Basics of Laser Physics: For Students of Science and Engineering

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Basics of Laser Physics
For Students of Science and Engineering
Preface
Contents
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Part I General Description of a Laser and an Example
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Chapter
1 Introduction
1.1 Laser and Light Bulb
1.2 Spectral Ranges of Lasers and List of a Few Lasers
1.3 Laser Safety
1.4 Sizes of Lasers, Cost of Lasers, and Laser Market
1.5 Questions About the Laser
1.6 Different Types of Lasers in the Same Spectral Range
1.7 Concept of the Book
1.8 References
1.9 A Remark about the History of the Laser
Problems
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Chapter
2 Laser Principle
2.1 A Laser
2.2 Coherent Electromagnetic Wave
2.3 An Active Medium
2.4 Laser Resonator
2.5 Laser = Laser Oscillator
2.6 Radiation Feedback and Threshold Condition
2.7 Frequency of Laser Oscillation
2.8 Data of Lasers
2.9 Oscillation Onset Time
Problems
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Chapter
3 Fabry–Perot Resonator
3.1 Laser Resonators and Laser Mirrors
3.2 V Factor and Related Quantities
3.3 Number of Photons in a Resonator Mode
3.4 Ideal Mirror
3.5 Fabry–Perot Interferometer
3.6 Resonance Curve of a Fabry–Perot Resonator
3.7 Fabry–Perot Resonator Containing a Gain Medium
Problems
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Chapter
4 The Active Medium: Energy Levels and Lineshape Functions
4.1 Two-Level Based and Energy-Ladder Based Lasers
4.2 Four-Level, Three-Level, and Two-Level Lasers
4.3 Two-Band Laser and Quasiband Laser
4.4 Energy-Ladder Based Laser
4.5 Lineshape: Homogeneous and InhomogeneousLine Broadening
4.6 Lorentz Functions
4.7 Gaussian Lineshape Function
4.8 Experimental Linewidths
4.9 Classical Oscillator Model of an Atom
4.10 Natural Line Broadening
4.11 Energy and Phase Relaxation
4.12 Three-Dimensional and Low-DimensionalActive Media
Problems
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Chapter
5 Titanium–Sapphire Laser
5.1 Principle of the Titanium–Sapphire Laser
5.2 Design of a Titanium–Sapphire Laser
5.3 Absorption and Fluorescence Spectra of Titanium–Sapphire
5.4 Population of the Upper Laser Level
5.5 Heat and Phonons
Problems
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Part II Theoretical Basis of the Laser
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Chapter
6 Basis of the Theory of the Laser: The Einstein Coefficients
6.1 Light and Atoms in a Cavity
6.2 Spontaneous Emission
6.3 Absorption
6.4 Stimulated Emission
6.5 The Einstein Relations
6.6 Einstein Coefficients on the Energy Scale
6.7 Stimulated Versus Spontaneous Emission
6.8 Determination of Einstein Coefficients from Wave Functions
Problems
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Chapter
7 Amplification of Coherent Radiation
7.1 Interaction of Monochromatic Radiation with an Ensemble of Two-Level Systems
7.2 Growth and Gain Coefficient
7.3 Gain Cross Section
7.4 An Effective Gain Cross Section
7.5 Gain Coefficients
7.6 Gain Coefficient of Titanium–Sapphire
7.7 Gain Coefficient of a Mediumwith an Inhomogeneously Broadened Line
7.8 Gain Characteristic of a Two-Dimensional Medium
7.9 Gain of Light Crossing a Two-Dimensional Medium
Problems
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Chapter
8 A Laser Theory
8.1 Rate Equations
8.2 Steady State Oscillation of a Laser
8.3 Balance Between Production and Loss of Photons
8.4 Onset of Laser Oscillation
8.5 Clamping of the Population Difference
8.6 Optimum Output Coupling
8.7 Two Laser Equations
8.8 Relaxation Oscillation
8.9 Laser Linewidth
Problems
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Chapter
9 Driving a Laser Oscillation
9.1 Maxwell's Equations
9.2 Possibilities of Driving a Laser Oscillation
