Laser and its applications

By

Prof. Dr. Taha Zaki Sokker

Laser and its applications

Contents

Chapter (1): Theory of Lasing

page

(2)

Chapter (2): Characteristics of laser beam ) (

Chapter (3): Types of laser sources

( )

Chapter (4): Laser applications

( )

Chapter (1) Theory of Lasing

1.Introduction (Brief history of laser)
The laser is perhaps the most important optical device
to be developed in the past 50 years. Since its arrival in the
1960s, rather quiet and unheralded outside the scientific
community, it has provided the stimulus to make optics

one of the most rapidly growing fields in science and

technology today.

The laser is essentially an optical amplifier. The word

laser is an acronym that stands for light amplification
by the stimulated emission of radiation. The theoretical
background of laser action as the basis for an optical
amplifier was made possible by Albert Einstein, as early
as 1917, when he first predicted the existence of a new
irradiative process called stimulated emission. His
theoretical work, however, remained largely unexploited
until 1954, when C.H. Townes and Co-workers developed
a microwave amplifier based on stimulated emission

radiation. It was called a maser.

In 1960, T.H.Maiman built the first laser device (ruby

laser(. Within months of the arrival of Maimans ruby laser,
which emitted deep red light at a wavelength of 694.3 nm,

A. Javan and associates developed the first gas laser (HeNe laser), which emitted light in both the infrared (at
1.15mm) and visible (at 632.8 nm) spectral regions..

Following the birth of the ruby and He-Ne lasers, others devices

followed in rapid succession, each with a different laser medium

and a different wavelength emission. For the greater part of the
1960s, the laser was viewed by the world of industry and
technology as scientific curiosity.

1.Einsteins quantum theory of radiation

In 1916, according to Einstein, the interaction of

radiation with matter could be explained in terms of

three

basic

absorption

processes:

and

stimulated

spontaneous
emission.

emission,
The

three

processes are illustrated and discussed in the following:

Before

After

(i) Stimulated absorption

)ii) Spontaneous emission

(iii) Stimulated emission

)ii) Spontaneous emission

Consider an atom (or molecule) of the material is existed
initially in an excited state E2 No external radiation is
required to initiate the emission. Since E2>E1, the atom will
tend to spontaneously decay to the ground state E1, a
photon of energy h =E2-E1 is released in a random direction
as shown in (Fig. 1-ii(. This process is called spontaneous
emission
Note that; when the release energy difference (E2-E1) is
delivered in the form of an e.m wave, the process called
"radiative emission" which is one of the two possible ways
non-radiative

decay is

occurred

when

the

energy

difference (E2-E1) is delivered in some form other than e.m

radiation (e.g. it may transfer to kinetic energy of the
surrounding)

(iii) Stimulated emission

Quite by contrast stimulated emission )Fig. 1-iii)
requires the presence of external radiation when an
incident photon of energy h =E2-E1 passes by an atom

in an excited state E2, it stimulates the atom to drop or

decay to the lower state E1. In this process, the atom
releases a photon of the same energy, direction, phase
and polarization as that of the photon passing by, the
net effect is two identical photons (2h) in the place of
one, or an increase in the intensity of the incident beam.
It is precisely this processes of stimulated emission that

makes possible the amplification of light in lasers.

Growth of Laser Beam

The theory of lasing
Atoms exist most of the time in one of a number of
certain characteristic energy levels. The energy level
or energy state of an atom is a result of the energy
level of the individual electrons of that particular
atom. In any group of atoms, thermal motion or

agitation causes a constant motion of the atoms

between low and high energy levels. In the absence of
any applied electromagnetic radiation the distribution
of the atoms in their various allowed states is
governed by Boltzmans law which states that:

if an assemblage of atoms is in state of thermal

equilibrium at an absolute temp. T, the number of
atoms N2 in one energy level E2 is related to the
number N1 in another energy level E1 by the equation.

N 2 N 1e

( E2 E1 ) / KT

Where E2>E1 clearly N2<N1

K Boltzmanns constant = 1.38x10-16 erg / degree
= 1.38x10-23 j/K
T the absolute temp. in degrees Kelvin

At absolute zero all atoms will be in the ground

state. There is such a lack of thermal motion among the

electrons that there are no atoms in higher energy
levels. As the temperature increases atoms change
randomly from low to the height energy states and back
again. The atoms are raised to high energy states by
chance electron collision and they return to the low
energy state by their natural tendency to seek the lowest

energy level. When they return to the lower energy state

electromagnetic

radiation

is

emitted.

This

is

spontaneous emission of radiation and because of its

random nature, it is incoherent

As indicated by the equation, the number of atoms

decreases as the energy level increases. As the temp
increases, more atoms will attain higher energy levels.

However, the lower energy levels will be still more

populated.
Einstein in 1917 first introduced the concept of
stimulated or induced emission of radiation by atomic
systems. He showed that in order to describe completely
the interaction of matter and radiative, it is necessary to
include that process in which an excited atom may be
induced by the presence of radiation emit a photon and
decay to lower energy state.

An atom in level E2 can decay to level E1 by emission

of photon. Let us call A21 the transition probability per
unit time for spontaneous emission from level E2 to level
E1. Then the number of spontaneous decays per second
is N2A21, i.e. the number of spontaneous decays per

second=N2A21.
In addition to these spontaneous transitions, there
will induced or stimulated transitions. The total rate to

these induced transitions between level 2 and level 1 is

proportional to the density (U) of radiation of frequency
, where

= ( E2-E1 )/h

h Planck's const.

Let B21 and B12 denote the proportionality constants

for stimulated emission and absorption. Then number of
stimulated downward transition in stimulated emission
per second = N2 B21 U
similarly , the number of stimulated upward transitions
per second = N1 B12 U
The proportionality constants A and B are known as the
Einstein

and

conditions we have

coefficients.

Under

equilibrium

SP

ST

N2 A21 + N2 B21 U =N1 B12 U

Ab

by solving for U (density of the radiation) we obtain

U [N1 B12- N2 B21 ] = A21 N2

N 2 A 21
U( )
N 1 B 12 N 2 B 21

A21
U ( )
B N

B21 12 1 1
B21 N 2

N2

e ( E2 E1 ) / KT e h / KT
N1
U( )

A 21

)1)

B 21 12 eh / KT 1
B 21

According to Plancks formula of radiation

8h 3
1
U( )
c3
eh / KT 1

)2)

from equations 1 and 2 we have

B12=B21

8h 3
A 21
B 21
3
c

(3)
)4 (

equation 3 and 4 are Einsteins relations.

Thus for atoms in equilibrium with thermal
radiation.

N 2 B 21 U( ) B 21 U( )
stimulate emission

spon tan eous emission

N 2 A 21
A 21
from equation 2 and 4

stim . emission
c3

U( )
3
spon . emission
8h
c3
8h 3
1

8h 3
c3
e h / KT 1

stim . emission
1
h / KT
spon . emission
e
1

(5)

Accordingly, the rate of induced emission is extremely

small in the visible region of the spectrum with
ordinary optical sources ( T10 3 K (.

Hence in such sources, most of the radiation is

emitted through spontaneous transitions. Since these

transitions occur in a random manner, ordinary sources

of visible radiation are incoherent.
On the other hand, in a laser the induced transitions

become completely dominant. One result is that the

emitted radiation is highly coherent. Another is that the
spectral intensity at the operating frequency of the laser
is much greater than the spectral intensities of ordinary
light sources .

Amplification in a Medium
Consider an optical medium through which radiation is
passing. Suppose that the medium contains atoms in various
energy levels E1, E2, E3,.let us fitt our attention to two levels
E1& E2 where E2>E1 we have already seen that the rate of
stimulated emission and absorption involving these two levels
are proportional to N2B21&N1B12 respectively. Since B21=B12, the
rate of stimulated downward transitions will exceed that of the
upward transitions when N2>N1,.i.e the population of the upper
state is greater than that of the lower state such a condition is

condrary to the thermal equilibrium distribution given by

Boltzmanns low. It is termed a population inversion. If a
population inversion exist, then a light beam will increase in
intensity i.e. it will be amplified as it passes through the

medium. This is because the gain due to the induced emission

exceeds the loss due to absorption.

I I o , e

gives the rate of growth of the beam intensity in the

an is the gain constant at ,direction of propagation

frequency

Quantitative Amplification of light

In order to determine quantitatively the amount of
amplification in a medium we consider a parallel beam of
light

that

propagate

through

medium

enjoying

population inversion. For a collimated beam, the spectral

energy density U is related to the intensity in the
frequency interval to + by the formula.

U I
c

I
v

I
L1

I
c

Due to the Doppler effect and other line-broadening

effects not all the atoms in a given energy level are
effective for emission or absorption in a specified
frequency interval. Only a certain number N1 of the N1
atoms at level 1 are available for absorption. Similarly of
the N2 atoms in level 2, the number N2 are available for
emission. Consequently, the rate of upward transitions is
given by:

and the rate of stimulated or induced downward

transitions is given by:

B 21 U N 2 B 21 (I / c)N 2
Now each upward transition subtracts a quantum energy
h from the beam. Similarly, each downward transition
adds the same amount therefore the net time rate of
change of the spectral energy density in the interval is
given by

d
( U ) h(B 21N 2 B12 N1 )U
dt
where (h B NU)= the rate of transition of quantum
energy

I
d I
( ) h(B 21N 2 B12 N1 )
dt c
c

In time dt the wave travels a distance dx = c dt i.e

1
dt

dx

then

dI
h N 2 N 1

)B 21I
dx
c

dI
I
dx
dI
dx
I

I I o , e

.x

in which is the gain constant at frequency it is given

by:

h N 2 N 1

(

)B12
c

an approximate expression is

max

( N 2 N 1 )B 12
c

being the line width

Doppler width
This is one of the few causes seriously affecting equally
both emission and absorption lines. Let all the atoms emit
light of the same wavelength. The effective wavelength
observed from those moving towards an observer is
diminished and for those atoms moving away it is increased
in accordance with Dopplers principle.

When we have a moving source sending out waves

continuously it moves. The velocity of the waves is often not
changed but the wavelength and frequency as noted by

stationary observed alter.

Thus consider a source of waves moving towards an

observer with velocity v. Then since the source is moving
the waves which are between the source and the observer
will be crowded into a smaller distance than if the source
had been at rest. If the frequency is o , then in time t the
source emit ot waves. If the frequency had been at rest
these waves would have occupied a length AB. But due to
its motion the source has caused a distance vt, hence
these ot waves are compressed into a length
where

A\B\

AB A \ B \ vt

thus o t o t\ vt
v
o
v
\
o
\

\ (1

Observer

v
)
o

\ (1

v
)
c

c c
v
(1 )
o
c

where n=c

c c
v
(1 )
o
c

v
o (1 )
c

v
1
o
c

o
v

o
c

c
v
( o )
o

Evaluation of Doppler half width:

According to Maxwelliam distribution of velocities, from
the kinetic theory of gasses, the probability that the
velocity will be between v and v+v is given by:

B Bv 2
e
dv

So that the fraction of atoms whose their velocities lie

between v and v+ v is given by the following equation
N( )

N
where B=

B Bv 2
e
v

m
2KT

T=absolute temp

m = molecular weight, K=gas constant,

Substituting for v in the last equation from equation (1)

and since the intensity emitted will depend on the
number of atoms having the velocity in the region v and

v v

.then, i. e

I() = const .
at

))= max= const

I( )

N( )
N

c2
B
( o )2
o2

(I
I =)
const =

There for
) max e

c2
B
( o )2
o2

I( o / 2)
e
I max

c2 2
B
o2 4

1
2

being the half width of the spectral line it is the width at

I max
2

, then

c2 2
ln 2 B
2
4
o

2 o 2kT

ln 2
c
m

Calculation of Doppler width:

1- Calculate the Dopplers width for Hg198 . where
K=1.38x10-16 erg per degree at temp=300k and =5460Ao
solution
2 o
KT
v =
2 ln 2
c
m
molecular weight m = const. ( atomic mass m\ )
const.=1.668x10-24 gm

2 o
K
T
2 ln 2
c
cont . m \
7

7.17 10 o

T
m\

=.015 cm-1

wave number o

2- Calculate the half-maximum line width (Doppler width)

for He-Ne laser transition assuming a discharge
temperature of about 400K and a neon atomic mass of
20 and wavelength of 632.8nm.
(Ans., =1500MHz)

An expression for the Gain taking into

consideration Doppler broadening :
In the case of broadening due to thermal motion, the
kinetic theory given the fraction of atoms whose
component of velocity lies between vx and vx as

N ( )

m
e
2KT

mv x 2
)
2 KT

v x

where m is the atomic mass, K is the Boltzmans constant and T

is the absolute temperature
As previously explained due to the Doppler effect, these atoms
will emit or absorb radiation propagating in the x direction of
frequency

 o (1

vx
)
c

vx

c
( o )
o

)1(

where o is the frequency of the line center. It follows that the

fraction of atoms in a given level that can absorb or emit in the
frequency range

to is given by

m
mc 2 o 2 c
exp[
(
) ]
N
2KT
2KT o
o

where dv x

where

c
d
o

)from eqn. (1)

m ( o ) 2 c
e
N
2KT
o
mc 2 / 2KT o

The rate of upward transition is

I
m
( o ) 2 c
B12 U N1 B12 ( )
e
N 1
c
2KT
o

The rate of stimulated or induced downward transitions

I
m ( o ) 2 c
B 21U v N 2 B 21 ( )
e
N 2
c 2KT
o
The net time rate change of the spectral energy density
is given by in the interval
2
d
m
( U ) h o (I )
e ( o )
(B 21 N 2 B12 N1 )
dt
2KT
o

2
d I
m
e ( o ) ( N 2 N1 )B
h(I )
dt c
2KT

where B21=B12=B

d I
m
( o ) 2
e
( N 2 N1 )B
hI
dx / c c
2KT

dI
m
h
e ( o ) ( N 2 N1 )B dx
I
2KT

I I o , e . x
where

m ( o ) 2

e
( N 2 N1 )hB
2KT
max

m
( N 2 N 1 )hB
2KT

at

 max

m
c3

(N 2 N1 )
A 21
3
2KT
8

where

B 21

c3

A 21
3
8

is positive if N2 <N1which is the condition for amplification .

other wise if N2<N1 which in the normal equilibrium condition

) then is negative , we have absorption .

