transmissive mirror (99%
reflective).
Metastable State
The key to the laser is the presence in many atoms of one or more excited energy levels whose
lifetimes may be 103 s or more instead of the usual 108 s. Such relatively long-lived states are
called metastable (temporarily stable)

An atom can exist in a metastable energy level for a longer time before radiating than it
can in an ordinary energy level.
An atom can be excited to a higher level by supplying energy to it. Normally, excited
atoms have short life times and release their energy in a matter of 108 seconds through
spontaneous emission. It means atoms do not stay long to be stimulated. As a result, they
undergo spontaneous emission and rapidly return to the ground level; thereby population
inversion could not be established. In order to do so, the excited atoms are required to ‘wait’ at
the upper energy level till a large number of atoms accumulate at that level. In other words, it
is necessary that excited state have a longer lifetime. A Meta stable state is such a state.
Metastable can be readily obtained in a crystal system containing impurity atoms. These levels
lie in the forbidden gap of the host crystal. There could be no population inversion and hence
no laser action, if metastable states don’t exist.

Pumping
The process to achieve the population inversion in the medium is called Pumping action. It is
essential requirement for producing a laser beam.
The methods commonly used for pumping action are:
1. Optical pumping (Excitation by Photons)
2. Electrical discharge method (Excitation by electrons)
3. Direct conversion
4. In elastic atom – atom collision between atoms
1. Optical pumping:
When the atoms are exposed to light radiations energy h, atoms in the lower energy state
absorb these radiations and they go to the excited state. This method is called Optical pumping.
It is used in solid state lasers like ruby laser and Nd-YAG laser. In ruby laser, xenon flash lamp
is used as pumping source.

2. Electrical discharge method (Excitation by electrons)

In this method, the electrons are produced in an electrical discharge tube. These electrons are
accelerated to high velocities by a strong electrical field. These accelerated electrons collide
with the gas atoms.
By the process, energy from the electrons is transferred to gas atoms. Some atoms gain energy
and they go to the excited state. This results in population inversion. This method is called
Electrical discharge method. This method of pumping is used in gas lasers like argon and CO2
Laser

3.Direct Conversion
In this method, due to electrical energy applied in direct band gap semiconductor like Ga As,
recombination of electrons and holes takes place. During the recombination process, the
electrical energy is directly converted into light energy.
4.4 Three-level and four-level lasers
Now let us discuss possible energy level systems in the laser medium in which
the population inversion can be achieved. In principle, all laser energy level
systems in laser media, no matter how complex they are, can be approxim­
ated as either three-level or four-level systems regardless of the type of
spectral line broadening.
To achieve laser operation, the energy levels must obey certain require­
ments. Let us first consider a four-level laser, whose energy level diagram
is schematically illustrated in Fig.54. In a four-level laser, atoms by absorb­
ing pump energy are excited from the ground level (0) to the level (3), which
may consist of an entire system of energy levels. The lifetime of level (3)

Figure 54: Principal diagram of a four-level laser system.

has to be short, it is also desirable that any radiative transitions from level
(3) do not occur or their rate is very low. In this way, excitations of level
(3) are rapidly transferred by non-radiative transitions to level (2), which
is metastable, i.e. has long lifetime. Levels (2) and (1) are the upper and
lower laser levels, respectively. To achieve population inversion between laser
levels (2) and (1), lifetime of energy level (1) has to be short. i.e. its excit­
ations rapidly relax to the ground state (0) by radiative and non-radiative
transitions. Therefore, in a four-level laser, any excited atom in level (3)
quickly transfers its excitation to level (2) and since level (1) is empty (very
quickly relaxing), the population inversion is achieved by very simple means.
Examples of four-level laser systems include Nd-doped solid-state lasers (e.g.
Nd:YAG, Nd:glass), Ti:sapphire, excimer and most of gas lasers.
 A different situation occurs in a three-level laser (Fig.55), where the
lower energy level (1) matches the ground level. In this case, to achieve
population inversion it is necessary to excite at least half of the atoms from
the ground level to level (3). Obviously, this can be obtained only using
sufficiently high pumping rate. The most prominent example of three-level
laser is ruby laser.

