PY / IP – 503 Introduction to Laser Physics – MSc (3rd) and IMSc (9th) Semester
Assignment #5
15 November 2024
1. A neodymium-doped glass laser is constructed by doping a phosphate glass rod of length 10
cm with Nd3+ ions, and placing mirrors at each end of the rod. The mirror reflectivities are 1
for the end reflector, and 0.95 for the output coupler, and the attenuation coefficient in the
rod is 0.2 m–1. The lasing transition has a center wavelength of 1054 nm, a spectral width of
19 nm, and an upper laser level lifetime of 375 s. Determine the population inversion needed
for lasing in this system.
2. A Nd:YAG laser consists of a Nd:YAG rod of length 7.5 cm, situated between two mirrors
with reflectivities R1 = 1 and R2 = 0.85. The laser is optically pumped from the side with light
of average wavelength 500 nm. The lasing transition in the Nd ion has the following
characteristics: wavelength of 1064 nm, upper-level lifetime of 230 s, and stimulated emission
cross section = 2.8 × 10–19 cm2. The beam area in the laser rod is 0.23 cm2, and the
attenuation coefficient is 5 × 10–3 cm–1. Determine the threshold pump power and the slope
efficiency for the laser.
3. If a laser pumping light source emits a power of 10 Wat a wavelength of 500 nm, and if we
assume that 10% of the photons are absorbed by the laser gain material within the useful mode
volume of the laser that is being pumped, then calculate the number of photons absorbed in
the material per second.
4. Find the steady-state population inversion in a three-level system in the case when the pumping
is so strong as to completely saturate the transition between level 1 and level 3, while 12, 13,
and 23 are not negligible. Here ij = ij
5. Consider that both ends of a ruby laser rod of 5 cm length are coated to have a reflectance of
R = 0.9. What is the minimum fraction of excited Cr ions achieving the threshold condition
of oscillation? Assume that the concentration of Cr ions is N = 1 X 1019 cm-3, the induced-
emission cross-section is = 2 X 10-20 cm2, and the effective loss constant of the rod is 0.011
cm-1.
6. Calculate the number of photons in the laser cavity for two different lasers under the given
conditions: (i) He-Ne laser, cavity length is 50 cm, wavelength is 632.8 nm, output power is 10
mW and output mirror reflectivity is 99%. (ii) CO2 laser, cavity length is 150 cm, wavelength
is 10.6 m, output power is 10 kW and output mirror transmission 45%.
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