Population Inversion
In order to invert population of atomic levels the atoms must
be excited by depositing energy in the medium using such
method as to decrease the number of atoms at the lower level
NL and to increase the number of atoms at the upper level Nu .
This process is called pumping since the atoms are
redistributed as if pumped from the lower level to the upper
level. The methods of pumping are i) optical pumping, where
the atoms are excited by illumination of light ii) excitation by
electric discharge in the case of gases iii) Injection of carriers

by a forward current through a p-n junction in the case of

semi-conductors iv) excitation by irradiation with electron
beams v) excitation by chemical reaction. Historically, in 1954,
Townes succeeded in realizing population inversion with a

molecular beam of ammonia to make a maser at 1.25 cm

wavelength.

As the ammonia molecular are distributed among

energy levels in thermal equilibrium, the molecules at
the upper level were collected and those in the lower
level

were

eliminated

by

the

action

of

an

inhomogeneous electric field, so that population

inversion can be achieved. However, such a method
where

population

inversion

is

established

by

decreasing the number of atoms in the lower level

cannot be applied successfully to optical transition.
This is because the number of atoms Nu and NL as
related by Boltzmanns formula namely

N u N L exp( h

K BT

KB Boltzmann const

yields Nu NL in the microwave case, since h << KBT at

the microwave frequency , while the population of the
upper level Nu in the optical case is very small, since h >>
KBT at the optical frequency . Therefore, it is not
sufficient by merely eliminating atoms at the lower level,
but it is necessary to increase the number of atoms at the
upper level by a process of pumping.
For a two - level system, when its atoms are exited by
irradiation or by electron collision, the number of atoms at
the upper level will increase, but at the same time the
probability of de-excitation that brings these excited
atoms back to the lower level will increase with incident

light or electrons.

Consequently no matter how strong the atoms may be

excited, population inversion cannot be obtained.

Therefore, three or four atomic systems must be used to

achieve population inversion.
It is not always necessary that the energy levels

concerned should be discrete and sharp. Band levels

may be used. Thus, dye lasers and semiconductor
lasers can be considered as four -level lasers whose
description follows.

Population Inversion in a Threelevel Laser:

There are many three level lasers such as ruby
laser and the optically pumped gas laser. Let the

energies and populations of the relevant three levels of

laser atomic system be denoted respectively by w1, w2,
w 3 and N1, N2, N3. If w3> w2> w1 as shown in figure, then
N1>N2>N3 in the three level system in thermal
equilibrium. Here the lowest state 1 is not necessarily
the ground state of the atom. Atoms in level 1 will be
excited atoms of appropriate energy. We denote by the
probability of exciting the atoms from level 1 to level 3
by any such method of pumping.

Fig. (6(
When the pumping is removed, the excited atoms will
in general gradually return to the state of thermal
equilibrium. This is termed relaxation. If we consider the
atoms individually the relaxation process takes place at
the same time as other atoms are excited.

Besides the radiative process, where the excited

atoms make a transition to the lower state by emitting
a photon, there are non-radiative processes such as
collision of molecules in gases or the atom lattice
interaction in solids, where the excited atom makes a
transition to the lower state by releasing its energy in
the form of molecular kinetic energy or vibrational
energy of the lattice. Since relaxation is the results of

such statistical processes, the relaxation rate or the

relaxation constant is defined as a statistical average
of the relaxation probabilities of the excited atoms per
unit time. The reciprocal of the relaxation rate is the
average life time of the excited atoms:

Now, the probability

Lu

of an atom being thermally

excited from the lower state wL to the upper state wu is

related to the probability uL of the reveres process
from wu to wL by thermal relaxation. This relation in
thermal equilibrium . is Nu uL = NL Lu
Nu = N L

where

wu wL
exp

K BT

Where T is the temperature of the medium .

There for

Lu
wu wL
exp

uL
K BT

(1 (

Fig .( 7 )
This last relation holds generally, even if Nu and NL do
not represent populations in thermal equilibrium .

If these probabilities are constant under the conditions

considered the rate equations expressing the rate of
change at the number of atoms in each level of the three

level system under pumping are given as follows.

dN 1
( 12 13 )N1 21N 2 31N 3
dt

(2)

dN 2
12 N 1 ( 21 23 )N 2 32 N 3
dt

(3)

dN 3
( 13 )N1 23N 2 ( 31 32 )N 3
dt

(4)

Where N1+N2+N3 = const. = N the total number of

atoms in the three level system.

In the steady state, the distribution of the number of

atoms under constant pumping can be obtained by putting
the left hand side of equations 2,3&4 equal to zero.
Although the solutions giving N1, N2&N3 can be readily
calculated, yet we shall assume that the separations
between the level are sufficiently greater than the thermal
energy KBT, so that when applying equation (1) we find that

Lu
e
uL

wu w L
)
KB T

Lu uL
So that ,

12 21
23 32

13 31

, wu - wL>>KBT

We can thus neglect 12, 13, 23 and equations 2,3&4 yield

in the steady state

N1 21N 2 31N 3 0
21 N 2 32 N 3

N1 ( 32 31 )N 3 0

N1 21N 2 31N 3

(5)

21 N 2 32 N 3

(6)

N1 ( 32 31 )N 3

(7)

N N1 N 2 N 3

(8)

Therefore

21 ( 31 32 ) N 21 ( 31 32 )( N1 N 2 N 3 )
21 ( 31 32 )( N1 N 2 N 3 )
21 ( 31 32 ) N1 21 ( 31 32 ) N 2 21 ( 31 32 ) N 3

(9)

(10)

Therefore

21 ( 31 32 )N

(11)

21 ( 31 32 )N 1 21 ( 31 32 )N 2 21 ( 31 32 )N 3
From equations 5, 6, 7 and 11 we can write

21 ( 31 32 )N 21 ( 31 32 )N 1 32 N 3 ( 31 32 ) 21N 1

21 ( 31 32 )N 1 32 N 1 21N 1
N 1 { 21 ( 31 32 ) ( 21 32 )}
Thus we obtain the steady state solution

21 ( 31 32 )
N1
N
21 ( 31 32 ) ( 21 32 )

(12)

 21 N 2 32 N 3
32
32
N 1
N2
N3
(
)
21
21 32 31
32
( N 1 )
N2
21 ( 32 31 )

(13)

From equation 12

N2

32
21 ( 31 32 )
N
21 ( 32 31 ) 21 ( 31 32 ) ( 21 32 )

32
N2
N
21 ( 31 32 ) ( 21 32 )

(14)

from equations (12, 14)

32
N2

N 1 21 ( 31 32 ) 21
( 31 32 )
32

(15)

31
21 (1
)
32

If the excitation is so strong such that

31
21 (1
)
32

we have N2>N1

(15\)

This is the condition of population inversion. Thus to obtain

population inversion with moderate pumping 21 should be

small and 32 should be large compared with 31 . This means

that it is desirable that the relaxation from the upper laser
level to the lower laser level should be slow, while the
relaxation from the upper most level 3 to which the atoms was

initially excited to the upper laser level 2 should be fast .

Fig. (8)

The population inversion as defined by N=N2-N1 is

calculated from 12 & 14 as a function of the excitation
intensity to be

32 21 ( 31 32 )
N
N
21 ( 31 32 ) ( 21 32 )
32 21 ( 31 32 )
N

N
21 ( 31 32 ) ( 21 32 )
32
1
21 ( 31 32 )

( 21 32 )
1

21 ( 31 32 )

21 ( 31 32 )
put o =
( 21 32 )

21 ( 31 32 ) = ( 21 32 )
32

1
N ( 21 32 ) o

1
o

(16)

N
Let us represent graphically the dependence of
as
N
a function of excitation intensity expressed in terms
of o . Consider the two cases when
)i) 32 = 21. Where 21 is the laser transition
)ii ( 32 = 9 21

2 o
N

(i) In the first case

10

15

-1

4/11

13/32

(ii) In the second case

0
.
9

10/9

19

24

-1

0.52

0.71

0.81

0.82

Fig. (9(

Population inversion in a four- level laser

Since the lower level of the laser transition is the lowest
level in a there - level laser , the majority of atoms ( N1 N ) are

in this level at thermal equilibrium thus in order to invert the

population , the number of atoms in the lowest level must be
reduced to less than half by intense pumping. This demand is
much reduced in a four - level system.

Let us consider an atom, which has four energy levels as

shown in fig (10) . It is required to invert the population
between levels 2 and 1. Since the lower level 1 lies at an

energy higher than KBT above the ground level , the number
of thermally excited atoms in the lower laser level 1 is so small
that the population can be easily inverted by pumping a
relatively small number of atoms into the upper level 2. The

conditions for population inversion in this case are as follows.

Although separations between levels 1, 2 & 3 are

assumed to be much greater than KBT as in the case of
a three level laser, the number of thermally excited
atoms go, No from the most population ground level O
to level 1 are not neglected. The rate equations for
atomic populations in the four-levels, than become.

dN 1
o1 N o 10 N 1 21N 2 31N 3
dt
dN 2
2 N 2 32 N 3
dt
dN 3
N o 3 N 3
dt
dN dN o dN 1 dN 2 dN 3

dt dt dt dt dt

(17)

Since N=No+N1+N2+N3

Laser Emission

Fig. (11)Energy-level diagram of a four-level laser

where 2 = 20 + 21

&

3 = 3o + 31 +

32

The steady state solution is obtained as before

o1No - 1oN1 + 21N2 +31N 3=

0

- 2N2 + 32N3 = 0
No - 3N3 = 0
Therefore,

N3
No
3

(18)

 32
32
N2
N3
N o
2
2 3

(19)

21 32
31
1
N1
( o1

)N o
1o
2 3
3

01 21 32 2 31
N1 (

)N o
1o
1o 2 3
from equation 19, 20 N2 is > N1
when

32
N o
2 3

o1 21 32 2 31

N o
1o 2 3
1o

32 21 32 2 31 o1

1o 2 3 1o
2 3

(20)

 32 1o 21 32 2 31 o1

1o 2 3

1o

o1 2 3

32 1o 21 32 2 31

(21)

This is the condition for population inversion now 01 in

the numerator of this equation is the probability of thermal
excitation from level O to level 1, and is a small quantity as

shown by the relation

w
01 10 exp
K T

therefore, the excitation intensity necessary for

population inversion is lowered. Since

31 3 30 31 32
21 2 21 20

&

Then equation (21) can be approximated

o1 2 3

e
1o 32

K
T
B

31 3o

2 1
32

(22)

Comparing equation (22) with equation (15 \)for population

inversion in a three level laser, it is seen that they are

similar except for the factor

w
exp
K T

Since the four-level system has an extra level O, it is

obvious that we have

instead of 31

21 2o

instead of

21 & 31 3o

K
T
B

. Here it is the factor exp

, which is

important, because population inversion can be obtained

even with very week pumping if the lower laser level 1 is
above the ground level O by at least a few times KBT in
energy.

Laser Operation
(1) Essential Elements of Laser
The laser device consists of basically of three elements;
External source (pump), Amplifying medium and optical
cavity (resonator (

The pump is an external energy source

that produces a population inversion in

the laser medium. Pumps can be optical,
electrical, chemical or thermal in nature.
For gas lasers (e.g. He-Ne laser), the used
pump is an electrical discharge. The

important parameters governing this type

of pumping are the electron excitation
cross-sections and the lifetimes of the
energy levels.

In

some

lasers,

the

free

electrons

generated in the discharge process collide

with and excite the laser atoms, ions, or
molecules directly.
In others, the excitation occurs by means of
inelastic atom-atom (or molecule molecule)

collisions. In this case a mixture of two gasses

is used such that the tow different species of
atoms, say A and B, have excited states A* and
B*. Energy may be transferred from one
excited species to the other in a process as
follows relation

A*+B A+B*

e.g. He-Ne laser, where the laser active neon atoms

are excited by resonant transfer of energy from helium
atoms in metastable state, where the He atoms receive
their energy from free electrons via collisions.

2- Laser medium
The amplifying medium or laser medium is an important
part of the laser device. Many laser are named after the type
of laser medium used (e.g. He-Ne, CO2 and Nd:YAG). This
laser medium may be gas, liquid, or solid, determines the
wavelength of the laser radiation.
In some lasers the amplifying medium consists of two
parts, the laser host medium and the laser atoms. For
example, in Nd: YAG laser, the host medium is a crystal of
yttrium Aluminum Garnet (or YAG), whereas the laser atoms
are the Neodymium ions.
The most important requirement of the amplifying medium
is its ability to support a population inversion between two

energy levels of the laser atoms.