Figure 55: Principal diagram of a three-level laser system.

Compared to a three-level laser, four-level laser offers a great advantage

that population inversion is ideally achieved when just one atom is excited to
level (3) that consequently quickly decays to level (2). Therefore four-level
lasers are much more used whenever possible.
OPTF_C06.qxd 11/6/08 10:56 Page 303

Figure 6.3 Energy-level diagrams showing population inversion and lasing for two
nonsemiconductor lasers: (a) three-level system – ruby (crystal) laser; (b) four-level
system – He–Ne (gas) laser

6.2.4 Optical Resonator

Light amplification in the laser occurs when a photon colliding with an atom in the excited
energy state causes the stimulated emission of a second photon and then both these photons
release two more. Continuation of this process effectively creates avalanche multiplication,
and when the electromagnetic waves associated with these photons are in phase, amplified
coherent emission is obtained. To achieve this laser action it is necessary to contain photons

Figure 6.4 The basic laser structure incorporating plane mirrors

within the laser medium and maintain the conditions for coherence. This is accomplished
by placing or forming mirrors (plane or curved) at either end of the amplifying medium, as
illustrated in Figure 6.4. The optical cavity formed is more analogous to an oscillator than
an amplifier as it provides positive feedback of the photons by reflection at the mirrors at
either end of the cavity. Hence the optical signal is fed back many times while receiving
amplification as it passes through the medium. The structure therefore acts as a Fabry–
Pérot resonator. Although the amplification of the signal from a single pass through the
OPTF_C06.qxd 11/6/08 10:56 Page 304

medium is quite small, after multiple passes the net gain can be large. Furthermore, if one
mirror is made partially transmitting, useful radiation may escape from the cavity.
A stable output is obtained at saturation when the optical gain is exactly matched by the
losses incurred in the amplifying medium. The major losses result from factors such as
absorption and scattering in the amplifying medium, absorption, scattering and diffraction
at the mirrors and nonuseful transmission through the mirrors.
Oscillations occur in the laser cavity over a small range of frequencies where the cavity
gain is sufficient to overcome the above losses. Hence the device is not a perfectly mono-
chromatic source but emits over a narrow spectral band. The central frequency of this
spectral band is determined by the mean energy-level difference of the stimulated emis-
sion transition. Other oscillation frequencies within the spectral band result from fre-
quency variations due to the thermal motion of atoms within the amplifying medium
(known as Doppler broadening)* and by atomic collisions.† Hence the amplification
within the laser medium results in a broadened laser transition or gain curve over a finite
spectral width, as illustrated in Figure 6.5. The spectral emission from the device therefore
lies within the frequency range dictated by this gain curve.
Since the structure forms a resonant cavity, when sufficient population inversion exists
in the amplifying medium the radiation builds up and becomes established as standing
waves between the mirrors. These standing waves exist only at frequencies for which the
distance between the mirrors is an integral number of half wavelengths. Thus when the
optical spacing between the mirrors is L, the resonance condition along the axis of the cav-
ity is given by [Ref. 4]:

λq
L= (6.12)
2n

* Doppler broadening is referred to as an inhomogeneous broadening mechanism since individual

groups of atoms in the collection have different apparent resonance frequencies.
† Atomic collisions provide homogeneous broadening as every atom in the collection has the same
resonant frequency and spectral spread.
Resonator Configuration

The most widely used laser resonators or cavities have either plane or spherical mirrors of
rectangular or circular shape, separated by some distance L.

A Plane Parallel Resonator consists of two plane mirrors set parallel to each other with the
active material placed in between them. One of the mirrors is semi-transparent while the
other one is 100% reflecting. The mirrors are set normal to the axis of the active medium and
parallel to each other, as shown in the figure below.

Figure: Various configuration of an optical resonator

The distance between the mirrors is an important parameter as it chooses the wavelength of
the photons. Suppose a photon is traveling between two reflectors, it undergoes reflection at
the mirror kept at the other end. The reflected wave superposes on the incident wave and
forms stationary wave such that the length L of the cavity is given by

𝜆
𝐿=𝑛
2

Where, L is the distance between the mirrors. λ is the wavelength of the photon, n is the
integral multiple of half wavelength

The wavelengths satisfying the above condition are only amplified. Hence the cavity is also
called resonant cavity.

