APPLIED PHYSICS

𝐸
(− 2 )
𝑁2 = 𝑁𝑜 𝑒 𝑘𝐵 𝑇

At ordinary conditions N1>N2 i.e., the population in the ground or lower state is
always greater than the population in the excited or higher states. The stage of making,
population of higher energy level greater than the population of lower energy level is called
population inversion i.e., N2>N1.

METASTABLE STATE:
In general the number of excited particles in a system is smaller than the non excited
particles. The time during which a particle can exist in the ground state is unlimited. On the
other hand, the particle can remain in the excited state for a limited time known as life time.
The life time of the excited hydrogen atom is of the order of 10 -8 sec. However there exist
such excited states in which the life time is greater than 10 -8sec. These states are called as
Meta stable states.

PUMPING MECHANISMS (OR TECHNIQUES):

Pumping:
The process of rising more no of atoms to the excited state by artificial means is called
pumping.
A system in which population inversion is achieved is called as an active system. The
method of raising the particles from lower energy state to higher energy state is called
pumping. (or the process of achieving of population inversion is called pumping). This can be
done by number of ways. The most commonly used pumping methods are
 Optical pumping
 Electrical discharge pumping
 Chemical pumping
 Injection current pumping

Optical pumping:
Optical pumping is used in solid laser. Xenon flash tubes are used for optical
pumping. Since these materials have very broad band absorption, sufficient amount of energy

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is absorbed from the emission band of flash lamp and population inversion is created.
Examples of optically pumped lasers are ruby, Nd: YAG Laser ( Y 3 AL5G12 )
(Neodymium: Yttrium Aluminum Garnet), Nd: Glass Laser
Electrical discharge pumping:
Electrical discharge pumping is used in gas lasers. Since gas lasers have very narrow
absorption band pumping them any flash lamp is not possible. Examples of Electrical
discharge pumped lasers are He-Ne laser, CO2 laser, argon-ion laser, etc
Chemical pumping:
Chemical reaction may also result in excitation and hence creation of population
inversion in few systems. Examples of such systems are HF and DF lasers.
Injection current pumping:
In semiconductors, injection of current through the junction results in creates of
population inversion among the minority charge carriers. Examples of such systems are InP
and GaAs.
PRINCIPLE OF LASER/LASING ACTION:

Let us consider many no of atoms in the excited state. Now the stimulating photon
interacts with any one of the atoms in the excited state, the stimulated emission will occur. It
emits two photons, having same energy & same frequency move in the same direction. These
two photons will interact with another two atoms in excited state & emit 8-photons. In a
similar way chain reaction is produced this phenomenon is called “Principle of lasing –
action”. We get a monochromatic, coherent, directional & intense beam is obtained. This is
called laser beam. This is the principle of working of a laser.

Components of a LASER:
Any laser system consists of 3-important components. They are
(i) Source of energy or pumping source
(ii) Active-medium (Laser Material)
(iii)Optical cavity or resonator
(i) Energy Source : It supply energies & pumps the atoms or
molecules in the active medium to excited states. As a result we
get population inversion in the active medium which emits
laser.
Ex: Xenon flash lamp, electric field.

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(ii) Active medium: The medium in which the population inversion takes place is called as
active medium.
Active-centre: The material in which the atoms are raised to excited state to achieve
population inversion is called as active center.
(iii) Optical-cavity or resonator: The active medium is enclosed between a fully reflected
mirror & a partially reflective mirror. This arrangement is called as cavity or resonator. As a
result, we get highly intense monochromatic, coherence laser light through the non-reflecting
portion of the mirror.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF LASERS

On the basis of active medium used in the laser systems, lasers are classified into several
types
I. Solid lasers : Ruby laser, Nd;YAG laser, Nd;Glass
II. Liquid lasers : Europium Chelate laser, SeOCl2
III. Gas lasers : CO2, He-Ne, Argon-Ion Laser
IV. Dye lasers : Rhodamine 6G
V. Semiconductor lasers : InP, GaAs.
RUBY LASER
Ruby laser is a three level solid state laser and was developed by Mainmann in 1960.
Ruby (Al2O3+Cr2O3) is a crystal of Aluminium oxide, in which 0.05% of Al+3 ions are
replaced by the Cr+3 ions. The colour of the ruby rod is pink. The active medium in the ruby

rod is Cr+3 ions.

Principle or Characteristics of a ruby laser:
Due to optical pumping, the chromium atoms are raised to excited states then the atoms come
to metastable state by non-radiative transition. Due to stimulated emission the transition of
atoms takes place from metastable state to ground state and gives a laser beam.
Construction:
 In ruby laser 4cm length and 5mm diameter rod is generally used.
 Both the ends of the rods are highly polished and made strictly parallel.
 The ends are silvered in such a way, one becomes partially reflected and the other end
fully reflected.
 The ruby rod is surrounded
by xenon flash tube, which
provides the pumping light
to excite the chromium ions
in to upper energy levels.