3-The Resonator
The resonator is an optical feed back device that
directs photons back and forth through the laser

medium. Resonator or optical activity consists of a

pair of carefully aligned plane or curved mirrors (see
figure 2). One of them is chosen with a reflectivity 100%
as possible. The other mirror is selected with a
reflectivity somewhat less than 100% in order to allow
part of the internally reflecting beam to escape and
become the useful laser output beam. The geometry of
the mirrors and their separation distance determine the
structure of the electromagnetic field within the laser
cavity and controlling the emerging laser beam.

Figure (2): four types of end mirrors in common use for

lasers. (Mirror curvatures are exaggerated )

II Laser operation
In this section, we discuss how do the laser elements
(pump, medium and resonator) work?
Consider the following figures;

In the above figure ( 3 )

Step (1)
An energy from an appropriate pump is coupled

into the laser medium. The energy is sufficiently high to

excite a large number of atoms from the ground state Eo
to

several

excited

states

E 3.

Then

the

atoms

spontaneously decay and back to the ground state Eo.

But some of them back by a very fast (radiationless)
decay from E3 to a very special level E2.

Step (2)
The level E2 labeled as the upper laser level ,has a
long lifetime. Whereas most excited levels in atom decay
with lifetime of order 10-8 sec. Level E2 is metastable,
with a typical lifetime of order of 10-3 sec. So that the
atoms being to pile up at this metastable level (E2),
which functions as a bottleneck. N2 grows to a large
value, because level E2 decays slowly to level E1 which

labeled by lower laser level and level E1 decays to the

round state rapidly, so that N1 cannot build to a large
value. The net effect is the population inversion (N2>N1)
between the laser levels E1 and E2.

Step (3)
When the population inversion has been established, a
photon of resonant energy (h=E2-E1) passes by one of
the N2 atoms, stimulated emission can be occurred.
Then, laser amplification begins. Note carefully that a
photon of resonant energy (E2-E1) can also stimulate
absorption from E1 to E2. Then the light amplification
occurs and there is a steady increase in the incident
resonant photon population and lasing continues.

Step )4)
One of the inverted N2 atoms, which dropped to level E1
during the stimulated emission process, now decays
rapidly to the ground state Eo. If the pump is still
operating the atoms is ready to repeat the cycle, there by
insuring a steady population inversion and constant laser
beam output.

Figure (3) shows the same action of figure (2.(

In (a) the laser medium is situated between the

resonator (two mirrors) in which most of the atoms are
in the ground state (black dots).

In (b) An external energy (pumping) raising most of

the atoms to the excited levels (as E3). The excited
states are shown by circles. During this pumping

process, the population inversion is established.

In (c) the light amplification process is initiated, in
which many of the photons leave through the sides of

the laser cavity and are lost. Since the remainder (seed
photons) are directed along the optical axis of the
laser.

In (d) and (e) As the seed photons pass by the

inverted N2 atoms, stimulated emission adds identical
photons in the same direction, providing an ever
increasing population of coherent photons that bounce
bake and forth between the mirrors.
In (f) A fraction of the photons incident on the mirror
(2) pass out through it. These photons constitute the
external laser beam.

Characteristic of Laser Light

Monochromaticity. The light emitted by a laser is
almost pure in color, almost of a single wavelength or

frequency. Although we know that no light can be truly

monochromatic, with unlimited sharpness in wavelength
definition, laser light comes far closer than any other
available source in meeting this ideal limit.
The monochromaticity of light is determined by the
fundamental emission process where atoms in excited

states decay to lower energy states and emit light. In

blackbody radiation, the emission process involves
billions of atoms and many sets of energy-level pairs
within each atom. The resultant radiation is hardly
monochromatic, as we know.

If we could select an identical set of atoms from this

blackbody and isolate the emission determined by a
single pair of energy levels, the resultant radiation,
would be decidedly more monochromatic. When such
radiation is produced by non-thermal excitation, the
radiation is often called fluorescence. Figure 1 shows
such

Figure (1) fluorescence and its spectral content for a

radiative decay process between two energy levels in
an atom. (a) Spontaneous decay process between welldefined

energy

levels.

(b)

Spectral

content

of

fluorescence in (a), showing line shape and linewidth.

an emission process. The fluorescence comes from

the radiative decay of atoms between two well-defined

energy levels E2 and E1. The nature of the fluorescence,

analyzed by a spectrophotometer, is shown in the
lineshape plot, a graph of spectral radiant existence
( W m 2 ) versus wavelength.

Note carefully that the emitted light has a wavelength

spread about a center wavelength 0 , where
0 = c/0 and 0 E2 E1/h . While most of the light may

be emitted at a wavelength 0 , it is an experimental fact

that some light is also emitted at wavelengths above
and below 0 , with different relative existence, as
shown by the lineshape plot. Thus the emission is not
monochromatic, it has a wavelength spread given by
0 /2 , where is often referred to the linewidth.
When the linewidth is measured at the half maximum

level of the lineshape plot, it is called the FWHM

linewidth, that is, full width at half maximum

In the laser process, the linewidth shown in figure

(1) is narrowed considerably, leading to light of a much
higher degree of monochromaticity. Basically this occurs
because the process of stimulated emission effectively
narrows the band of wavelengths emitted during

spontaneous emission. This narrowing of the linewidth is

shown qualitatively in figure (2). To gain a quantitative
appreciation for the monochromaticity of laser light,
consider the data in table (1), in which the linewidth of a

high quality He-Ne laser is compared to the linewidth of

the spectral output of a typical sodium discharge lamp
and to the linewidth of the very narrow cadmium red line
found in the spectral emission of a low-pressure lamp.
The conversion from to is made by using the
approximate relationship.

2o

where V0C.

The data of table (1) show that the He-Ne laser is 10

million times more monochromatic than the ordinary
discharge lamp and about 100,000 times more so than
the cadmium red line. No ordinary light source, without
significant

filtering,

can

approach

the

degree

of

monochromaticity present in the output beam of typical

lasers.

Figure (2) Qualitative comparison of linewidths for laser

emission and spontaneous emission involving the same pair
of energy levels in an atom. The broad peak is the line shape
of spontaneously emitted light between levels E2 and E1

before lasing being. The sharp peak is the line shape of laser
light between levels E2 and E1 after lasing beings.

Table (1) comparison of linewidths

Light source

Center
Wavelength
0 ( A0 )

FWHM
Linewidth
0 ( A0 )

FWHM
linewidth
(HZ)

Ordinary discharge
lamp

5896

9X1010

Cadmium lowpressure lamp

6438

Helium-neon laser

6328

0.013 9.4X108
10-7

7.5X103

Coherence. The optical property of light that most

distinguishes the laser from other light source is coherence.
The laser is regarded, quit correctly as the first truly
coherent light source. Other light source, such as the sun or
a gas discharge lamp, are at best only partially coherent.

Coherence, simple stated, is a measure of the degree of

phase correlation that exists in the radiation field of a light
source at different location and different times. It is often
described in terms of temporal coherence, which is a measure
of the degree of monochromaticity of the light, and a spatial
coherence, which is a measure of the uniformity of phase
across the optical wavefront.

To obtain a qualitative understanding of temporal and

spatial coherence, consider the simple analogy of water
waves created at the center of a quite pond by a regular,
periodic disturbance. The source of disturbance might
be a cork bobbing up and down in regular fashion,
creating a regular progression of outwardly moving
crests and troughs, as in figure (3). Such a water wave
filed can be side to have perfect temporal and spatial

coherence. The temporal coherence is perfect because

there is but a single wavelength; the crestto-crest
distance remains constant.

As long as the cork keeps bobbing regularly, the

wavelength will remain fixed, and one can predict with
great accuracy the location of all crests and troughs
on the pond's surface. The spatial coherence of the
wave filed is also perfect because the cork is a small

source, generating ideal waves, circular crests, and

troughs of ideal regularity. Along each wave then, the
spatial variation of the relative phase of the water
motion is zero that is the surface of the water all along
a crest or trough is in step or in one phase.

Perfect temporal coherence

Perfect spatia
coherence
uniformity of phase

phase difference time

independent (temporal
coherence

Figure (3) portion of a perfectly coherent water wave field

created by a regularly bobbing cork at S. the wave field
contains perfectly ordered wave fronts, C (crests) and T
(troughs), representing water waves of a single wavelength

Spatial coherence

Temporal coherence

The water wave field described above can be

rendered temporally and spatially incoherent by the
simple process of replacing the single cork with a
hundred corks and causing each cork to bob up and
down with a different and randomly varying periodic

motion. There would then be little correlation between

the behavior of the water surface at one position and
another. The wave fronts would be highly irregular
geometrical curves, changing shape haphazardly as the
collection

of

corks

disconnected motions.

continued

their

jumbled,

It does not require much imagination to

move conceptually from a collection of corks
that give rise to water waves to a collection of
excited

atoms

that

give

rise

to

light.

Disconnected, uncorrelated creation of water

waves results in an incoherent water wave
field. Disconnected, uncorrelated creation of
light waves results, similarly, in an incoherent
field.

To emit light of high coherence then, the radiating region

of a source must be small in extent (in the limit, of course. a
single atoms) and emit light of a narrow bandwidth (in the
limited, with equal to zero). For real light sources, neither
of these conditions is attainable. Real light sources, with the
exception of the laser, emit light via the uncorrelated action
of many atoms, involving many different wave lengths. The
result is the generation of incoherent light.

To achieve some measure of coherence with a non-laser

source, two notifications to the emitted light can be made.
First, a pinhole can be placed in front of the light source to
limit the spatial extent of the source. Second, a narrow-band
filter can be used to decrease significantly the linewidth of
the light. Each modification improves the coherence of the
light given off by the source-but only at the expense of a
drastic loss of light energy.

In contrast, a laser source, by the very nature of its

production of amplified light via stimulated emission,
ensures both a narrow-band output and high degree of
phase correlation. Recall that in the process of
stimulated

emission,

each

photon

added

to

the

stimulated radiation has a phase, polarization, energy,

and direction identical to that of the amplified light wave

in the laser cavity. The laser light thus created and

emitted is both temporally and spatially coherent. In fact,
one can describe or model a real laser device as a very
powerful, fictitious point source located at a distance,
giving off monochromatic light in a narrow cone angle.
Figure 4 summarizes the basic ideas of coherence for
non-laser and laser source.

For typical laser, both the spatial coherence and

temporal coherence of laser light are far superior to
that for light from other sources. The transverse spatial
coherence of a single mode laser beam extends across
the full width of the beam, whatever that might be. The
temporal coherence, also called longitudinal spatial
coherence, is many orders of magnitude above that of

any ordinary light source. The coherence time tc of a

laser is a measure of the average time interval over
which one can continue to predict the correct phase of
the laser beam at a given point in space. The coherence
length Lc, is related to the coherence time by the
equationLc ctc where c is the speed of light.

Thus the coherence length is the average length of

light beam along which the phase of the wave
remains unchanged. For the He-Ne laser described in
table 1 the coherence time is of the order of
milliseconds (compared with about 10-11s for light

from a sodium discharge lamp), and the coherence

length for the same laser is thousands of kilometers
(compared with fractions of a centimeter for the
sodium lamp).

Improve spatial coherence

Improve temporal coherence

Figure 4. A tungsten lamp requires a pinhole and filter

to produce coherent light. The light from a laser is

naturally coherent. (a) Tungsten lamp. The Tungsten

lamp is an extended source that emits many wavelength.
The

emission

lacks

both

temporal

and

spatial

coherence. The wave front are irregular and change

shape in a haphazard manner. (b) Tungsten lamp with
pinhole. An ideal pinhole limits the extent of the
tungsten source and improve the spatial coherence of
the light. However the light still lacks temporal
coherence since all wavelengths are present. Power in
the beam has been decreased.

(c) Tungsten lamp pinhole and filter. Adding

a good narrow band filter further reduces the

power but improves the temporal coherence.
Now the light is "coherent" but the available

power that initially radiated by the lamp. (d)

Laser. Light coming from the laser has a high
degree of spatial and temporal coherence. In

addition, the output power can be very high.

Directionality .When one sees thin, pencil-like beam of

a He-Ne laser for the first time, one is struck
immediately by the high degree of beam directionality.
No other light source, with or without the help of
lenses or mirrors, generates, a beam of such precise
definition and minimum angular spread .
The astonishing degree of directionality of a laser
beam is due to the geometrical design of the laser
cavity and to the monochromatic and coherent
nature of light generate in the cavity. Figure (5)
shows a specific cavity design and an external
laser beam with an angular spread signified by the
angel .

The cavity mirrors shown are shaped with surfaces

concave toward the cavity, thereby focusing the
reflecting light back into the cavity and forming a beam
waist at one position in the cavity.

Figure 5. external and internal laser beam for a given cavity. Diffraction
or beam spread, measured by the beam divergence angle , appears
to be caused by an effective aperture of diameter D, located at the
beam waist.