Concentric resonator consists of two spherical mirrors with the same radius R separated by a
distance L = 2R, so that the centers are coincident. The resonant frequencies use the same
equation as above.

Confocal resonator consists of two spherical mirrors of the same radius of curvature R
separated by a distance of L such that their foci F1 and F2 coincident. In this case, the center
of curvature of one mirror lies on the surface of another mirror.
Ring Resonator is a particularly important class of laser resonators. The path of the optical
rays is arranged in a ring configuration or more complicated configurations like folded
configurations. Here, the total closed loop path of the reflected light is equal to an integral
multiple of one sixth of the lasing wavelength

The main Role of the optical resonator is to:

1. Provide positive feedback of photons into the active medium to sustain stimulated emission
and hence laser acts as a generator of light.
2. Select the direction of stimulated photons which are travelling parallel to the axis of optical
resonator and normal to the plane of mirrors are to be amplified. Hence laser light is highly
directional.
3. Builds up the photon density to a very high value through repeated reflections of photons by
mirrors and confines them within the active medium.
4. Selects and amplifies only certain frequencies of stimulated photons which are to be highly
monochromatic and gives out the laser light through the partial reflector after satisfying thr-
eshold condition.
Characteristics of Laser
Laser light has four unique characteristics that differentiate it from ordinary light: these are;

 Coherence
 Directionality
 Monochromatic
 High intensity

1. Coherence
We know that visible light is emitted when excited electrons (electrons in higher energy level)
jumped into the lower energy level (ground state). The process of electrons moving from
higher energy level to lower energy level or lower energy level to higher energy level is called
electron transition.

In ordinary light sources (lamp, sodium lamp and torch light), the electron transition occurs
naturally. In other words, electron transition in ordinary light sources is random in time. The
photons emitted from ordinary light sources have different energies, frequencies, wavelengths,
or colors. Hence, the light waves of ordinary light sources have many wavelengths. Therefore,
photons emitted by an ordinary light source are out of phase.

In laser, the electron transition occurs artificially. In other words, in laser, electron transition
occurs in specific time. All the photons emitted in laser have the same energy, frequency, or
wavelength. Hence, the light waves of laser light have single wavelength or color. Therefore,
the wavelengths of the laser light are in phase in space and time. In laser, a technique called
stimulated emission is used to produce light.
Thus, light generated by laser is highly coherent. Because of this coherence, a large
amount of power can be concentrated in a narrow space.

2. Directionality

In conventional light sources (lamp, sodium lamp and torchlight), photons will travel in random
direction. Therefore, these light sources emit light in all directions.

On the other hand, in laser, all photons will travel in same direction. Therefore, laser emits
light only in one direction. This is called directionality of laser light. The width of a laser beam
is extremely narrow. Hence, a laser beam can travel to long distances without spreading.

If an ordinary light travels a distance of 2 km, it spreads to about 2 km in diameter. On the

other hand, if a laser light travels a distance of 2 km, it spreads to a diameter less than 2 cm.
 3. Monochromatic

Monochromatic light means a light containing a single color or wavelength. The photons
emitted from ordinary light sources have different energies, frequencies, wavelengths, or
colors. Hence, the light waves of ordinary light sources have many wavelengths or colors.
Therefore, ordinary light is a mixture of waves having different frequencies or wavelengths.

On the other hand, in laser, all the emitted photons have the same energy, frequency, or
wavelength. Hence, the light waves of laser have single wavelength or color. Therefore, laser
light covers a very narrow range of frequencies or wavelengths.

4. High Intensity

You know that the intensity of a wave is the energy per unit time flowing through a unit normal
area. In an ordinary light source, the light spreads out uniformly in all directions.

If you look at a 100 Watt lamp filament from a distance of 30 cm, the power entering your eye
is less than 1/1000 of a watt.

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.