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 Xenon flash tube emits thousands joules of energy in few milli seconds, but only a
part of that energy is utilized by the chromium ions while the rest energy heats up the
apparatus.
 A cooling arrangement is provided to keep the experimental set up at normal
temperatures.
Working:
 The energy level diagram of chromium ions is shown in figure.
 The chromium ions get excitation into higher energy levels by absorbing of 5600A0
of wave length radiation.
 The excited chromium ions stay in the level H for short interval of time (10 -8 Sec).
 After their life time most of the chromium ions are de-excited from H to G and a few
chromium ions are de-excited from H to M.

 The transition between H and M is non-radioactive transition i.e. the chromium ions
gives their energy to the lattice in the form of heat.
 In the Meta stable state the life time of chromium ions is 10 -3 sec.
 Due to the continuous working of flash lamp, the chromium ions are excited to
higher state H and returned to M level.
 After few milli seconds the level M is more populated than the level G and hence
the desired population inversion is achieved.
 The state of population inversion is not a stable one.
 The process of spontaneous transition is very high.
 When the excited chromium ion passes spontaneously from H to M it emits one
photon of wave length 6943A0.
 The photon reflects back and forth by the silver ends and until it stimulates an
excited chromium ion in M state and it to emit fresh photon in phase with the earlier
photon.
 The process is repeated again and again until the laser beam intensity is reached to a
sufficient value.
 When the photon beam becomes sufficient intense, it emerges through the partially
silvered end of the rod.
 The wave length 6943A0 is in the red region of the visible spectrum on returning to
ground state (G).

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Uses of Ruby laser:

- Used in distance measurement using ‘pulse echo technique’
- Used for measurement of plasma properties such as electron density and temperature.
- Used to remove the melanin of the skin.
- Used for recording pulsed holograms.
- Used as target designators and range finders in military.
Draw backs of Ruby laser:
- It requires high pumping power.
- The efficiency of ruby laser is very small. It is a pulse laser.
-
He-Ne LASER
It was discovered by A. Javan & his co-workers in 1960. It is a continuous wave gas laser. It
consists of mixture of He & Ne in 10:1 ratio as a active medium.
Principle/Characteristics of He-Ne laser:
This laser is based on the principle of stimulated emission, produced in the He & Ne. The
population inversion is achieved due to the interaction between He & Ne gases.Using gas
lasers, we can achieve highly coherent, directional and high monochromatic beam.
Construction:
 In He-Ne gas laser, the He and Ne gases are taken in the ratio 10:1 in the discharge
tube.
 Two reflecting mirrors are fixed on either ends of the discharge tube, in that, one is
partially reflecting and the other is fully reflecting.
 In He-Ne laser 80cm length and 1cm diameter discharge tube is generally used.

 The output power of these lasers depends on the length of the discharge tube and
pressure of the gas mixture.
 Energy source of laser is provided by an electrical discharge of around 1000V through
an anode and cathode at each end of the glass tube.

Working:
 When the electric discharge is passing through the gas mixture, the electrons
accelerated towards the positive electrode.
 During their passage, they collide with He atoms and excite them into higher levels.
 F2 and F3 form F1. In higher levels F2 and F3, the life time of He atoms is more.
 So there is a maximum possibility of energy transfer between He and Ne atoms
through atomic collisions.
 When He atoms present in the levels F2 and F3 collide with Ne atoms present ground

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 state E1, the Ne atoms gets excitation into higher levels E 4 andE6.

 Due to the continuous excitation of Ne atoms, we can achieve the population

inversion between the higher levels E4 (E6) and lower levels E3 (E5).
 The various transitions E6→ E5, E4→ E3 and E6→ E3 leads to the emission of
wavelengths 3.39A⁰, 1.15 A⁰ and 6328A0.
 The first two corresponding to the infrared region while the last wavelength is
corresponding to the visible region.
 The Ne atoms present in the E3 level are de-excited into E2 level, by spontaneously
emission of photon.
 When a narrow discharge tube is used, the Ne atoms present in the level E 2 collide
with the walls of the tube and get de-excited to ground level E1.
Uses of He-Ne laser:
- Used in laboratories foe all interferometric experiments.

- Used widely in metrology in surveying, alignment etc.

- Used to read barcodes and He-Ne laser scanners also used for optical character
recognition.
- Used in holography.

SEMICONDUCTOR LASER
A Semiconductor diode laser is specially fabricated p-n junction device that emits coherent
light when it is forward biased. The wavelength of the emitted photon depends upon the
activation energy of crystal.