The nature of the beam inside the laser cavity and its
characteristics outside the cavity are determined by solving
the rather complicated problem of eectromagnetic waves in
an open cavity. Although the details of this analysis beyond
the scope of this discussion, several results are worth
examining. It turns out that the beam- spread angel is
giving by the relationship

1.27

D

(1)

Where is the wavelength of the laser beam and D is the

diameter of the laser beam at its beam waist. One cannot
help but observe that Eq. (1) is quite similar to that
obtained when calculating the angular spread in light
generated by the diffraction of plane waves passing

thought a circular aperture .

The pattern consists of a central, bright circular

spot, the Airy disk, surrounded by a series of bright
rings. The essence of this phenomenon is shown in

figure (6). The diffraction angle , tracking the Airy

disk, is given by

2.44

(2)

Figure (6). Fraunhofer diffraction of plane waves through a circular

aperture. Beam divergence angle is set by the edges of the Airy
disk.

where

is

the

wavelength

of

the

collimated.

Monochromatic light and D is the diameter of the circular

aperture. Both Eqs. (1) and (2) depend on the ratio of a
wavelength to a diameter. They differ only by a constant
coefficient. It is tempting, then, to think of the angular
spread inherent in laser beams and given in Eq. (1) in
terms of diffraction.
If we treat the beam waist as an effectives circular
aperture located inside the laser cavity, then by
controlling the size of the beam waist we control the
diffraction or beam spread of the laser. The beam waist,
in practice, is determined by the design of the laser

cavity and depends on the radii of curvature of the two

mirrors and the distance between the mirror.

Therefore, one ought to be able to build lasers with a given

beam waist and, consequently, a given beam divergence or
beam spread in the far field, that is, at sufficiently great
distance L from the diffracting aperture that L >> area

aperture/. Such is indeed the case.

With the help of Eq. (1), one can now develop a feel
for

the

low

beam

spread,

or

high

degree

of

directionality, of laser beams. He-Ne lasers (632.8 nm)

have an internal beam waist of diameter near 0.5 mm.
Equation (1) then yields

1.27 (1.27)(632.8 109 m)

3
6

1
.
6

10
radian

10
sr
4
D
(5 10 m)

This is a typical laser-beam divergence, indicating that

the beam width will increase about 1.6 cm every 1000cm.

Since we can control the beam waist D by laser cavity

design and select the wavelength by choosing
different laser media, what lower limit might we expect
for the beam divergence? How directional can lasers
be? If we design a laser with a beam waist of 0.5 cm

diameter and a wavelength of 200 nm, the beam

divergence angle becomes about radian,. This beam
would spread about 1.6cm every 320m.

Clearly, if beam waist size is at our command and

lasers can be built with wavelength below

the

ultraviolet, there is no limit to how parallel and

directional the laser beam can be made.
The high degree of directionality of the laser, or any
other light source, depends on the monochromaticity
and coherence of the light generated. Ordinary sources
are neither monochromatic nor coherent. Lasers, on
the other hand, are superior on both counts, and as a

consequence

generate

collimated light beams.

highly

directional,

quasi-

Laser Source Intensity. It has been that a 1-mW HeNe laser is hundreds of times brighter than the sun.
As difficult as this may be to imagine, calculations for
luminance or visual brightness of a typical laser,
compared to the sun, substantiate these claims. To

develop an appreciation for the enormous difference

between the radiance of lasers and thermal sources we
consider a comparison of their photon output rates
(photons per second).

Small gas lasers typically have power outputs P of

1mW. Neodymium-glass lasers, such as those under

development for the production of laser-induced

fusion, boast of power outputs near 1014 W!. Using
these two extremes and an average energy of 10-19 J
per visible photon (Eh), the photon output of laser
(P/h) varies from 1016 photons/s to 1033 photons/s. For
comparison, consider a broadband thermal source
with a radiating surface equal to that of the beam waist
of a 1-mW He-Ne laser with diameter of 0.5 mm, an
area of A2X103 cm2.

Let the surface emit radiation at a wavelength of 633

nm with a linewidth of 100nm (or7x1013HZ) and
temperature T1000K. The photon output rat for the
broadband source can be calculated from the equation

1
1
thermal photons / s 2 h / KT
A 109 photon / sec
e
1

(3)

Substituting the values given above into Eq. (3), we

find that the thermal photon output rat is only about 109
photons/s! This value is 7 orders of magnitude smaller
than the photon output rat of low-power 1-mW He-Ne
laser and 24 orders of magnitude smaller than a powerful
neodymium-glass laser. The comparison is summarized
in figure 7.

Figure (7). Comparison of photon output rates between a low-power

He-Ne gas laser and a hot thermal source of the same radiating
surface area. (a) 1-mW He-Ne laser (=633nm), A=2x10-3cm2,
o=633nm =100nm. Note that the laser emits all of the photons in a
small solid angle (2x10-6 sr) compared with the 2 solid of the
thermal source.

We see also from figure 7 that the He-Ne laser emits 1016
photons/s into a very small solid angle of about

2X10-6sr.

whereas the thermal emitter, acting as a Lambertian source,

radiates 109 photons/s into a forward, hemispherical solid
angel of 2 sr. If we were to ask how many thermal
photons/second are emitted by the thermal source into a solid
angel equal to that of the laser, we would find the answer to be
320 photons/s:

2 10 sr
2 10 sr
9
9
320 photons / s
10
(10 photons / s )
22
2

sr
2

sr

7
6

The comparison between 1016 photons/s for the laser

source and 320 photons/s for the thermal source is now
even more dramatic.

Types of lasers
Gas Lasers
Gas lasers are the workhorses of the laser industry.
They range from the powerful industrial carbon dioxide
units to the ubiquitous helium-neon lasers of modest
powers. They can be operated continuously or on a
pulsed basis: their output frequencies range from the
ultraviolet to the infrared. Depending on the nature of the
active medium, three types of gas lasers can be
distinguished: atomic, ionic, and molecular.

Although several different excitation mechanisms

have been employed for pumping them, most gas
lasers are excited by means of an electric discharge.
Electrons in the discharge are accelerated by the
electric filed between a pair of electrodes. As the
electrons collide with the atoms, ions, or molecules of
the active medium, they induce transition to higher

energy states. With sufficient pumping, a population

inversion is created.

Atomic Lasers
The principal example of a laser that utilizes a transition
between energy levels of non ionized atoms is the helium-neon
laser. The lasing medium is a mixture of ten parts helium to one
part neon. Only the energy levels of the neon atom are directly
involved in the laser transition: the helium gas is present to
provide an efficient excitation mechanism for the neon atoms.
Most helium-neon lasers are excited by a direct-current (de)

discharge, created by placing a high voltage across a gas-filled

space (see figure 1). The helium atoms are easily excited by
electron impact to any one of several low-lying metastable
energy states.

Figure(1): Simple components of He-Ne gas laser. Micrometer

adjusting screws for making the mirror planes highly parallel are

not shown.

The neon atom, having six more electrons than the

helium atom, has an extremely complicated distribution

of excited states. Tow of its higher energy states have

almost exactly the same energy as two of the metastable
helium states. With the energy much so close, a
collision between a helium atom and a neon atom can
result in the efficient transfer of energy from the
metastable helium atom to the unexcited neon atom. The
helium atom returns to its ground state upon-excitation
of the neon atom into its excited state. A collision that
results in this type of energy transfer is called a
resonant collision. A diagram of the energy states for

helium and neon is shown in fig. 2.

The helium excited states are identified by

combinations of latter and numbers. 21S and 23S,
which specify the total angular momentum and spin
of the tow electrons in the excited atom. The neon
excited states are identified by the quantum numbers
of the single excited state electron. (The other nine
electrons in the neon atom retain their ground-state

quantum numbers. ) As noted earlier.

Figure (2): Energy level diagram of

helium-neon laser system

These numbers determine the probability of a given

transition. For example, a

quantum

mechanical

calculation shoes that the transitions between the

neon s states (e.g.,5s

4s) are forbidden . The

helium atoms are excited to metastable levels 21S and

23S by direct electron impact. The helium atoms then

collide with the unexcited neon atoms and the neon
atoms are raised to the 5s and 4s states. These states
have longer lifetimes than the lower-energy 4p and 3p
states. Thus the 5s and 4s states are pumped by the
metastable helium atoms, while the 4p and 3p states
are depleted because of their short lifetimes.

An inversion of the population between the s and p

states results, and amplification by stimulated emission
occurs.

The

population

inversion

is

increased

substantially if the excited neon atoms are allowed to

collide with the walls of the chamber confining the
discharge. The collisions allow non-radiative transitions*
to take place between the 3s and ground states of the

neon, atom : these transitions prevent

*A transition in which deexcitation is not accompanied by
an emission of radiation is said to be nonradiative. The
stored

energy

is

given

up

by the

atom

to

its

surroundings as thermal motion: or in the case of a

molecule, the energy may be converted to molecular

vibrations.

a buildup of neon atoms in the lower excited states and

a subsequent reduction in the population inversion. It is
because of this particular depopu lation mechanism that

one cannot increase the output power of a He-Ne laser by

increasing the tube cross section. The reason is that any
increase in the radius of the bore, the cylindrical region to
which the discharge is confined, beyond a certain value
reduces the population inversion and thus the overall
gain of the laser.

There are many more laser transitions in the He-Ne laser

than we have shown in Fig. 2. Each of the energy states of
neon shown as bars in the diagram) is split into several
sublevels. Each sublevel can serve as the initial or terminal
level for several different laser transitions, producing the 130plus stimulated emission lines that have been observed in
neon. All of the lasing lines can be produced in a discharge
of pure neon. However, the output of many lines is greatly
increased by the resonant collision pumping described.

Both the 633nm and the 3.39 m transitions start with

the same upper energy state (5s). The 3.39 m (infrared)

transition has a much higher gain than the 633nm

(visible red) transition and can deplete the 5s level,
reducing or eliminating completely the visible output of
the laser. Several techniques can be employed to
discriminate against the 3.39 m transition and to
encourage the 633nm transition:

1- In the method most commonly employed, the laser

mirrors are designed to be highly reflective at 633nm
but highly transmissive at 3.39 m. The round-trip gain
at the visible wave transition can then be satisfactorily
high, while at the same time the gain for the infrared
transition never reaches threshold.
2- Another technique consists of placing small magnets
along the length of the laser tube, thereby creating an
inhomogeneous magnetic field. The magnetic field
produces a splitting (Zeeman splitting) of certain spectral
lines in several components. It is possible to show that the
gain per unit length at the lasing transition is inversely
proportional to the linewidth. The zeeman splitting
broadens the infrared 3.39 m laser line more than the
visible line, decreasing its gain, so that the visible
transition is favored.

Molecular lasers
From the standpoint of potential industrial
applications, the carbon dioxide laser unquestionably
ranks first. The CO2 laser offers both high power and
high efficiency at an infrared wavelength. Carbon
dioxide lasers have been used to weld metals, cut
ceramics, and perform many other materialsprocessing tasks. The CO2 laser is the most important
example of the class of lasers referred to as molecular
lasers. Thus far in our discussion, the energy levels of
interest for laser transitions have been electronic
energy levels of an atom or an ion. Molecules have a
more complicated structure and have energy levels
that correspond to rotating-or vibrating motions of the
entire molecular structure.

The carbon dioxide molecule, composed of two

oxygen atoms and a carbon atom between them,
undergoes

three

different

types

of

vibrational

oscillation, as shown in fig. 3 These three fundamental

vibrational configurations are called vibrational modes
(not to be confused with the modes of the laser cavity).
According to quantum theory, the energy of oscillation
of a molecule in any one mode can have only discrete
values, just as the energy of an electron in an atom is
quantized. The discrete values are all integer multiples

of some fundamental value. At any one time, a carbon

dioxide

molecule

can

be

vibrating

in

combination of the three fundamental modes.

linear

The energy state of the molecule can then be

represented by three numbers (ijk). These numbers
represent the amount of energy, or number of energy
quanta, associated with each mode. For example, the
number ( 002) next to the highest energy level shown in
fig. 4 means that a molecule in this energy state is in the
pure asymmetric stretch mode with two units of energy
(i.e. no units of energy associated with the symmetric
stretch or bending mode). In addition to vibrational
states, rotational states, associated with rotation of the

molecule about the center of mass, are also possible.

The energies associated with the rotational states are

generally small compared to those of the vibrational
states, and are observed as splittings of the vibrational
levels into a number of much finer sublevels. The
separations between vibrational - rotational states are
usually much smaller on the energy scale than
separations between electronic states.

Figure (3): Vibrational modes of CO2 molecule

Figure (4): Energy-level diagram for the CO2 laser.

Pumping occurs to the higher energy levels (not draw to
scale). Bands shown contain numerous discrete rotational
levels.

The radiation associated with the energy difference

between electronic transitions is usually visible or
ultraviolet, whereas the vibrational-rotational transitions
are in the near and far infrared. For this reason, most
molecular lasers have infrared outputs.

The various low-lying energy levels of the CO2

molecule that are responsible for the laser transitions
are shown in Fig. 4. Each group of lines represents a
different vibrational energy levels: each individual line
represents a different rotational energy level.

In the CO2 laser, molecules are pumped from the

ground state to higher energy states (out of the
diagram) from which they trickle back by radiative and
nonradiative processes to state (001), which is
metastable. With sufficient pumping, a population
inversion is produced between the (001) state and the
(100) and (020) states. If the losses in the laser cavity
are sufficiently low, laser oscillations begin. The
strongest line of the CO2 laser is at a wavelength of
10.6 m, in the infrared. A weaker line at 9.6m

competes with the 10.6 m line for the available

excited molecules.