If you look directly along the beam from a laser (caution: don’t do it), then all the power in the
laser would enter your eye. Thus, even a 1 Watt laser would appear many thousand times more
intense than 100 Watt ordinary lamp.

Thus, these four properties of laser beam enable us to cut a huge block of steel by melting.
They are also used for recording and reproducing large information on a compact disc (CD).
Laser Modes:

Lasers can operate in either a continuous (CW) or a single-pulsed mode. Lasers that are
pumped (excited) continuously can produce a continuous output or a series of pulses. Lasers
that are pumped (excited) by a pulse of energy will emit an output pulse (or string of irregular
pulses) that coincides in time with the pumping pulse.

Solid or gas lasers, which have external mirrors for the optical cavity, may contain
“intracavity elements” that can control the output pulses by varying the reflectivity of the
optical cavity. They are called Q-switches or mode lockers.

Solid state lasers can operate in continuous wave (CW) or pulsed mode. In the CW mode, the
power output of a solid-state laser undergoes little or no fluctuation. When the flashlamps of
these lasers are pulsed, laser emission begins when the population inversion is high enough
and ends when the population inversion falls below the threshold for laser operations.
Operating in this mode—normal pulsed mode—the output of the laser undergoes marked
fluctuations; that is, the beam’s power changes with time in a very noticeable fashion that
resembles a series of pulses.

The output of a normal mode, pulsed, solid state laser is generally a train of irregular
pulsations—irregular in peak power, pulse width, and frequency of occurrence. It is possible
to remove these irregularities and at the same time greatly increase the peak power by using a
technique called Q-switching. Q-switched lasers normally emit only one giant pulse in an
operational cycle. The pulse will typically have a time duration of less than one microsecond
and a peak intensity of megawatts (106 watts) or even gigawatts (109 watts). This same
technique may be applied to continuously pumped lasers to produce a train of Q-switched
pulses with regular duration, pulse shape, peak power, and frequency of occurrence (pulse
repetition frequency).

Another technique for producing short, high-power pulses is mode locking. In a laser with
multiple longitudinal modes, the modes may interfere to produce a very short pulse. Also, it is
possible to change the wavelength of a laser to a shorter wavelength using a process called
nonlinear optics (NLO) or frequency doubling.

Q-Switching: Basic Principles

Q-switching is a mode of operating a laser in which energy is stored in the laser material
during pumping in the form of atoms in the upper laser level and suddenly released in a
single, short burst. This is accomplished by changing the feedback of the laser cavity. During
pumping, the high-reflectivity (HR) mirror is effectively removed from the system,
preventing lasing. After a large amount of energy has been stored in the active medium, the
HR mirror is returned to proper alignment and operation, and most of the stored energy
emerges in a single, short pulse.

The term “Q,” as related to the operation of lasers, is used to describe the quality of the
resonant cavity; that is, how well it couples the intracavity signal back into the amplifier. In a
practical way, we can relate Q to the losses in the feed loop through the cavity. In this loop,
the signal encountered gain (became more intense) when it travelled through the laser active
medium, and encountered losses when it reflected off the mirrors and entered and left the
active medium. It also encountered losses from diffraction and the imperfect optical quality
of the laser active medium and mirror surfaces.

The factor Q in a laser cavity consisting of a 100% reflecting mirror and a mirror with
reflectivity R is given by:

2𝐷𝜔
𝑄=
(1 − 𝑅)𝑐

where D is the distance between the mirrors, ω is the angular frequency of the light produced
from stimulated emission, and c is the speed of light. According to this equation, when R is
high, close to unity, Q will be very high and energy will be stored within the cavity. When R
is lower, appreciably less than unity, Q will be lower and energy can escape from the cavity.
Q-switching involves switching the reflectivity of the output mirror from a high to a low
value at a time when the active medium has been pumped to a highly excited state.

A Q-switch is essentially a shutter placed between the active medium and the
(low reflecting) LR mirror. With this shutter closed, the LR mirror is
blocked. When the amplifier gain reaches a predetermined value, the shutter is
opened to increase the cavity quality.

