An Introduction to Lasers and Laser Systems
An Introduction to Lasers and Laser Systems. Instructors: Prof. Dhruba J. Biswas and Prof. J. Padma Nilaya, Department of Physics. The invention of the laser in 1960 was a major breakthrough that has had a profound impact on science and our everyday lives, from medicine to manufacturing to defence to telecommunications. To stay up-to-date with this rapidly evolving field, we propose a 30-lecture series on lasers for both undergraduate, postgraduate and research students. The course will begin with an introduction to the basics of lasers, and then build on this foundation to discuss the major developments in laser technology over the years. This standalone course will take an intuitive approach instead of the more common mathematical approach, making it accessible to students with an inquisitive mind and a high school level physics background in addition to researchers who make use of lasers in their day-to-day work. By the end of the course, students will have a solid understanding of what a laser is, how it works, and what makes the light it creates so special. They will also be able to apply their knowledge to solve problems and design new laser systems.
(from nptel.ac.in)
| Lecture 01 - Lasers at a Glance |
| Lecture 02 - Light Amplifier and the Concept of Cavity |
| Lecture 03 - An Integration of a Population Inverted Medium and a Cavity |
| Lecture 04 - The Invention of Lasers by Maiman |
| Lecture 05 - Population Inversion vis-a-vis Boltzmann Distribution |
| Lecture 06 - Different Methods of Pumping to Effect Population Inversion |
| Lecture 07 - Population Inversion vis-a-vis No. of Participating Energy Levels in the Process of Lasing |
| Lecture 08 - Behaviour of Light |
| Lecture 09 - Behaviour of Light (cont.) |
| Lecture 10 - Young's Double Slit Experiment and Interference of Light |
| Lecture 11 - Interference of Light and Fabrication of Laser Windows and Mirrors |
| Lecture 12 - Fabrication of Laser Windows and Mirrors (cont.) |
| Lecture 13 - Diffraction of Light |
| Lecture 14 - Scattering of Light |
| Lecture 15 - Light Scattering (cont.) and Polarisation of Light |
| Lecture 16 - Polarisation of Light (cont.) and Brewster Angle of Incidence |
| Lecture 17 - Continuous and Pulsed Operation of Lasers |
| Lecture 18 - The Maximum Achievable Power from a Pulsed Laser |
| Lecture 19 - Continuous and Pulsed Pumping of Lasers |
| Lecture 20 - Continuous and Pulsed Pumping of Lasers (cont.) |
| Lecture 21 - Optical Pumping: Coupling of Pump Laser Beam into the Cavity |
| Lecture 22 - Electrical Pumping |
| Lecture 23 - Different Kinds of Lasers |
| Lecture 24 - Atomic Gas Lasers: He-Ne Laser |
| Lecture 25 - He-Ne Laser (cont.) |
| Lecture 26 - Emission Features of He-Ne Laser |
| Lecture 27 - Ion Lasers: Argon Ion Laser |
| Lecture 28 - Argon Ion Lasers: Emission Feature |
| Lecture 29 - Liquid Lasers: Dye Laser |
| Lecture 30 - Dye Lasers: Working Principle and Emission Features |
| Lecture 31 - Solid State Lasers: Nd-YAG Laser |
| Lecture 32 - Pumping of Nd-YAG Lasers |
| Lecture 33 - Diode Pumped Solid State Lasers and Continuously Tunable Solid State Lasers |
| Lecture 34 - Excimer Lasers: Importance |
| Lecture 35 - Excimer Lasers: Working Principle, Rare Gas Halide Lasers |
| Lecture 36 - Introduction to CO2 Lasers and Molecular Spectroscopy |
| Lecture 37 - Molecular Spectroscopy:Ro-vibrational Transitions |
| Lecture 38 - Fundamental Modes of Molecular Vibration, Vibrational Modes of a CO2 Molecule, 4 Level Laser Scheme in a CO2 Laser |
| Lecture 39 - Mechanism of Lasing in a CO2 Laser |
| Lecture 40 - Low Pressure, CW Operation of a CO2 Laser |
| Lecture 41 - Limitations of CW - CO2 Lasers and Remedy |
| Lecture 42 - Pulsed Operation of CO2 Lasers; TEA CO2 Lasers and their Temporal Emission Profile |
| Lecture 43 - TEA CO2 Lasers: Operation, Gain Broadening and Emission Features |
| Lecture 44 - Gain Broadening and Emission Features (cont.) |
| Lecture 45 - Discrete and Continuously Tunable Operation of a CO2 Laser |
| Lecture 46 - Chemical Lasers: Underlying Physics |
| Lecture 47 - Principle of Operation of HF, DF Chemical Oxygen Iodine Lasers |
| Lecture 48 - Gas Dynamic Lasers: Principle of Operation |
| Lecture 49 - Operation of Gas Dynamic CO2 Lasers |
| Lecture 50 - Fiber Lasers: Its Advantages over Conventional Solid State Lasers |
| Lecture 51 - Fiber Lasers (cont.) |
| Lecture 52 - The Acceptance Angle, Pumping of Fiber Lasers and their Operation |
| Lecture 53 - Scaling up of Output Power of Fiber Laser and Operation of Fiber Amplifiers |
| Lecture 54 - Semiconductor Lasers: An Introduction and Basics of Semiconductor Physics |
| Lecture 55 - Metals, Insulators and Semiconductors, Concept of Holes |
| Lecture 56 - Concept of Holes (cont.), Intrinsic and Extrinsic Semiconductors |
| Lecture 57 - n-type and p-type Semiconductors, Semiconductor Diodes, Light Emitting Diodes (LED) |
| Lecture 58 - Diode Laser from the LED |
| Lecture 59 - Homojunction and Heterojunction Diode Lasers |
| Lecture 60 - Edge Emitting Diode Lasers, Surface Emitting Diode Lasers, Diode Bars and Arrays |
| References |
An Introduction to Lasers and Laser Systems
Instructors: Prof. Dhruba J. Biswas and Prof. J. Padma Nilaya, Department of Physics. The course will begin with an introduction to the basics of lasers, and then build on this foundation to discuss the major developments in laser technology over the years.
|