For improved laser output, nitrogen and helium are

generally added to the gas mixture (approximately 10
percent CO2, 40 percent N2, and 50 percent He). The

nitrogen in the CO2 discharge takes the role that helium

plays in the helium-neon and metal vapor lasers:
excited nitrogen molecules transfer energy to the CO2
molecules by resonant collisions. The helium serves to
increase the laser efficiency by speeding up the
transition from the (100) energy level, the receiving end
of the 10.6 m laser transition, to the ground level,

thereby maintaining a large population inversion.

Carbon dioxide lasers are capable of producing

tremendous amounts of output power. Primarily
because of the high efficiency of the 10.6 m
transition. A well- constructed system can achieve an
efficiency of about 30 percent, as compared to less
than 0.02 percent for helium- neon laser. Gigawatts of
peak power have been obtained in short nanosecondduration pulses.
The principal difference between the CO2 laser and
other gas lasers we have discussed is that the optics
must be coated or made of special materials so that

they are reflective or transmissive in the infrared.

If the cavity has external mirrors, the plasma tube

usually has Brewster-angle windows fabricated from
germanium, cadmium sulfide, or, in the case of high
power systems, from sodium chloride or potassium
bromide. These materials are transparent at 10.6 m, a
region where most other materials, including glass, are
opaque. The optical resonator itself is provided with a
pair of long radius-of-curvature mirrors, with multilayer
dielectric reflective coating. The output mirror can be
made of germanium or gallium arsenide, both of which

if cooled have low loss at 10.6 m.

The power supply for CO2 laser must provide a

sufficiently high voltage to maintain a discharge with
cavity pressure of 10 mm of mercury or more. This
voltage, which is about 8 KV per meter of discharge,
constitutes a major hazard if not carefully shielded.

The power output of a CO2 laser is approximately

proportional to the active length of the laser. In attempts

to obtain greater output power, researchers have built

CO2 lasers tens of meters long with CW output powers
ranging to the tens of kilowatts.

Figure (5): Carbon dioxide laser with water cooling jacket,

Brewster's window, and rotating mirror for pulsing the output
laser beam.

Chemical Lasers
The lasers studied in this chapter are classified
primarily on the basis of the state of the active medium
(gas, solid, liquid, semiconductor). The term chemical
laser refers not to the state of the lasing medium, but
to the method of creating a population inversion. In the
chemical laser, the excitation is produced by at

chemical reaction. Although the chemicals can be in

the solid, liquid, or gaseous state, most chemical
lasers use gases as the active medium, with an
arrangement similar to the gas dynamic CO2 laser just
discussed.

Chemical lasers are attractive from several

viewpoints:
1- A purely chemical laser, relying on the direct mixing of
hemicals to produce coherent light, does not require
electronic components or electrical power.
2- Chemical lasers have the potential for higher output
power per unit volume and per unit weight than appears
possible with electrical excitation.
3- Because the chemical reactions employed excite
primarily vibrational states rather than electronic states,

most chemical lasers have output power in the near

infrared, with wavelengths between the neodymium laser
at

1.06mand the carbon dioxide laser at.

4 - Chemical lasers have produced some of the most

powerful laser pulses ever observed. Pulses as large as
4200 joules with a peak power of 200 billion (2 1011)
watts have been achieved by a hydrogen fluoride
chemical laser.
Most of the chemical reactions used in chemical lasers are
of the form
A+BC AB +C +energy

(1)

The energy released by the reaction servers to excite the

molecule AB, which servers as the active medium. One

reaction that has been investigated extensively is the
reaction of a halogen with hydrogen or deuterium. e.g.

H+CL2HCL+CL +energy

(2)

F+D2DF+D +energy

(3)

and

In general, chemical reactions can be employed

successfully in laser systems using several approaches:
1- Chemical reactions can directly produce the radiant
energy from the reacting species. with the addition of no
external energy.
2- Chemical reactions can result in light emission from the
reacting species, but external energy may be necessary
to initiate or sustain the reaction.
3- External energy can be provided to initiate or sustain a
chemical reacting that results in the transfer or energy
from the reaction species to another species that radiates.

The chemical reaction can provide all the energy, as in

type(1),but energy is transferred from one reacting species to
another species that emits radiation.

Lasers using the latter two approaches, in which the

reaction species do not actually participate in the lasing
action, are called chemical transfer lasers. The reactions
represented by Eqs.(2) are examples of approach (2).
Although the chemical reactions produce HCl or DF (the
active lasing medium) in the excited state, the dissociation
of the hydrogen or fluorine atoms form their initial

molecular states (H2 or F2) must be accomplished with an

additional energy source, a flash-lamp in the case of
reaction (2) or a thermal source in the case of reaction (3).

Another example of approach (2) is the carbon monoxide

chemical laser, which emits relatively high power in the

infrared. A mixture of helium, air and cyanogen (C2N2) has

used to obtain several watts of power in the wavelength range
between 5 and 6 mm. In this laser, the gas is flowed through
an electric discharge. The helium does not participate in the
lasing, but provides resonant transfer of energy, as in the
helium-neon laser. The discharge dissociate the (C2N2)
molecules and the O2 molecules to form vibrationally excited
CO via the reaction

C2 N 2 O2 2CO N 2 127 kcal

(4(

The Ruby Laser

The first successful laser, developed by Maiman in
1960, used a single crystal of synthetic pink ruby as its
resonating cavity. The ruby is primarily a transparent
crystal of corundum (AL2O3) doped with approximately
0.05 percent of trivalent chromium ions in the form of
Cr2O3, the latter providing its pink color. The aluminum
and oxygen atoms of the corundum are inert; the
chromium ions are the active ingredients.

As grown in the laboratory, a ruby crystal is

cylindrical in shape (see Fig 5). It is cut some 10 cm or
so long and the ends polished flat and parallel. In a
typical ruby laser one end is highly reflective (about 96
percent), and the other end is close to half-silvered
(about 50 percent).

When white light enters a crystal, strong absorption by the

chromium ions Cr2O3 in the blue-green part of the spectrum
occurs (see Fig. 6). light from an intense source surrounding
the crystal will therefore raise many electrons to a wide band

of levels as shown by the up arrow at the left. These

electrons quickly drop back, many returning to the ground
level. However, some of the electrons drop down to the
intermediate levels, not by the emission of photons, but by
the conversion of the vibrational energy of the atoms
forming the crystal lattice. Once in the intermediate levels
the electrons remain there for several milliseconds (about

10,000 times longer than in most excited states), and

randomly jump back to the ground level, emitting visible red
light. This fluorescent radiation enhances the pink or red
color of the ruby and gives it its brilliance.

Figure (5): Ruby laser using a helical flash lamp for optical pumping

Fig 6. Energy level diagram for a ruby crystal

Fig. 7 Elliptical r for Concentrating light from a source S on a laser L.

Axial Modes of a Laser

The optical cavity of a laser is a resonator with extremely
high Q (see box) and low losses. If these losses are smaller
than the gain in the amplifying medium, threshold is
achieved and lasing occurs. But the high-Q condition does
not hold for all frequencies within the laser emission line

width:

only

certain

frequencies

fulfill

the

resonance

conditions, similar to the transmission conditions of the

Fabry-Perot interferometer. Thus the laser output spectrum
does not resemble the spontaneous emission lineshape, but
rather consists of a series of a narrower lines corresponding
to the high-Q frequencies of the laser cavity.

To determine the conditions for high Q in a laser, we

start with a plane wave of light propagating along a line
normal to and between two parallel mirrors. The roundtrip distance for a wave undergoing reflection at the
mirror is 2L, twice the distance between mirrors. The
total phase change, , undergone by the wave in

traveling a full round trip is equal to 2 times the

distance traveled divided by the wavelength

2L 4L
2

If the reflected wave is 180 out of phase with the original

wave and of equal magnitude, then within the cavity there is
no net field and therefore no net energy density to stimulate
the atoms to emit, even if a suitable population inversion
exists. The most useful way of viewing such a situation is to
note that the wave has not replicated itself upon reflection.
Only at such a frequency that the wave and its reflections
are in phase ( =2q, q an integer) does the wave replicate

itself. With replication, the electric fields add in phase. The

resultant energy density is sufficient to induce substantial
stimulated emission at that frequency.

From an alternative point of view, the mirrors from a

resonant cavity in which light energy may be stored by
multiple reflections between them. If the waves are
replicated in the cavity, then the mirror cavity has a high
Q. The condition for a self-repeating field (setting =2q
in Eq. 1) is that the length of the cavity be equal to an
integral number of half-

Q-the quality factor

Fundamental to discussion of any resonator is the concept
of the Q-or quality factor, of the resonator, defined by

2 energy stored
Q
energy dissipated per cycle
This definition of Q is a very general one applies to
circuits, mechanical systems, microwave cavities, and
laser cavities. A typical oscillating circuit, such as one
containing a resistor, capacitor, and inductor, can have a Q
of several hundred; a laser cavity can have a Q as high as

105 or 106.

A high-Q cavity stores energy well, whereas a low-Q

cavity does not. In addition, we note that a high Q is
associated with a small relative linewidth, and a low Q
with a large relative linewidth. This relationship between
Q and linewidth can be expressed rather simply as

resonant frequency

linewidth

wavelengths, or L=q(/2), q an integer. Only at those

wavelengths is the cavity resonant. The integer q is in
most cases quit large. For example, if the central
wavelength is 500 nm (5X10-5cm) and the mirror
separation is 25 cm, q has a value of 106.

Since q can be any integer, there are many possible

wavelengths within the laser transition lineshape for
which the field is self-replicating. We refer to each such
self-replicating field pattern as a longitudinal mode, or
axial mode, of the cavity. It is easier to refer to these
axial modes by their frequency than by their wavelength.
Using the condition for the self-replicating field stated
above. We have

Each

c
c
c

2
L

2L
q

mode

frequency

(2)

can

be

labeled

corresponding integer, q, with the result

with

its

 c
q q

2L

(3)

It is at these frequencies that the laser cavity is resonant.

By subtracting the frequency of one cavity mode from

that of its nearest neighbor, we find that the separation
between mode frequencies is

q 1

c
c
q (q 1)
q
2L
2L

or

c

2L

(4)

The separation between longitudinal mode frequencies

is seen to be the same as the free spectral range of a
Fabry-Perot interferometer with plate separation L . Note
that the separation between neighboring modes is
dependent only on the separation between mirrors and is
independent of q. If we use values from our example
above, the separation between neighboring resonance
frequencies for a typical laser (25 cm long) is calculated
to be

3 1010 cm / sec

6 10 8 sec 1 600MHz
3 25 cm

(5)

Many laser transition lines much broader than 600 MHz,

and thus there can be many axial modes )q-2, q-1, q,

q+1, q+2( within the broadened linewidth. Since

sustained

laser

action

can

occur

only

at

those

frequencies within the lasing transition for which the

cavity is resonant, the output of a laser contains a
number of discrete frequencies, separated by c/(2L), as
shown in Fig. 1. These frequencies are called the axial
mode frequencies of the laser.

Figure (1): The combination of the lasing transition lineshape with the
resonant cavity modes gives the resulting output of a laser. Only when
the Q of the cavity is high can lasing occur.

Examining the Mode Structure of a Laser

The longitudinal mode structure of a laser output can be
investigated with a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The
experimental arrangement is shown in Fig. 2. You may
know that there are many frequencies, spaced c/2d apart,
transmitted by the interferometer when its plates are

spaced a distance d apart. To block all extraneous light

at frequencies other than in a narrow region about the
laser line, we insert a narrowband filter between the laser
and the interferometer. The spacing of the plates is then
adjusted so that the free spectral range of the
interferometer exceeds the linewidth of the laser.

The transmitted light is focused by a lens onto a

screen, where a pattern of concentric circles can be
seen. A pinhole in the screen is positioned at the center

of the pattern: light of one frequency passes the screen

whereas other frequencies are blocked. As the spacing
of the mirrors is changed, the frequency illuminating the
pinhole changes. If d is changed in a continuous
manner, the frequency passed by the pinhole is swept
through the range of frequencies, which includes those
of the laser line. A photomultiplier detector measures

the amount of light transmitted at the different

frequencies.

An increase in signal occurs whenever the FabryPerot

resonance

scans

through

frequency

component of the laser output. The output of the

detector is plotted as a function of time, the observed

result is a series of lines within the broadened
transition lineshape, as sketched in Fig. 1. Each of
these lines corresponds to a different axial mode, or
q-value, of the laser. Knowing the interferometer
scanning rate, one can verify that the frequency
separation between these modes is c/2L, where L is

the distance between laser mirrors, in agreement with

the analysis above.

Fig. 2 Experimental arrangement for observing the longitudinal (or

axial) mode characteristics of a laser. Light from the laser is filtered to
remove all but the laser light. The separation between the FabryPerot interferometer mirrors is changed by applying a sawtooth
voltage to a piezoelectric transducer (PET) attached to one of the
mirrors. The change in separation d changes the transmission
frequency of the interferometer. The transmitted light is focused onto
a pinhole in a screen and detected by a photomultiplier tube (PMT).
The output of the PMT is displayed on an oscilloscope. The
oscilloscope trace displays the frequency spectrum of the laser.