Mode Locking: Generating Ultrashort Laser Pulses

Mode locking is very similar to Q-switching. In Q-switching, the intracavity device that
controls the process can keep the laser cavity in a low gain situation for as long as the net
energy gain of the active medium keeps increasing. In mode locking, the amount of time that
the intracavity device keeps the laser cavity in a low gain situation is fixed and based on the
round-trip time of the photons in the laser cavity.

One can think of the intracavity mode locking device as a gate. The gate opens just as a
packet of photons approach it, and it stays open just long enough for these photons to pass
through the gate, reflect off the HR mirror, and pass through the gate going in the opposite
direction. After this packet of photons has cleared the gate, the gate closes and blocks all
other photons from getting to the HR mirror. The gate stays closed until that packet of
photons reflects off the output coupler mirror and returns to the gate (completing a round-trip
of the laser cavity). The gate then opens again, and the cycle repeats itself. Only this one
packet of photons gains energy in the laser cavity, while the energy of other packets
decreases. The net effect is a pulse of photons bouncing back and forth inside the laser cavity
and an output from the laser that consists of pulses.

Frequency doubling

Frequency doubling, also known as second-harmonic generation (SHG), is a powerful

technique used to generate light at shorter wavelengths. It occurs in a nonlinear optical
medium, a material that exhibits a nonlinear response to the electric field intensity. It involves
converting the original laser beam’s frequency (wavelength) to exactly half (or other
fractions) of its initial value. It is a nonlinear optical process, meaning it involves interactions
that are not directly proportional to the intensity of the electric field.

Imagine starting with a laser emitting light at a fundamental frequency (e.g., 1064 nm for
Nd:YAG lasers). In frequency doubling: The laser beam passes through a nonlinear crystal
(such as potassium titanyl phosphate, KTP). Inside the crystal, two photons interact and
combine to generate a new photon with twice the energy (and half the wavelength) of the
original photons. The conservation of energy is a fundamental principle in this process. The
energy of the new photon is equal to the sum of the energies of the two original photons. This
new photon has a doubled frequency (e.g., 532 nm for Nd:YAG lasers).
 LASER Classes

When evaluating laser radiation danger, the laser sources are divided into
4 classes. Laser safety class is marked on the laser housing or on the device
part where the laser is located.
• Class 1: The power density of these lasers is so small that their ra­
diation is not dangerous to skin or to the eyes in the case of any use
of the laser. Sometimes two subclasses are distinguished: class 1M
laser system is a class 1 laser using magnifying optics which is incap­
able of causing injury during normal operation unless collecting optics
are used; class 1C laser (established in July 2015) is a class 1 laser
that covers laser systems that are designed for direct contact with the
”objective”. This can be laser systems for hair removal, reduction of
wrinkles, treatment of akne, tattoo removal, etc.

• Class 2: Only continuous wave (CW) lasers emitting visible (400 nm–
700 nm) light whose power does not exceed 1 mW fall into this class.
Direct exposure to such laser radiation is considered not dangerous if
the exposure time does not exceed 0.25 s (the duration of eye blinking
reflex). Sometimes a subclass is distinguished: class 2M laser system is
a class 2 laser using magnifying optics. It includes visible wavelength
lasers incapable of causing injury in 0.25 seconds unless collecting optics
are used.

• Class 3: This class is also divided into 3R and 3B subclasses. 3R class

includes lasers whose power in the visible range (400 nm–700 nm) does
not exceed 5 mW. Direct exposure to such laser radiation is considered
not dangerous, but focused radiation can cause temporary vision dis­
order. 3B class includes CW lasers emitting in the entire optical range
(ultraviolet, visible and infrared), whose power does not exceed 0.5 W
and pulsed lasers emitting in the visible range, whose pulse energy does
not exceed 30 mJ. Direct exposure to such laser radiation is danger­
ous to skin and eyes, therefore, when working with such lasers it is
necessary to wear laser safety goggles and avoid direct contact of laser
radiation with skin.

