University of Central Punjab

Laser Physics
Assignment # 1
Department Bs Physics
Semester VIII A
Submitted By Falak Anjum
Registration no. G1F17BSPHOO33
Submitted To Prof. Amir Riaz
Table of Ghazi
Content
oProperties of Lasers
oUses of Lasers
oStimulated Emission
oStimulated Absorption
oSpontaneous Emission
 Properties of lasers:

Laser has certain unique properties, namely, high monochromaticity, coherence and
directionality, compared to ordinary sources of light, though both are electromagnetic radiations.
These properties are briefly discussed in the following sections.

Monochromaticity

The energy of a photon determines its wavelength through the relationship E = hc/λ, where c is
the speed of light, h is Planck’s constant, and λ is wavelength. In an ideal case, the laser emits all
photons with the same energy, and thus the same wavelength, it is said to be monochromatic.
The light from a laser typically comes from one atomic transition with a single precise
wavelength. So the laser light has a single spectral color and is almost the purest monochromatic
light available.However, in all practical cases, the laser light is not truly monochromatic. A truly
monochromatic wave requires a wave train of infinite duration. The spectral emission line from
which it originates does have a finite width, because of the Doppler effect of the moving atoms
or molecules from which it comes. Compared to the ordinary sources of light, the range of
frequency (line width) of the laser is extremely small. This range is called line width or
bandwidth.

Coherence
When an excited atom, depending on its lifetime at the higher energy level, comes down to lower
energy level, a photon is emitted, corresponding to the equation,
Hn = E2 – E1
Where h is the Planks constant, n is the frequency of the emitted photon and E2 and E1
correspond to higher and lower energy levels respectively. This type of natural emission occurs
in different directions and is called spontaneous emissions. It is characterized by the lifetime of
the upper excited state after which it spontaneously returns to lower state and radiates away the
energy by emission. Interestingly, apart from spontaneous emission, an excited atom can be
induced to emit a photon by another photon of same frequency – i.e. a passing photon can
stimulate a transition from a higher level to the lower level, thus resulting in the emission of two
photons, which is gain. The two emitted photons are said to be in phase, which means that the
crest or the trough of the wave associated with one photon will occur at the same time as on the
wave associated with the other photon. An avalanche of similar photons is created and these
photons have a fixed phase relationship with each other. This fixed phase relationship between
the photons from various atoms in the active medium results in the laser beam generated having
the property of coherence. Since the radiation emitted is by the stimulation process, it is referred
to as the stimulated emission and the generation of laser is by stimulated emission.

Beam diameter
It is very interesting to note that, the intensity of laser light is not same throughout the cross
section of the beam. This is because of the fact that the cavity also controls the trans-verse
modes, or intensity cross sections. The ideal beam has a symmetric cross section: The intensity is
greater in the middle and tails off at the edges. This is called the Transverse Electromagnetic
Mode (TEM 00) output. The subscripts n and m (0 and 0 in this case) in the TEM nm are
correlated to the number of nodes in the x and y directions. A theoretical TEM 00 beam has a
perfect Gaussian profile. In general, one can say that laser beams have a symmetric intensity
profile.

Uses of Lasers
Laser is an optical device that generates intense beam of coherent monochromatic light by
stimulated emission of radiation.Laser light is different from an ordinary light. It has various
unique properties such as coherence, monochromacity, directionality, and high intensity.
Because of these unique properties, lasers are used in various applications.

The most significant applications of lasers include:

 Lasers in medicine
 Lasers in communications
 Lasers in industries
 Lasers in science and technology
 Lasers in military

Lasers in Medicine
 Lasers are used for bloodless surgery.
 Lasers are used to destroy kidney stones.
 Lasers are used in cancer diagnosis and therapy.
 Lasers are used for eye lens curvature corrections.
 Lasers are used in fiber-optic endoscope to detect ulcers in the intestines.
 The liver and lung diseases could be treated by using lasers.
 Lasers are used to study the internal structure of microorganisms and cells.
 Lasers are used to produce chemical reactions.
 Lasers are used to create plasma.
 Lasers are used to remove tumors successfully.
 Lasers are used to remove the caries or decayed portion of the teeth.
 Lasers are used in cosmetic treatments such as acne treatment, cellulite and hair removal.

Lasers in Communications
  Lasers light is used in optical fiber communications to send information over large
distances with low loss.
 Laser light is used in underwater communication networks.
 Lasers are used in space communication, radars and satellites.

Lasers in Industries
 Lasers are used to cut glass and quartz.
 Lasers are used in electronic industries for trimming the components of Integrated
Circuits (ICs).
 Lasers are used for heat treatment in the automotive industry.
 Laser light is used to collect the information about the prefixed prices of various
products in shops and business establishments from the bar code printed on the
product.
 Ultraviolet lasers are used in the semiconductor industries for photolithography.
Photolithography is the method used for manufacturing printed circuit board (PCB)
and microprocessor by using ultraviolet light.

 Lasers are used to drill aerosol nozzles and control orifices within the required
precision.

Lasers in Science and Technology

 A laser helps in studying the Brownian motion of particles.

 With the help of a helium-neon laser, it was proved that the velocity of light is same
in all directions.
 With the help of a laser, it is possible to count the number of atoms in a substance.
 Lasers are used in computers to retrieve stored information from a Compact Disc
(CD).

Stimulated Absorption
Stimulated Absorption is the starting point to achieve laser. It happens when a photon of
light having energy E2 – E1 = hυ is incident on an atom in the ground state, the atom in
the ground state E1 may absorb the photon and jump to a higher energy state E2.

Spontaneous Emission

Spontaneous emission is the process in which a quantum mechanical system (such as a

molecule, an atom or a subatomic particle) transits from an excited energy state to a
lower energy state (e.g., its ground state) and emits a quantized amount of energy in the
form of a photon.

Stimulated emission

In laser action the stimulating emission triggers a chain reaction in which the radiation
from one atom stimulates another in succession until all the excited atoms in the system
have returned to normalcy. In doing so, coherent monochromatic light (light of a single
wavelength) is emitted.