Modifying the Laser Output

Selection of laser emission lines: interacavity
elements
Many lasers can lase in several emission lines
simultaneously. Here we are speaking not of the

multiple-mode structure beneath a single broadened

emission line, but of several of these lines spaced
across the spectrum. While this multiple-line emission
may provide high-power output, there are cases where a
higher degree of monochromaticity is desired. In these
cases,

wavelength-dependent

element,

which

disperses or absorbs the light according to its colors, is

introduced into the cavity. This element can be a prism,
a grating, or a filter.

The action of these elements can be demonstrated by the

example of an intra-cavity prism. The arrangement is shown in
fig.3. We assume that three wavelength 1,2 and 3, are
undergoing amplification by stimulated emission, with 1< 2< 3 .
The shorter wavelengths suffer greater refraction by the prism
than the longer wavelengths. One beam, at 2 , is directed
normally to the end mirror and then retraces its path back into

the laser tube. Rays at other wavelengths do not retrace their

paths exactly and, consequently, experience additional loss.
Only for light in a small wavelength rang about 2 are the losses
smaller than the available gain. By using a properly cut prism,

the angles of incidence can be set at the Brewster angles,

reducing the losses due to reflection at the prism surface.

Figure (3): Intra-cavity prism for wavelength selection. The

prism disperses the light so that only one ray, at 2, is
reflected back into the active medium, and lasing occurs
only at the selected wavelength.

SINGLE-MODE OPERATION
The linewidth of a single laser mode is far smaller than
the broadened transition linewidth: in some cases
smaller than the linewidth due to the natural lifetime of

the excited state. Since an inhomogeneously broadened

laser can support many longitudinal-transverse modes
simultaneously. Single-mode output can be achieved
only by assuring that one mode has a gain higher than
all the others. There are several methods for obtaining
single-mode output, two of which we discuss here:

1) Let us ensure that the cavity supports only a single

transverse

mode,

the

TEM00

mode,

by

placing

apertures in the laser cavity as we discussed earlier.

Once this single transverse mode has been obtained,
the problem is to eliminate all but one of the axial

modes.

One

way to

achieve

single

axial-mode

operation is to design the cavity so that only one axial

mode is possible within the laser transition line-width.
If the mode corresponding to q0 is within the transition
linewidth and those corresponding to q0+1 and q0-1 are
outside it, as shown in fig.4. then only the TEM00q0
mode will lase.

For this to occur, the distance between cavity modes,c/2L.

must be somewhat greater than the broadened linewidth.
Since we cannot control the width of the lasing line., we
must construct the cavity in

figure (4): The "short cavity" method of single-moding a laser. If

the length of the laser cavity is reduced to a length that yielding a
cavity mode separation somewhat greater than the line width,
only one cavity mode can lase.

such a manner that c/2L is larger than the laser

linewidth.If we make the distance between mirrors
sufficiently small so that only one mode is supported,
we produce a single mode laser. The drawback of this
method is that the active length of the laser is also
small, severally limiting the power output.

2) Another method for obtaining increased single axialmode output from a TEM00 laser is to introduce large
losses for all but one of the modes. This can be done
by introducing a small fixed-spacing Fabry-Perot
cavity within the laser cavity, as illustrated in fig. 5.
The additional cavity consist of a special piece of
glass, called an etalon, that has two faces ground and

polished to a high degree of parallelism. The etalons

cavity differs from the laser cavity in two important
respects.

First, the etalon surfaces are either uncoated or lightly

coated, and their reflectivity is thus quite low. Because of
this low reflectivity, the etalon cavity resonances are
broader than the laser cavity resonances.

Second, the etalon cavity is much shorter than the laser

cavity, and the separations between etalon resonant
frequencies are therefore much larger than those between

the laser resonant frequencies.

The etalon, in effect, makes slats in the picket fence

unequal: Some cavity resonances have a higher loss than
others. The laser tends to lase in that single mode with the
smallest loss. This single-mode selection is illustrated in
fig. 6. As much as 75 percent of the power distributed over
all the axial modes present before the etalon is inserted
can appear in this single mode in a typical laser. If the
etalon is tilted with respect to the optic axis, the frequency

of the etalon resonance shifts within the lasing transition

linewidth. A different laser cavity mode becomes the highQ mode, and lasing occurs at the corresponding new
frequency. It is thus possible to tune the frequency of
the laser over a narrow frequency band by merely tilting
the etalon.

Figure (5): The "etalon" method of single modeing a laser.

Introduction of a piece of glass with parallel face (the etalon) into
the cavity renders the Q of the cavity modes unequal. Only the
highest Q mode lasers

There are more complicated methods of obtaining

single-mode output for inhomogeneously broadened
laser transitions. Those we have discussed give some
idea, however, of how a single laser mode is obtained
and emphasize the importance of understanding the

concept of laser modes.

Figure (6): The "etalon" method of single modeing a laser. The

box on the right illustrates the Q versus frequency for the laser
cavity and or the etalon cavity. Their combined Q versus
frequency is shown in the middle curve. The combination of the

lasing transition and single high-Q mode results in a single-mode

laser output.

Applications of Laser
I- Laser in Industry
I.1- LASER WELDING

In the basic welding process two metals (which may be

the same or dissimilar) are placed in contact and the
region round the contact heated until the materials melt
and fuse together. Enough heat must be supplied to cause
melting of a sufficient volume of material but not enough
to give rise to significant amounts of vaporization,
otherwise weak porous welds are produced. With most

metals the reflectance decreases dramatically as the

temperature approaches the melting point (see Fig.1) so
that care needs to be taken in controlling the amount of
incident laser energy.

It is also evident that the problems associated with

vaporization will increase if the two materials have widely
differing melting points.
Laser welding has to compete with many well-established
techniques such as soldering, arc welding, resistance
welding and electron beam welding. Laser welding has,
however, a number of advantages, for example:

(1) there is no physical contact with external components;

(2) the heating is very localized
(3) dissimilar metals can be welded;
(4) welding can be carried out in a controlled atmosphere
with the workpiece sealed if necessary within optically
transparent materials.

Fig. 1. Schematic variation of absorption with temperate for a

typical metal surface for both YAG and CO2 laser wavelengths.

Welding is normally carried out using a shielding gas.

This is an inert gas, usually argon or helium, which is
applied to the welding area via a nozzle concentrically
placed with respect to the laser beam (Fig. 2). The main
purpose of the shielding gas is to cover the weld area and
eliminate oxidation, which results in a poor weld. It also
helps to remove any metal vapor that may be formed (and

that may deposit on the focusing lens). If metal vapor is

produced it may be hot enough for ionization to take
place and thus form a plasma above the metal surface.
This is often highly absorbent at the laser wavelength
and can prevent some, or in extreme cases all, of the
laser energy reaching

Fig.2 Schematic beam focusing head design for laser

welding when using a shielding gas.

the surface. For medium- to low-power lasers argon is

often used as the shield gas, as it is less expensive than
helium but can itself ionize in the presence of highpower pulsed beams. In such cases helium or a mixture
of helium and argon may be used.

Both CW and pulsed lasers can be used in welding.

For situations where only a small spot weld is required
a single pulse from a pulsed laser may be sufficient. If
a continuous weld is required, however, the beam is
moved across the workpiece. The CW laser produces
a continuous weld, while the pulsed laser produces a
train of spot welds, which may overlap (and hence
produce effectively a continuous weld) or be
separated, depending on the scanning speed. Figure 3
shows how weld penetration depends on beam
scanning speed at various power levels in 304-type
stainless steel. The actual joint geometry itself can
exert a strong influence on the thickness of material
that can be welded. Close-fitting joints are desirable
since there is usually little time for the molten metal to
flow to any extent.

In any case only small amounts of liquid are present,

mainly because the heating is usually very local.
Figure 4 shows some typical joint designs suitable
for laser welding.

welding speed (mms-1)

Fig. (3) Typical variation of weld penetration with welding speed
observed in stainless steel for various CO2 laser powers.

Fig.(4) Two geometries suitable for laser welding

(a) the butt join; (b) the lap join.

I.1.1 Deep penetrating welding

When using a multikilowatt CW or pulsed-mode laser
the

welding

process

becomes

somewhat

more

complicated than just the simple diffusion of heat

away from the surface considered hitherto. When a
high-power beam initially strikes the surface a
significant amount of material may be vaporized,
forming

 Direction of travel (workpiece)

Fig. (5( Formation of a keyhole during high-power laser welding.

a small hole known as a keyhole. Laser energy that

subsequently enters the hole is trapped and carried
deeper into the material than would otherwise be the
case. Figure 5 illustrates this process when a CW laser is
being used. Pulsed CO2 lasers can also make efficient
use of this process by employing a pulse consisting of a
very high-power initial spike of duration about 100ms

followed by a much lower irradiance for the remainder of

the pulse (Fig.6). Such a pulse shape can be obtained by
controlling the discharge current in the laser. The peak
power during the spike is sufficient to create the initial
keyhole but during the rest of the pulse there is
insufficient power to cause further vaporization.

The material round the keyhole melts, however, and fills

in the hole. Since the absorption of energy within the

keyhole is not very dependent on the condition and type

of metal surface this type of action enables materials
with high melting points to be welded.
CO2 lasers are now available with CW powers of
tens of hundreds of kilowatts and consequently it is

possible to weld steel plates of up to several tens of

millimeters thick at rates of some meters/minute. It has
thus become possible to contemplate the use of laser
welding

in

shipbuilding.

heavy industrial

situations

such

as

Fig(6). idealized laser pulse shape for efficient keyhole welding

I.2- Laser- Assisted Machining

) cutting of material (
One of the problems associated with conventional
approaches to the cutting of especially tough materials
such as titanium alloy is that at high cutting speeds the
life of the cutting tool is very short. Since these
materials are used extensively in the aerospace
industry there is much interest in techniques that
enable the cutting rates to be speeded up.

One possibility is laser assisted machining. During

cutting a high-power laser beam is focused onto the work
surface just ahead of the cutting tool. The material is
softened and hence more readily removed. Because only
a small area is heated the cutting tool remains relatively
cool. Thus higher cutting rates become possible or

alternatively longer tool life can be achieved for a given

cutting speed. To reduce the natural reflectance of the
metal surface an absorptive coating may be sprayed on
just ahead of the laser beam.

I.3- Holography
INTRODUCTION
Holography is a technique which, in some respects, is
similar to photography. In conventional photography we
record the two-dimensional irradiance distribution of the

image of an object scene, which may be regarded as

consisting of a large number of reflecting or radiating
points The waves from these points all contribute to a
complex resultant wave, which we call the object wave.
This wave is then transformed by a lens into an image of
the object which is recorded in photographic emulsion.

In holography, on the other hand, we record the

object wave itself rather than the image of the object. The
object wave is recorded in such a way that on

subsequently illuminating the record the original object

wave front is reconstructed, even in the absence of the
original object. Holography, in fact, is often referred to as
wave front reconstruction. Visual observation of the
reconstructed wave front gives a view of the object
which is indistinguishable from the original object. That
is, the image generated in holography possesses the

depth and parallax properties normally associated with

real objects.

The fundamental difference between photography

and holography is that in photography we record only
the amplitude of the resultant wave from the object
(strictly

speaking

the

photographic

plate

records

irradiance, which is proportional to the square of the

amplitude), while in holography we record both the
amplitude and phase of the wave. We may see, in simple
terms, how this is achieved, as follows.

To record the phase of the object wave we use a beam of

mono chromatic light originating from a small source so that the
light is coherent. By this we mean that the temporal and spatial
variations of the phase of the light beam are regular and
predictable. If light beams are coherent then interference effects
which are stable in time can be obtained. The monochromatic
beam is split into two parts, as illustrated in Fig. (1), one of
which is used to illuminate the object, while the other, which we
call the reference wave, is directed towards a photographic
plate. The light directed towards the object is scattered and
some of it, the object wave, also falls on the photographic plate.
If the original monochromatic light has a sufficiently high degree
of coherence, then the reference and object waves will be
mutually coherent and will form a stable interference pattern in
the photographic emulsion

The interference pattern, in general, is a complicated

system of interference fringes due to the range of
amplitudes and phases of the various components of the

light scattered from the object. This interference pattern,

which is unique to a particular object, is stored in the
photographic emulsion when the plate is developed. This
record is called a hologram.
The hologram consists of a complicated distribution of
clear and opaque areas corresponding to dark and
bright interference fringes. When it is illuminated with a
beam of light similar to the original reference wave, as
shown in Fig. (1),

Fig. (1) A typical holographic arrangement: (a) making the hologram

by recording the interference pattern produced by the interference of
the reference and object wavefronts; (b) reconstruction of the object
wavefront. The reconstruction produces two images, a virtual
(orthoscopic) image and a real (pseudoscopic) image.