• Class 4: It is the most dangerous class. All the lasers whose power
or pulse energy is greater than 3B subclass lasers fall into this class.
All ultrashort pulse (picosecond and femtosecond) lasers also fall into
this class. Both direct and scattered (reflected from matted or diffuse
surfaces e.g., sheet of paper) radiation as well as reflections from op­
tical or mechanical element surfaces (lenses, filters, mounts, etc.) is
dangerous to skin and eyes. The most dangerous in that regard are
lasers emitting ultraviolet and infrared radiation since it is not directly
visible to human eye. Maximum safety precautions are necessary when
working with such lasers.
Different Type of lasers
Ruby Laser
The first working laser was built in 1960 by Maiman, using a ruby crytal and so called the
Ruby laser. Ruby belongs to the family of gems consisting of Al2O3 with various types of
impurities. For example, pink Ruby contains 0.05% Cr atoms. The schematic diagram of ruby
laser can be drawn as:

Construction of Ruby Laser

The ruby laser consists of a ruby rod. which is made of chromium doped ruby material. At the
opposite ends of this rod there are two silver polished mirrors. Whose one is fully polished and
other is partially polished. A spring is attached to the rod with fully polished end for adjustment
of wave length of the laser light. Around the ruby rod a flash light is kept for the pump input.
The whole assembly is kept in the glass tube. Around the neck of the glass tube the R.F source
and switching control is designed in order to switch on and off the flash light for desired
intervals.
Operation of Ruby Laser:
When we switch on the circuit the R.F operates. As a result, the flash of light is obtained around
the ruby rod this flash causes the electrons within ruby rod to move from lower energy band
towards higher/rod. this flash causes the electrons within ruby rod to move from lower energy
band towards higher energy band. The population inversion take place at high energy band and
electrons starts back to travel towards the lower energy band. During this movement the
electron emits the laser light. This emitted light travels between the two mirrors where cross
reflection takes place of this light. The stimulated laser light now escapes from partially
polished mirror in shape of laser beam. The spring attached with the fully polished mirror is
used to adjust the wave length equal to λ/2 of laser light for optimum laser beam. The switching
control of the R.F source is used to switch on and off the flash light so that excessive heat
should not be generated due to very high frequency of the movement of the electron.
Energy Level Diagram for Ruby Laser

The above three level energy diagram show that in ruby lasers the absorption occurs in a rather
broad range in the green part of the spectrum. This makes raise the electrons from ground state
E1 to the band of level E3 higher than E1. At E3 these excited levels are highly unstable and so
the electrons decays rapidly to the level of E2. This transition occurs with energy difference
(E1 – E2) given up as heat (radiation less transmission). The level E2 is very important for
stimulated emission process and is known as Meta stable state. Electrons in this level have an
average life time of about 5m.s before they fall to ground state. After this the population
inversion can be established between E2 and E1. The population inversion is obtained by optical
pumping of the ruby rod with a flash lamp. A common type of the flash lamp is a glass tube
wrapped around the ruby rod and filled with xenon gas. When the flash lamp intensity becomes
large enough to create population inversion, then stimulated emission from the Meta stable
level to the ground level occurs which result in the laser output. Once the population inversion
begins, the Meta stable level is depopulated very quickly. Thus the laser output consists of an
intense spike lasting from a few Nano sec to μsec. after stimulated emission spike, population
inversion builds up again and a 2nd spike results. This process continues as long as the flash
lamp intensity is enough to create the population inversion.
Advantages of Ruby Lasers
 Beam diameter of the ruby laser is comparatively less than CO2 gas lasers.
 Output power of Ruby laser is not as less as in He-Ne gas lasers.
 Since the ruby is in solid form therefore there is no chance of wasting material of active
medium.
 Construction and function of ruby laser is self-explanatory.
Disadvantages of Ruby Laser
 In ruby lasers no significant stimulated emission occurs, until at least half of the ground
state electrons have been excited to the Meta stable state.

 Efficiency of ruby laser is comparatively low.

 Optical cavity of ruby laser is short as compared to other lasers, which may be
considered a disadvantage.