Principle: When a p-n junction diode is forward biased, the electrons from n – region and the
holes from the p- region cross the junction and recombine with each other.During the
recombination process, the light radiation (photons) is released from a certain specified direct
band gap semiconductors like Ga-As. This light radiation is known as recombination
radiation.

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The photon emitted during recombination stimulates other electrons and holes to recombine.
As a result, stimulated emission takes place which produces laser.

Construction

Figure shows the basic construction of

semiconductor laser.

 The active medium is a p-n junction diode

made from the single crystal of gallium
arsenide.
 This crystal is cut in the form of a platter
having thickness of 0.5μmm.
 The platelet consists of two parts having
an electron conductivity (n-type) and hole
conductivity (p-type).
 The photon emission is stimulated in a
very thin layer of PN junction (in order of
few microns).
 The electrical voltage is applied to the crystal through the electrode fixed on the upper
surface.
 The end faces of the junction diode are well polished and parallel to each other. They act
as an optical resonator through which the emitted light comes out

Working:
Figure shows the energy level diagram of semiconductor laser.

 When the PN junction is forward biased with large applied voltage, the electrons and
holes are injected into junction region in considerable concentration.
 The region around the junction contains a large amount of electrons in the conduction
band and a large amount of holes in the valence band.
 If the population density is high, a condition of population inversion is achieved.

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 The electrons and holes recombine with each other and this recombination’s produce
radiation in the form of light.
 When the forward – biased voltage is increased, more and more light photons are emitted
and the light production instantly becomes stronger.

 These photons will trigger a chain of stimulated recombination resulting in the release of
photons in phase.
 The photons moving at the plane of the junction travels back and forth by reflection
between two sides placed parallel and opposite to each other and grow in strength.
 After gaining enough strength, it gives out the laser beam of wavelength 8400o A . The
wavelength of laser light is given by

Where Eg. is the band gap energy in Joule.The power output from this laser is 1mW. The nature
of output is continuous wave or pulsed output

Advantages:

1. It is very small in dimension and the arrangement is simple and compact.

2. It exhibits high efficiency.It can have a continuous wave output or pulsed output.
3. The laser output can be easily increased by controlling the junction current
4. It is operated with lesser power than ruby and CO2 laser.
Disadvantages:

1. The output is usually from 5 degree to 15 degree i.e., laser beam has large divergence.
2. Threshold current density is very large (400A/mm2).
3. It has poor coherence and poor stability.
Applications:

1. It is well suited for interface with fiber optic cables used in communication.
2. It is used to heal the wounds by infrared radiation
APPLICATIONS OF LASERS
Due to high intensity, high mono-chromaticity and high directionality of lasers, they
are widely used in various fields like
1. communication
2. computers
3. chemistry

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4. photography
5. industry
6. medicine
7. military
8. scientific research

1. Communication:
 In case of optical communication, semiconductors laser diodes are used as optical
sources.
 More channels can be sent simultaneously Signal cannot be tapped as the band
width is large, more data can be sent.
 A laser is highly directional and less divergence, hence it has greater potential use
in space crafts and submarines.
2. Computers :
 In LAN (local area network), data can be transferred from memory storage of one
computer to other computer using laser for short time.
 Lasers are used in CD-ROMS during recording and reading the data.
3. Chemistry :
 Lasers are used in molecular structure identification.
 Lasers are also used to accelerate some chemical reactions.
 Using lasers, new chemical compound can be created by breaking bonds between
atoms or molecules.
4. Photography :
 Lasers can be used to get 3-D lens lessphotography.
 Lasers are also used in the construction of holograms.
5. Industry :
 Lasers can be used to blast holes in diamonds and hard
steel.
 Lasers are also used as a source of intense heat.
 Carbon dioxide laser is used for cutting drilling of metals and nonmetals, such as
ceramics plastics, glass etc.
 High power lasers are used to weld or melt any material.

 Lasers are also used to cut teeth in saws and test the quality of fabric.
6. Medicine :
 Pulsed neodymium laser is employed in the treatment of liver cancer.
 Argon and carbon dioxide lasers are used in the treat men of liver and lungs.
 Lasers used in the treatment of Glaucoma.
7. Military :
 Lasers can be used as a war weapon.
 High energy lasers are used to destroy the enemy air-crafts and missiles.
 Lasers can be used in the detection and ranging likes RADAR.

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8. Scientific research:
 Lasers are used in the field of 3D-photography.
 Lasers used in Recording and reconstruction of hologram.
 Lasers are employed to create plasma.
 Lasers used to produce certain chemical reactions.
 Lasers are used in Raman spectroscopy to identify the structure of the molecule.

 Lasers are used in the Michelson- Morley experiment.

 A laser beam is used to confirm Doppler shifts in frequency for moving objects.

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