In

parallel

with

the

advances

in

the

optical

arrangements for holography improved photosensitive

materials for recording the hologram have been
introduced. These need to have a high resolution with
the grain size less than about 50 nm as the interference
fringes are typically one wavelength apart. In addition,
for some purposes, the photosensitivity should be high
to reduce exposure times, though the high irradiance
available from lasers often compensates for this. Thus,
while the high sensitivity of silver-halide emulsion

makes it attractive in some applications, the greater

resolution obtainable in other materials, such as
dichromated gelatin films, is an advantage in others

Applications of holography
I.3.1- Holographic Interferometry
Holographic
interferometric

interferometry
techniques

is
The

an

extension

unique

of

advantage

the
of

holographic interferometry is that the hologram stores the

object wavefront for reconstruction at a later time. Thus it
enables wavefronts which are separated in time or space, or

even wavefronts formed by light of different wavelengths to

be compared. Holographic interferometry is commonly
divided into a number of classes which we shall now
describe.

I.3.1.1-Double exposure holographic

interferometry
This technique, which is widely used in industry,
enables very small displacements or distortions of an
object to be measured. First of all the object under
investigation is recorded as a hologram. Then, before
the photographic plate is developed, the object is
subjected to stress, moved slightly or whatever and a
second exposure is made on the same plate. When the
processed

plate

reference beam

is

illuminated with the original

Fig. 2 A double exposure holographic interferogram showing the

deformation of a circular membrane which has been deformed by
uniform pressure. (Photograph courtesy of W. Braga and C. M. Vest,
The University of Michigan)

two images are reconstructed, one corresponding to the

unstressed object, the other to the object in its stressed or
displaced state. Thus two sets of light waves reach the
observer. These can interfere in the normal way so that the
observer sees (an image of) the object covered with a pattern
of interference fringes. This pattern is essentially a contour
map of the change in shape of the object. A photograph of the
fringe

pattern

produced

by

typical

double-exposure

hologram is shown in Fig. 2.

A limitation of the technique is that information on

intermediate states of the object as it is stressed is
not recorded, rather only the stressed state at the
time of the second exposure. This limitation can be
overcome by producing either sandwich holograms
or by using real-time holography.

I.3.1.2-Sandwich holograms
In sandwich holography as shown in Fig. (3), pairs of
photographic plates NF are exposed simultaneously.
N1F1 are exposed to the unstressed object, while N2F2,
N3F3 ... are exposed with the object increasingly
stressed. After all of the plates have been processed, F1
is combined with, for example, N2 in the original plate
holder and illuminated with the original reference beam

to produce an interference pattern corresponding to the

deformation resulting from the loading at the time of
exposure of N2. Various combinations F1N2, F2N3, F3N4, ...
will enable incremental deformations to be analyzed.

Fig.3 Diagram showing the principles of sandwich holograph and

illustrates how the deformation of an object may be determined from the
fringe patterns produced by a simultaneous reconstruction of holograms
produced at different stages in the deformation of the object;

I.4-The optical fiber

The idea that a light beam could be carried down a
dielectric

cylinder

is

not

new.

In

1870

Tyndall

demonstrated the guiding of light within a jet of water.

However, the idea was not pursued very far since it was
known that the light penetrates a little way into the

medium surrounding the cylinder. This causes losses to

be high and makes handling the cylinder difficult. In 1954,
however the idea of a cladded optical waveguide was put
forward and the optical fiber as we know it today was
born. One of the initial difficulties was that the fiber
showed very high attenuation, typically 1000 dB km-1.

The units used here for attenuation require a little

explanation. Suppose a beam of power Pi is launched
into one end of an optical fiber and that the power

remaining after a length L km is Pf. The attenuation (dB

km-1) is then given by
Attenuation =

10 log10 Pi / Pf dB km
L

(1)

Fig. 1 Refractive index profile for a step-index fiber.

Originally most of the high attenuation was due to the

presence of impurities in the fiber. Improved manufacturing
techniques have made it possible to reduce the attenuation

to values below 1 dB km-1.

The simplest type of optical fiber is the step-index fiber,

where variation with refractive index with distance away
from the center is as shown in Fig. (1). The central region
is known as the core and the surrounding region the
cladding. Usually the core and cladding refractive
indices differ by only a few percent. Typical dimensions
for such a fiber are a core diameter of 200 mm with a
combined core and cladding diameter of 250 mm. When
made from glass or silica the fiber is reasonably flexible
and fairly strong. It is common practice though to coat

the outside of the fiber with a layer of plastic which

protects the fiber from physical damage and helps
preserve its strength.

To see how light can be guided down such a structure,

consider a beam of light which passes through the center of
the fiber core and strikes the normal to the core-cladding
interface at an angle c ( Fig. 2). Because the cladding has a
lower refractive

Fig 2 the Zig-Zig path of a meridonal light ray down an optical fiber:
this occurs when the angle of incidence at the interface , , is
greater than the angle , c

Fig. 3 The path of a skew ray in a circular step-index fiber seen in a

projection normal to the fiber axis.

index than the core, total internal reflection can take place
provided that the angle is greater than the critical angle c
where

c = sin-1(n2/n1)

(2)

Total internal reflection implies that the core-cladding

interface acts as a perfect mirror. Thus when > c the ray
will travel down the fiber in a zig-zag path. Because such a
ray keeps passing through the center of the fiber it is known
as a meridional ray. Other guided rays are possible which do
not pass through the center. These are known as skew rays,
and they describe angular helices as sketched in Fig. 3.
Let us now examine what happens to a meridional ray
when it leaves the fiber. Assuming the external medium to

have a refractive index of no (usually n0 = 1 of course if the

fiber is in air), from Fig. 3 we see that, by Snells law, the
angle a that the ray outside the fiber makes with the normal
to the fiber end is given by

sin
n1

o
sin 90
n0
Hence sin = (n1/no)cos

Since must always be greater than c the maximum

value, max, that can take is given by
n0 sin max = n1 cos c
= n1 ( 1- sin2 c) 1/2
=

2
1

2 1/ 2
2

Fig. 3 Illustrating the path of a meridional ray as it enters a circular

step-index waveguide. The ray is incident on the end of the fiber at
an angle a to the normal. Inside the waveguide the ray makes an
angle i with the normal to the guide axis.

The quantity

2
1

2 1/ 2
2

is known as the numerical

aperture (NA) of the fiber and hence

max = sin-1 (NA/no)
(3)

As well as representing the maximum angle at which

light can emerge from a fiber max also represents the
largest angle which light can have and still enter the

fiber.

Consequently

max

is

known

as

the

fiber

acceptance angle (sometimes 2 max is used and is called

the total acceptance angle).

II.1.1-Graded-index fiber
Graded index fiber, as its name suggests, has a variation in
refractive index across its core. This variation is often
expressed in the form

n (r ) n1 1 2(r / a )
1/ 2
n (r ) n1 1 2

1/ 2

ra
ra

where = (n1- n2) / n1. Thus n1 is the axial refractive

index while n2 is related to (but does not exactly equal)
the cladding index. The parameter y (the profile
parameter) determines the shape of the refractive

index profile. A typical refractive index profile is shown

in Fig. 4.

Graded-index fibers have somewhat smaller cores than

step-index fibers, usually 50 m diameter, with a
combined core and cladding diameter of 125 m.

We may distinguish between three different types of ray

path in graded index fibers, as illustrated in Fig. 5,
namely the central ray, the meridional rays and the
helical rays. In the latter two cases the rays follow
smooth curves rather than the zig-zags of step-index
fibers. These diagrams enable us to appreciate why
intermodal dispersion is smaller than in step-index

fibers. A helical ray, for example, although traversing a

much longer path

Fig. 4 Refractive index profile for a graded-index fiber.

Fig. 5 Ray paths in a graded-index fiber. We may distinguish between (a)

a central ray, (b) a meridional ray and (c) a helical ray avoiding the center.

than the central ray, does so in a region where the

refractive index is less and hence the velocity greater. To a
certain extent the effects of these two factors can be made
to cancel out, resulting in very similar propagation
velocities down the fibers for the two types of ray. Similar
arguments apply to the meridional rays. The amount of
intermodal dispersion is dependent on the factor in Eq.

(4); it is smallest when is slightly less than 2. Gradedindex fibers have been made with bandwidth-distance
products as high as 2 GHz km. The number of guided
modes within a graded-index fiber with

= 2 is one half of

that for a comparable step-index fiber, which means that

under the same excitation conditions it will only carry half
the energy.

II.1.2-Fiber materials and manufacture

Only two main types of material have been seriously

considered to date for use in optical waveguides, these

being plastics and glasses. Plastic fibers offer some
advantages in terms of cost and ease of manufacture, but

their high transmission losses preclude their use in

anything other than short- distance optical links (that is,
less than a few hundred meters).

GLASS FIBERS. A broad distinction may be made

between glasses based on pure Si0 and those derived
from low softening point glasses such as the sodium
borosilicate, sodium calcium silicates and lead silicates.
For convenience we shall refer to these as silica fibers
and glass fibers respectively. An obvious requirement of
the material used is that it must be possible to vary the

refractive index. Pure silica has a refractive index of 1.45

at 1 mm and B2O3 can be used to lower the refractive
index, whilst other additives such as GeO2 raise it. Thus
a typical fiber may consist of an SiO2 : GeO2 core with a
pure Si0 cladding. Glass fibers can be made with a wide
range of refractive index variation but control of the
impurity content is more difficult than with silica.

At present there are two main techniques for manufacturing

low-loss fibers, these being the double crucible method
and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The apparatus for
the former technique is illustrated in Fig. 6 Pure glass,
usually in the form of rods, is fed into two platinum
crucibles. At the bottom of each crucible is a circular
nozzle, that of the inner vessel being concentric with that

of the outer and slightly above it. The inner crucible

contains the core material, the outer that of the cladding.
When the temperature of the apparatus is raised
sufficiently, by using an external furnace, the core material
flows through the inner nozzle into the center of the flow
stream from the outer crucible. Below the crucibles is a
rotating drum and the composite glass in the form of a
fiber is wound onto it.

Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of fiber-drawing apparatus using the

double- crucible technique. Omitted for clarity is the furnace
surrounding the double crucibles. It is customary, immediately the
fiber is formed, to give it a protective coating of plastic by passing it
through a bath of molten plastic and a curing oven.

If the two types of glass remain separate, then a

step-index fiber will result. However, by using glasses
that inter-diffuse (or by having dopants which do so)

then graded-index fibers can be obtained. One

problem with this approach is that the index profile
will be determined by diffusion processes and these
are

usually difficult

to

control

accurately.

The

resulting fibers, though, will almost certainly have

smaller intermodal dispersion than step-index fibers.

In the modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD)

method, a doped silica layer is deposited onto the
inner surface of a pure silica tube. The deposition
occurs as a result of a chemical reaction taking place
between the vapor constituents that are being

passed down the tube. Typical vapors used are SiCl4

GeCl4 and O2, and the reactions that take place may
be written
SiCl4 + O2 SiO2 + 2C12

and
GeC l4 + O2GeO2 + 2C12

The zone where the reaction takes place is moved

along the tube by locally heating the tube to a
temperature

in

the

range

1200-1600C

with

traversing oxy-hydrogen flame (Fig. 7). If the process

is repeated with different input concentrations of the
dopant vapors, then layers of different impurity
concentrations may be built up sequentially. This
technique thus allows a much greater control over the
index profile than does the double crucible method.
Once the deposition process is complete, the tube is

collapsed down to a solid preform by heating the tube

to its softening temperature ( 2000C )

Surface tension effects then causes the tube to

collapse into a solid rod. A fiber may be subsequently
produced by drawing from the heated tip of the
preform as it is lowered into a furnace (Fig. 8). To
exercise tight control over the fiber diameter a
thickness monitoring gauge is used before the fiber is
drawn Onto the take-up drum, and feedback applied to
the drum take-up speed. In addition, a protective
plastic coating is often applied to the outside of the
fiber by passing it through a bath of the plastic

material; the resulting coating is then cured by

passing it through a further furnace.

The MCVD technique is capable of producing extremely

low-loss fiber, mainly because of the high degree of
control

on

impurity

content.

The

double

crucible

technique is not as successful from this point of view,

however, it is simpler and cheaper to implement.
PLASTIC FIBERS. Other types of fiber are possible
using plastics. For example, fibers can be made with
silica cores and plastic claddings. These are easy to
manufacture; the fiber core may simply be drawn
through

bath

of

suitable polymer which is

subsequently cured by heating to a higher temperature

to provide a solid cladding. This process readily lends

itself to

Fig. 7 Production of fiber preform by modified chemical vapor

deposition. In the first stage, (a), the reactants are introduced into one
end of a silica tube and the core material deposited on the inside of
the tube in the reaction zone where the n is maintained at about
1600C. Several traverses heating assembly may be necessary to
build up sufficient thickness of core material. In the second stage, (b),
the tube is into a solid preform rod by heating to the silica-so fling
temperature (about 2000 Cl).

the production of step-index fibers with large core

diameters where very little of the energy carried in the
cladding. Such fibers are attractive for short-distance,
low-bandwidth communication systems, where cost is a
major consider3.t1 Typical losses are of the order of 10
dB km-1 .

Fibers can also be made entirely from plastics but these

suffer from very high attenuations, mainly because of a
large Rayleigh scattering contribution. Such fibers are
only of any practical use in the visible region of the
spectrum, preferably around 600-700 nm, and then only
for short-distance, low-bandwidth systems. Since plastic
is an inherently more flexible material than glass, plastic
fibers can be made with larger diameters (up to a
millimeter or so).

Fig. 8. Fiber drawing starting from a solid preform rod. The

stages after and including the plastic coating bath are identical
to the corresponding stages of the double-crucible technique.