Applications of ruby Laser

 Due to low output power they are class-I lasers and so may used as toys for children’s.
 It can be used in schools, colleges, universities for science programs.
 It can be used as decoration piece & artistic display.
Helium -Neon (He-Ne) Laser
Construction:
(i) Active medium:
It is a gas laser, which consists of a narrow quartz tube filled with a mixture of helium and neon
gases in the ratio 10:1 respectively, at low pressure (~0.1 mm of Hg). Ne atoms act as active
centres and responsible for the laser action, while He atoms are used to help in the excitation
process. The length of the quartz tube is about 50 cm and the diameter is about 1 cm.

ii) Optical resonator:

To construct the optical resonator cavity, two parallel mirrors are placed at the ends of the
quartz tube one of them is partly transparent while the other is fully reflecting. The spacing
between the mirrors is adjusted such that it should be equal to the integral multiple of half-
wavelengths of the laser light.

(iii) Pumping system:

The pumping is done through electrical discharge by using electrodes that are connected to a
high frequency alternating current source.
Figure: The helium-neon laser. In a four-level laser such as this, continuous operation is possible.
Helium-neon lasers are commonly used to read bar codes.
The common helium-neon gas laser achieves a population inversion in a different way. A
mixture of about 10 parts of helium and 1 part of neon at a low pressure (1 torr) is placed in a
glass tube that has parallel mirrors, one of them partly transparent, at both ends. The spacing
of the mirrors is again (as in all lasers) equal to an integral number of half-wavelengths of the
laser light. An electric discharge is produced in the gas by means of electrodes outside the tube
connected to a source of high-frequency alternating current, and collisions with electrons from
the discharge excite He and Ne atoms to metastable states respectively 20.61 and 20.66 eV
above their ground states. Some of the excited He atoms transfer their energy to ground-state
Ne atoms in collisions, with the 0.05 eV of additional energy being provided by the kinetic
energy of the atoms. The purpose of the He atoms is thus to help achieve a population inversion
in the Ne atoms.
The laser transition in Ne is from the metastable state at 20.66 eV to an excited state at 18.70
eV, with the emission of a 632.8-nm photon. Then another photon is spontaneously emitted in
a transition to a lower metastable state; this transition yields only incoherent light. The
remaining excitation energy is lost in collisions with the tube walls. Because the electron
impacts that excite the He and Ne atoms occur all the time, unlike the pulsed excitation from
the xenon flash lamp in a ruby laser, a He-Ne laser operates continuously. This is the laser
whose narrow red beam is used in supermarkets to read bar codes. In a He-Ne laser, only a tiny
fraction (one in millions) of the atoms present participates in the laser process at any moment.

Characteristics of He-Ne Laser

The He-Ne laser is a relatively low power device with an output in the visible red portion of
the spectrum. The most common wavelength produced by He-Ne lasers is 632.8nm, although
two lower power (1.152μm and 3.391μm) infrared wavelengths can be produced if desired.
Majority of He-Ne lasers generate less than 10m watt of power, but some can be obtained
commercially with up to 50m watts of power. For He-Ne lasers the typical laser tube is from
10 to 100 cm in length and the life time of such a tube can be as high as 20,000 hours.
Applications / Uses of He-Ne Laser
The Helium-Neon gas laser is one of the most commonly used laser today because of the
following applications.
 He-Ne lasers are produced in large quantities from many years.
 Many schools / colleges / universities use this type of laser in their science programs
and experiments.
 He-Ne lasers also used in super market checkout counters to read bar codes and QR
codes.
 The He-Ne lasers also used by newspapers for reproducing transmitted photographs.
 He-Ne lasers can be use as an alignment tool.
 It is also used in Guns for targeting.
Advantages of He-Ne Laser
  He-Ne laser has very good coherence property.
 He-Ne laser can produce three wavelengths that are 1.152μm, 3.391 μm and 632.8nm,
in which the 632.8nm is most common because it is visible usually in red color.