9.3 Polarization of an Atomic Medium
9.4 Quantum Mechanical Expression for the Susceptibility of an Atomic Medium
9.5 Polarization of an Active Medium
9.6 Polarization Current
9.7 Laser Oscillation Driven by a Polarization
9.8 Laser Equations
9.9 Kramers–Kronig Relations
9.10 Another Remark about the History of the Laser
Problems
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Part III Operation of a Laser
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Chapter
10 Cavity Resonator
10.1 Cavity Resonators in Various Areas
10.2 Modes of a Cavity Resonator
10.3 Modes of a Long Cavity Resonator
10.4 Density of Modes of a Cavity Resonator
10.5 Fresnel Number
10.6 TE Waves and TM Waves
10.7 Quasioptical Arrangement
Problems
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Chapter
11 Gaussian Waves and Open Resonators
11.1 Open Resonator
11.2 Helmholtz Equation
11.3 Gaussian Wave
11.4 Confocal Resonator
11.5 Stability of a Field in a Resonator
11.6 Transverse Modes
11.7 The Gouy Phase
11.8 Diffraction Loss
11.9 Ray Optics
Problems
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Chapter
12 Different Ways of Operating a Laser
12.1 Possibilities of Operating a Laser
12.2 Operation of a Laser on Longitudinal Modes
12.3 Single Mode Laser
12.4 Tunable Laser
12.5 Spectral Hole Burning in Lasers Using Inhomogeneously Broadened Transitions
12.6 Q-Switched Lasers
12.7 Longitudinal and Transverse Pumping
12.8 An Application of CW Lasers: The Optical Tweezers
12.9 Another Application: Gravitational Wave Detector
Problems
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Chapter
13 Femtosecond Laser
13.1 Mode Locking
13.2 Active and Passive Mode Locking
13.3 Optical Frequency Comb
13.4 Optical Correlator
13.5 Pump-Probe Method
13.6 Femtosecond Pulses in Chemistry
13.7 Optical Frequency Analyzer
13.8 Terahertz Time Domain Spectroscopy
13.9 Attosecond Pulses
Problems
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Part IV Types of Lasers (Except Semiconductor Lasers)
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Chapter
14 Gas Lasers
14.1 Doppler Broadening of Spectral Lines
14.2 Collision Broadening
14.3 Helium–Neon Laser
14.4 Metal Vapor Laser
14.5 Argon Ion Laser
14.6 Excimer Laser
14.7 Nitrogen Laser
14.8 CO2 Laser
14.9 Other Gas Discharge Lasers and Optically Pumped Far Infrared Lasers
Problems
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Chapter
15 Solid State Lasers
15.1 Ruby Laser
15.2 More about the Titanium–Sapphire Laser
15.3 Other Broadband Solid State Lasers
15.4 YAG Lasers
15.5 Different Neodymium Lasers
15.6 Disk Lasers
15.7 Fiber Lasers
15.8 A Short Survey of Solid State Lasers and Impurity Ions in Solids
15.9 Broadening of Transitions in Impurity Ions in Solids
Problems
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Chapter
16 Some Other Lasers and Laser Amplifiers
16.1 Dye Laser
16.2 Solid State and Thin-Film Dye Laser
16.3 Chemical Laser
16.4 X-Ray Laser
16.5 Random Laser
16.6 Optically Pumped Organic Lasers
16.7 Laser Tandem
16.8 High-Power Laser Amplifier
16.9 Fiber Amplifier
16.10 Optical Damage
16.11 Gain Units
Problems
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Chapter
17 Vibronic Medium
17.1 Model of a Vibronic System
17.2 Gain Coefficient of a Vibronic Medium
17.3 Frequency Modulation of a Two-Level System
17.4 Vibronic Sideband as a HomogeneouslyBroadened Line
Problems
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Chapter
18 Amplification of Radiation in a Doped Glass Fiber
18.1 Survey of the Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier
18.2 Energy Levels of Erbium Ions in Glassand Quasiband Model
18.3 Quasi-Fermi Energy of a Gas of Excited-ImpurityQuasiparticles
18.4 Condition of Gain of Light Propagating in a Fiber
18.5 Energy Level Broadening
18.6 Calculation of the Gain Coefficient of a Doped Fiber