II.2- OPTICAL DISK SYSTEMS

In recent years optical disks have been used
increasingly for entertainment, educational programs

and general audio-visual communications. In the field of

data storage direct optical recording systems are
becoming popular as computer peripherals, where the
combination of very high information capacity and rapid
random access makes optical disks an attractive
alternative to other forms of computer memory store.
The high information capacity, long shelf life and long

storage life are leading to applications in archival

storage.

In all the optical disk systems, such as prerecorded

audio disks (compact disk or CD), video disks (often
called laser vision or LV) and data-storage disks, we
shall assume that the information is recorded or written
onto the disk and played back or read optically. In

practice a variety of lasers such as argon ion, HeNe,

HeCd, and A1Ga As semi-conducting laser diodes have
been used as the light sources for writing and reading.
There are, in fact, alternative methods of writing the disk
- for example electromechanical cutting - and also for
reading it - for example capacitative pick-up. We shall
not, however, consider these further.

The main advantage of optical disks over other systems such as

conventional audio disks and magnetic tape systems, apart from the
high storage density is:

1- The absence of physical contact between the reading head and

the information storage medium, which prevents wear.

2- Furthermore, in the case of an optical disk a transparent film

may be deposited over the information stored to protect it from
damage.

As with conventional audio gramophone records the

information is stored in a spiral, called the track, on the

surface of the recording disk. In practice with optical

disks, however, there is often neither a groove nor
indeed a continuous line present but only marks
forming a broken spiral line. These marks are small
areas giving an optical contrast with respect to the
surroundings. They are most commonly depressions or
pits formed in the surface of the disk ( See Fig. 1). As a
consequence the reflectance will change along the
track according to the distribution of the pits, which
represents the information stored.

To read the stored information an optical pick-up

converts the variations in reflectance into an electronic
signal. A lens within the pick-up focuses a low-power
laser beam to a small spot of light on the track and also
redirects the light reflected from the disk to a
photodetector (Fig. 2). The output of the photodetector
varies according to the distribution of pits along the
track and gives an electrical signal which enables the
original audio, video or data signal to be regained.

Audio signals are stored digitally on the disk. Sound

samples are taken at the rate of 44.1 kHz and the sound
level of each sample is converted into a numerical value
which is represented in a binary codeword of 16 bits.
Additional bits for error correction are then added and a
bit stream at 4.3218 MHz is stored on the disk. Zeros are
represented by a low photosignal and ones by a highlevel photosignal, so the track will consist of pits and
spaces of discrete lengths. Video signals, on the other
hand, are stored in analog form because digital storage

requires too high a bandwidth.

The composite video signal (with color and irradiance

information) is frequency modulated (FM) around a
carrier frequency of 7.5 MHz and sound added as a duty
cycle modulation. This causes the center-to-center
distance of the pits to vary according to the FM content
and the ratio of pit length to space length to vary
according to the sound content. In optical memories data

is stored in both analog and digital form and while

initially the disks were nonerasable progress is being
made in the field of erasable storage media (see Fig. 1).
To be useful in electronic data processing a storage
peripheral must be capable of retrieving stored data with
a final error rate of the order of 1 in 1012; optical disks
have met this requirement.

Fig. 1 (a) Schematic of a typical optical disk. The precise geometry of

a pit depends on a number of factors including the storage mode and
readout technique employed. (b) Scanning electron micrograph of an
optical disk (From G. Bouwhuis. A. Huijser, J. Pasman, G. Von
Rosmalen, K. Schouharner Immink, Principles of Optical Disc Systems
(1985). Courtesy Adam Huger Ltd).

Fig.2 The basis of readout from an optical disk. The read beam
from a laser is focused onto the surface containing the pits.
Particles of dust on the protective layer are not in focus and do
not affect the readout process.

II.2.1- Recording
To a certain extent the recording process depends on
whether the disk is to be replicated in large numbers for
the consumer market or is essentially a one-off for
storage purposes. Most disks, whatever their purpose,
contain information recorded in the form of a height
profile. Because of this, replication of the disk is
relatively simple and therefore inexpensive.
Recording information from, for example, a video tape
into the surface relief pattern is called mastering. In this
process a master disk is produced and this is used to
form stampers, which in turn are used to generate large
numbers of video disks by injection-molding techniques.

In a typical mastering process, the master disk, which

is a flat glass substrate, is coated with a thin layer of
photosensitive material (photo resist) about 0.12 m
thick. The surface relief pattern is then recorded by
exposing the resist to a focused laser beam, the
irradiance of which is modulated in accordance with the
information to be stored using a fast acousto-optic or
electro-optic modulator as illustrated in Fig. (3-a). The
exposed areas of resist can now be dissolved away
leaving holes or pits in the resist. This process is very

similar to the familiar of photolithography used in the

mass production of integrated circuits.

The master disk is rotated at an angular frequency of

25 Hz under the focused laser beam, which is scanned

radially outwards, thereby producing a spiral track of

pits. Using, for example, a 25mW HeNe laser beam with
a lens of NA of 0.65 it is relatively simple to produce
pits which are 0.6-0.8 m wide with a track spacing of
1.6 m. Pits can be formed at the rate of several million
per second, their spacing and length being of the order
of a micron as illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of laser beam recorder.

The recorded master disk is now inspected and if

satisfactory it is used to form a negative of the surface

relief called a father. This is fabricated by electroplating

the master with nickel. The nickel father is then
separated from the master and subsequently used to
form a family of stampers. This is done by growing
mother positives by further electroplating with nickel
after chemical modification of the surface of the father. In
turn each mother is used to form several negative sons,
which are used in mass replication. (See Figure 3-b)

Figure (3-b) CD Manufacturing Process

II.2.2- Data readout from optical disks

Figure 4 shows the basic arrangement for readout. A
laser beam, usually from a laser diode because of size
considerations is focused through the substrate onto
the reflective layer of the disk. The focusing lens is a
microscope-type objective lens, and to scan the whole
disk, is mounted together with the laser in the readout
head on a carriage below the disk. Part of the reflected
light, which is modulated by the relief pattern of the disk
, is gathered by the same lens and is directed to the
photo detector.

Light is strongly reflected from the areas where there

are no pits )often called land( and is largely scattered by

the pits so that the output of the detector varies as the

beam follows the track. In digital storage, for example, a
change in the level of the reflected signal represents a
transition from a pit to land or vice versa. These
transitions are, in fact, used to represent ones, while the
path length between transitions, on either pit or land,
represents a certain number of zeros, as illustrated in
Fig. 5.

The use of reflected rather than transmitted light offers a

number of advantages. For example:
1- since the disk is approached from one side only the
player construction is simplified and the number of
optical components required is thereby reduced.
2- A protective coating needs to be present on only one side of
the information layer and the relief structure can be shallower
than in transmission; both these points simplify mass
replication of the disks.

3- Finally focus control is made much simpler and dirt

and scratches on the protective surface are separated
from the information layer and are thus out of focus,
thereby removing their effect on the playback signal.

Fig. (4). A schematic drawing of a small (30 mm high) optical readout

head. The two prisms deviate the light reflected from the disk to the
four photo detectors. In addition to providing the required optical
signal (by summing the output of all four detectors) the detector
outputs can be used or focus control and accurate tracking of the
Spiral track.

Fig. 5 Digital storage. A binary one is represented by a landpit or pit-land transition: the number of zeros is defined by the
path length (either pit or lend) between transitions.

III- Laser in Military

III.1- Coder-Decoder
An assembly of randomly oriented Fibers can be used
in the field of cryptography for coding and decoding
optical information. In this case a deliberate effort is made
to misalign the component fibers so that when an object
is viewed through a random bundle of fibers, For
example, an unrecognizable picture is received at the
other end as shown in Fig. (1)

Fig. 1. Operation of a fiber optics encoding device.

This picture can be decoded only when it is viewed

through the same bundle or an identical one. It is
possible to make two bundles of fibers that produce

identical coding by randomly winding a bundle of fibers

along part of the periphery of a cylindrical drum and
aligning them perfectly at one position on the periphery
of the drum.

When two cuts are applied to this bundle, one at the

aligned portion of the bundle and another diametrically
opposite to it, one of these bundles can be used for
coding and the other for decoding purposes. Whereas it
is possible by this technique to produce two identical
coding-decoding units, the task of producing a large
number of identical units is a difficult one.

Figure 2 shows photographs of two test objects, the

coded transmitted image and the decoded images,
through two fiber optics coder-decoders. The resolution
through the transmitted image is obviously dependent on
the fiber diameter is well as the degree of registration
between the coded image and the decoder.

Although intuitively it may appear that the tolerances

to registration for decoding are severe, in practice it has
been found that this registration is simple to achieve by

mechanical

means.

As

would

be

expected.

the

resolution hunt corresponds to approximately twice the

fiber diameter. considering the cascading effect of
compounded error in photography and registration. It is
clear that any optical, electronic, or film shrinkage
distortion in the

intermediate processes could cause

significant image deterioration.

Fig. 2. Two different messagescoded images and decoded images

A large number of identical coder-decoders can be

Fabricated by using a coded aver of fibers which is

used to scan an optical image in one direction. The

coded picture is viewed by scanning through a similar
layer of fibers inversely. Obviously the technological
problem of making coded single layers o fibers is
considerably simpler than that of Fabricating large
bundles. Devices based on this technique have been
made and successfully used.

IV- LASERS IN MEDICINE

In medicine there are three main areas in which
lasers have
These

are

successfully established
in

surgery

as

themselves.

cutting

tool,

in

ophthalmology and in dermatology. As far as surgery

is concerned, the CO2 laser has proved the most
successful all-rounder, although Nd: YAG lasers can
also be used. The 10.6m output of the CO2 laser is

strongly absorbed by the water molecules present in

tissue and the subsequent evaporation of the water
leads to the physical removal of the tissue.

There are several advantages over mechanical cutting:

The laser beam can be positioned and controlled with a

high accuracy, relatively inaccessible regions can be

reached, limited damage is caused to adjacent tissue and
the laser beam has a cauterizing effect on nearby blood
vessels, which reduces bleeding. Obviously an essential
requirement is an easily maneuverable beam delivery
system. The ideal solution to this would seem to be some
type of optical fiber. For the Nd: YAG laser this is no
problem; however, suitable fibers do not as yet exist for
10.6 m radiation and in CO2 systems the beam is usually
passed down the center of a series of articulated metal

tubes with a mirror at each junction (Fig. 7).

In

ophthalmology

detached

retinas

have

been

successfully treated by lasers for many years now.

Although ruby lasers were used initially in such
operations, the green output from argon ion lasers is
now more popular. The radiation is strongly absorbed

by red blood cells and the resulting thermal effects lead

to a re-attachment of the retina. Ophthalmology is one
area where treatment is sometimes needed at some
point within a uniform transparent optical medium.

Fig (7) Schematic diagram of articulated arm beam delivery

system for use with CO2 lasers in surgery.

Normal thermal techniques rely on the absorption of

laser radiation and are not suitable here, since areas
other than those needing treatment will also suffer
heating effects. However, it is possible to use a laser
beam to break down a medium which is transparent to
the beam by using the phenomenon of dielectric
breakdown. This only occurs at very high light
irradiances when the electric field exceeds a critical
value (in the region of 108Vm-1) Thus it can easily be
arranged that the critical electric fields are exceeded only
within a small volume surrounding, say, the focal point
of a lens. In the breakdown region the high electric fields
cause electrons to be stripped from the atoms present
and a plasma is formed. This in turn generates a local
high-pressure shock wave which expands outwards like
a miniature explosion and vaporizes the surrounding
medium.

Some disfiguring skin conditions can be successfully

treated with lasers. Portwine marks, for example, are
often difficult to treat using conventional surgery
because of the extensive areas that can be involved.
Uniform exposure of such areas to an argon ion laser
beam can cause a bleaching of the affected areas which
appears to be permanent. Similar treatment can be used

in the removal of tattoos.

A method of cancer treatment called phototadiation
therapy can also used in conjunction with lasers. Patients
are injected with a dye substance called HpD. After a few
days the dye accumulates in the cancerous tissue
(normal tissue excretes the dye).

Fig. (8) Removal of arterial plaque using laser radiation

carried down an optical fiber inserted into the artery. A
viewing fiber bundle is also incorporated.

When exposed to light of about 630 nm wavelength

HpD

undergoes a series of photochemical reactions

resulting in the formation of a chemical that kills the

cancer tissue. The radiation needed may be obtained
from a dye laser pumped with an argon ion laser.

Finally in this section we may mention one possible

future application. Since laser beams are readily sent
down optical fibers and since fibers can be introduced
into arteries using catheters, it becomes possible to
contemplate the treatment of coronary artery blockages
using lasers.

The coronary arteries becomes blocked when deposits

of plaque, a fatty material, build up on the arterial wall
and reduce the space available for blood flow. Provided
the optical fibers transmitting the laser beam could be
accurately positioned then the plaque could, in theory, be
removed by being vaporized with the laser beam (Fig.8).
The main danger is of accidentally burning a hole in the
arterial wall. However, since plaque and arterial wall differ

in a number of their optical properties it may be possible

to sense the type of tissue being aimed at or being
vaporized by using an auxiliary sensing fiber. Similar
techniques could also possibly be used to remove other
types of obstruction from veins and arteries such as
blood clots.