 He-Ne laser tube has very small length approximately from 10 to 100cm and best life
time of 20,000 hours.
 Cost of He-Ne laser is less from most of other lasers.
 Construction of He-Ne laser is also not very complex.
 He-Ne laser provide inherent safety due to low power output.
Disadvantages of He-Ne Laser
The weak points of He-Ne laser are
 It is relatively low power device means its output power is low.
 He-Ne laser is low gain system/ device.
 To obtain single wavelength laser light, the other two wavelengths of laser need
suppression, which is done by many techniques and devices. So it requires extra
technical skill and increases the cost also.
 High voltage requirement can be considered its disadvantage.
 Escaping of gas from laser plasma tube is also its disadvantage.
Semiconductor lasers
In a semiconductor laser, the radiation is produced by stimulated electron-
hole recombination that is based on transitions between the conduction and
the valence band of the semiconductor crystal (interband transitions). Since
the first demonstration in 1962, semiconductor lasers were recognized as a
potential breakthrough in telecommunication technology. However, the first
semiconductor lasers were based on simple p-n junction and operated only at
cryogenic temperature. The development of double-heterostructure allowed
to reduce the threshold current and achieve operation at room temperature.
Further progress in semiconductor lasers was facilitated by the development
of material processing technologies, such as metal-organic chemical vapor
deposition (MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), which allowed
fabrication of semiconductor crystal structure with atomic layer accuracy.
At present, semiconductor lasers provide the output power up to several
watts and their emission wavelengths cover very broad spectral range, from
the UV to the mid-IR with. Besides numerous applications in various fields
of modern technology, semiconductor lasers are used for pumping of fiber
and solid-state lasers.
The most important class of semiconductor diode lasers is based on III­
V semiconductors. An example for this is GaAs and Ga1−x Alx As, where x
indicates the molar fraction fraction of Ga in GaAs replaced by Al. The
emission wavelength of such lasers depends on doping fraction and is in the
750–880 nm range. A generic double-heterojunction GaAs laser represents a
thin (typically 0.1 − 0.2 µm) GaAs region sandwiched between two regions
of p- and n-doped Ga1−x Alx As, as illustrated in Fig 93.

Figure 93: A typical double-heterostructure formed by GaAs and Ga1−x Alx As

regions.

Since the bandgap energy of Ga1−x Alx As depends on the Al mole frac­
tion, this double-heterostructure is fabricated so as the potential well for
electrons of height ∆Ec coincides spatially with a well for holes of height
∆Ev . Applying the forward bias of eVa ∼ Eg , large densities of electrons are
injected from the n side and holes from the p side into the well, providing
the population inversion condition, which is expressed as

EF c − EF v > ℏω,
where EF c and EF v are the quasi-Fermi levels for the conduction and valence
bands, respectively. The GaAs layer where stimulated emission takes place
is called the active region, as shown in Fig. 94(a).

Figure 94: (a) Schematic energy diagram under positive (forward) bias in
GaAlAs/GaAs/GaAlAs double-heterojunction laser diode. (b) The refractive in­
dex profile that confines the optical field.

For the maximum gain, the light has to be confined within an active re­
gion. This is achieved by a waveguiding effect in a GaAlAs/GaAs/GaAlAs
sandwich, since reduction of the energy gap of a semiconductor by dop­
ing, causes increase of its refractive index. The refractive index distribution
and the output profile of a typical double-heterojunction laser is shown in
Fig. 94(b). In this case the gain scales as d−1 , where d is the height of the act­
ive region. The concept of double-heterojunction GaAlAs laser is transferred
to other semoconductor lasers, e.g. InAlP.
Conventional heterostructures confine the gain into a small zone (the act­
ive region) and prevent electron and hole diffusion. Further miniaturization
of the active region leads to quantized electron motion that is characterized
by discrete energy levels, giving rise to quantum film, quantum wire and
quantum dot lasers. These lasers are not just simply smaller, but also show
qualitatively novel radiation properties. Structures with reduced dimension­
ality offer lower threshold currents, larger gain and lower temperature sens­
itivity.
The most unwanted property of a laser diode is the mode hop that results
in the change of laser wavelength and consequently the gain with temperat­
ure. To overcomes this, the simplest approach is based on an external cavity
concept, which makes use of a diffraction grating at the Littrow configura­
tion, which serves as a cavity mirror. Various modifications of semiconductor
lasers were developed with regard of control the laser wavelength and coher­
ence properties by integrating additional components during laser crystal
manufacturing. In such a way, the so-called distributed feedback (DFB),
distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) lasers are designed.