18.7 Different Effective Gain Cross Sections
18.8 Absorption and Fluorescence Spectraof an Erbium-Doped Fiber
18.9 Experimental Studies and Models of DopedFiber Media
Problems
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Chapter
19 Free-Electron Laser
19.1 Principle of the Free-Electron Laser
19.2 Free-Electron Laser Arrangements
19.3 Frequency of Free-Electron Oscillations
19.4 Free-Electron Laser Theory
19.5 Data of a Free-Electron Laser
19.6 High Frequency Transverse Polarization and Current
19.7 Free-Electron Oscillations
19.8 Saturation Field of a Free-Electron Laser
19.9 Optical Constants of a Free-Electron Laser Medium
19.10 Bunching of Electrons in a Free-Electron Laser
19.11 Energy-Level Description of a Free-ElectronLaser Medium
19.12 Comparison of a Free-Electron Laserwith a Conventional Laser
19.13 A Remark about the History of the Free-Electron Laser
Problems
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Part V Semiconductor Lasers
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Chapter
20 An Introduction to Semiconductor Lasers
20.1 Energy Bands of Semiconductors
20.2 Low-Dimensional Semiconductors
20.3 An Estimate of the Transparency Density
20.4 Bipolar and Unipolar Semiconductor Lasers
20.5 Edge-Emitting Bipolar Semiconductor Laser
20.6 Survey of Topics Concerning Semiconductor Lasers
20.7 Frequency Ranges of Semiconductor Lasers
20.8 Energy Band Engineering
20.9 Differences Between Semiconductor Lasersand Other Lasers
Problems
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Chapter
21 Basis of a Bipolar Semiconductor Laser
21.1 Principle of a Bipolar Semiconductor Laser
21.2 Condition of Gain of Radiation in a Bipolar Semiconductor
21.3 Energy Level Broadening
21.4 Reduced Density of States
21.5 Growth Coefficient and Gain Coefficientof a Bipolar Medium
21.6 Spontaneous Emission
21.7 Laser Equations of a Bipolar Semiconductor Laser
21.8 Gain Mediated by a Quantum Well
21.9 Laser Equations of a Quantum Well Laser
21.10 What is Meant by ``Bipolar"?
Problems
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Chapter
22 GaAs Quantum Well Laser
22.1 GaAs Quantum Well
22.2 An Active Quantum Well
22.3 GaAs Quantum Well Laser
22.4 Threshold Current of a GaAs Quantum Well Laser
22.5 Multi-Quantum Well Laser
22.6 High-Power Semiconductor Laser
22.7 Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser
22.8 Polarization of Radiation of a Quantum Well Laser
22.9 Luminescence Radiation from a Quantum Well
Problems
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Chapter
23 Semiconductor Materials and Heterostructures
23.1 Group III–V and Group II–VI Semiconductors
23.2 GaAlAs Mixed Crystal
23.3 GaAs Crystal and Monolayer
23.4 GaAs/GaAlAs Heterostructure
23.5 Preparation of Heterostructures
23.6 Preparation of Laser Diodes
23.7 Material Limitations
23.8 Energy Bands and Absorption Coefficientsof GaAs and AlAs
Problems
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Chapter
24 Quantum Well Lasers from the UV to the Infrared
24.1 A Survey
24.2 Red and Infrared Laser Diodes
24.3 Blue and UV Laser Diodes
24.4 Group II–VI Materials of Green Lasers
24.5 Applications of Semiconductor Lasers
Problems
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Chapter
25 Reflectors of Quantum Well Lasers and of Other Lasers
25.1 Plane Surface
25.2 Coated Surface
25.3 External Reflector
25.4 Distributed Feedback Reflector
25.5 Distributed Bragg Reflector
25.6 Total Reflector
25.7 Bragg Reflector
25.8 Photonic Crystal
25.9 Photonic Crystal Fiber
25.10 Remark About Photonic Crystals
25.11 Plane-Wave Transfer Matrix Method Characterizing an Optical Interface
25.12 Thin Film Between Two Media
25.13 Dielectric Multilayer
25.14 One-Dimensional Photonic Crystal
25.15 Bragg Reflection as Origin of Energy Gaps
Problems
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Chapter
26 More About the Quantum Well Laser
26.1 Electron Subbands
26.2 Hole Subbands
26.3 Modification of the Gain Characteristic by Light Holes
26.4 Gap Energy of a Quantum Well
26.5 Temperature Dependence of the Threshold Current Density of a GaAs Quantum Well Laser
26.6 Gain Mediated by a Quantum Well of Inhomogeneous Well Thickness
26.7 Tunability of a Quantum Well Laser
26.8 Anisotropy of a Quantum Well
Problems
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Chapter
27 Quantum Wire and Quantum Dot Laser
27.1 Quantum Wire Laser
27.2 Quantum Wire
27.3 Gain Mediated by a Quantum Wire
27.4 Multi-Quantum Wire Laser
27.5 Quantum Dot
27.6 Quantum Dot Laser
27.7 One-Quantum Dot Laser
Problems
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Chapter
28 A Comparison of Semiconductor Lasers
28.1 Gain of Radiation in a Bulk Semiconductor
28.2 Double-Heterostructure Laser
28.3 GaAs Junction Laser
28.4 Junction Lasers in the Infrared
28.5 Bipolar Semiconductor Lasers: A Comparison
28.6 Development of Semiconductor Lasers
28.7 Terahertz Gap
Problems
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Chapter
29 Quantum Cascade Laser
29.1 Principle of the Quantum Cascade Laser
29.2 Infrared Quantum Cascade Laser
29.3 Semiconductor Superlattice and Minibands
29.4 Transport in a Superlattice
29.5 Far Infrared Quantum Cascade Laser
Problems
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Chapter
30 Electron Waves in Semiconductor Heterostructures
30.1 Electron in a One-Dimensional Square Well Potential
30.2 Energy Bands of Electrons in a Periodic SquareWell Potential
30.3 Plane-Wave Transfer Matrix MethodCharacterizing a Semiconductor Interface
30.4 Minibands
30.5 Quantum Well
30.6 Double-Quantum Well
Problems
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Chapter
31 A Comparison of Laser Oscillators and Quasiclassical Solid State Oscillators
31.1 Interaction of Radiation with an Active Medium of a Laser or a Quasiclassical Oscillator
31.2 Solid State Oscillators
31.3 Semiconductor Superlattice Oscillator
31.4 Model of a Solid State Oscillator
31.5 Dynamics of Gain Mediated by a SemiconductorSuperlattice
31.6 Balance of Energy in a Superlattice Oscillator
31.7 Resonant-Tunneling Diode Oscillator
31.8 Van der Pol Oscillator
Problems
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Chapter
32 Superlattice Bloch Laser: A Challenge
32.1 Principle of a Superlattice Bloch Laser
32.2 Bloch Oscillation
32.3 Esaki–Tsu Characteristic
32.4 Bloch Gain
32.5 Saturation Field of a Bloch Laser
32.6 Synchronization of Bloch Oscillations to a High Frequency Field
32.7 Energy-Level Description of the SuperlatticeBloch Laser
32.8 Possible Arrangements of a Bloch Laser
32.9 References to the Bloch Laser and Discussion
Problems
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Part VI Laser Related Topics
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Chapter
33 Optical Communications
33.1 Principle of Optical Communications
33.2 Glass Fiber
33.3 Pulse Distortion due to Dispersion
33.4 Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier
33.5 Detector
33.6 Transfer Rates
Problems
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Chapter
34 Light Emitting Diode and Organic Laser
34.1 LED Preparation and Market
34.2 Illumination
34.3 Organic LED
34.4 Organic and Polymer Lasers
Problems
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Chapter
35 Nonlinear Optics
35.1 Optics and Nonlinear Optics
35.2 Origin of Nonlinear Polarization
35.3 Optical Frequency Doubler
35.4 Difference Frequency Generator
35.5 Optical Parametric Oscillator
35.6 Third-Order Polarization
35.7 Four-Wave Mixing and Optical Frequency Analyzer
35.8 Stimulated Raman Scattering
Problems
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Solutions to Selected Problems
References
Index