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Questions & Answers on Lasers

What is the Duty Cycle of a Laser?

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

May 13, 2022

Duty Cycle is a term most often used for pulsed lasers. It defines the fraction of time for which the laser output is available. In other words, it is the maximum amount of time that the laser can remain in the ‘ON State’ before it goes into an OFF state. Duty cycle is the ratio of pulse width which is the time duration between the rising and falling edges of a pulse, to the total...read more

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What is Population Inversion?

Lasers

Editor - GoPhotonics

Feb 15, 2021

Population inversion is the process by which a laser medium is excited to create more atoms in higher energy state than in the ground state. This allows stimulated emission to happen and produces a coherent and monochromatic beam of light. It is a fundamental principle in the operation of lasers. To achieve population inversion, atoms must be continuously excited from a lower energy level to a hig...read more

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What is Spectral Width of a Laser?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

May 13, 2022

The Spectral Width is the output wavelength range of a laser. Lasers are not completely monochromatic i.e. they do not produce a single wavelength of light and so the laser output is generally a range of wavelengths.The spectral width curve of a laser is usually Gaussian and so it is difficult to point out the beginning and end of the curve. Thus Spectral Width is usually quoted as FWHM (Full Widt...read more

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Explain the Principle of Laser Amplification?

Lasers

Editor - GoPhotonics

Feb 15, 2021

Laser amplification is a process by which a weak laser signal is amplified through the stimulated emission of photons in a gain medium. This process is used in many applications such as telecommunications, medicine, and industry.Figure 1: Stimulated EmissionThe principle of laser amplification is based on the stimulated emission of photons, which was first proposed by Albert Einstein in 1917. Stim...read more

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What is a Laser?

Lasers

Editor - GoPhotonics

Feb 15, 2021

LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. In 1960, the first successful laser was demonstrated by Theodore Maiman using a ruby crystal. The light produced by the laser exhibits special characteristics such as high directionality, coherence, monochromaticity, and high intensity.The basic principle behind the lasing action is stimulated emission which was predict...read more

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What is Power Conversion Efficiency in a Laser?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

May 13, 2022

Power Conversion Efficiency in general is a term that tells us how much energy is converted from one form to another. In the case of lasers, power conversion efficiency tells us the amount of electrical input power that is converted into output optical power.Power Conversion Efficiency is expressed in percentages as,If one form of energy is completely converted to the other form, then it is said t...read more

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What is Threshold Current in Lasers?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

May 13, 2022

Threshold Current in a laser is the minimum current required by the input pump to generate photons that get converted into a laser output.For a medium to be able to amplify incident radiation, the state of population inversion must prevail in the medium. To generate radiation, this amplifying medium is placed in an optical resonator which is usually a pair of mirrors facing each other. Radiations ...read more

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What is Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM)?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

Oct 27, 2022

FWHM or Full Width at Half Maximum is the width of the output spectrum of a light source measured at half of its maximum amplitude. It is measured between the point on the output spectrum curve where power has decayed to half of its peak value. FWHM is a quantitative method used to specify the spectral width of a light source.FWHM is used to define the resolution of a light source. Ideally, n...read more

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What are Nd:Glass Lasers?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

Dec 29, 2022

Nd:Glass laser is a four-level solid-state laser. The output wavelength of Nd:glass lasers is 1.062 µm (for silicate glasses) and 1.054 µm (for phosphate glasses) which lies in the near-infrared region of the spectrum and emits energy in the order of several kilojoules. The Nd:glass laser is similar to Nd:YAG lasers in their structure and lasing action. Neodymium (Nd3+) ions are the do...read more

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What is a Quantum Well Laser?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

Feb 20, 2023

A Quantum well laser is a type of semiconductor laser where the thickness of the active region is very narrow. The thickness of the active region determines the wavelength of the light emitted by the laser. These lasers have active regions of a thickness of about 100 Å. The emission wavelength is typically between 700 nm and 1600 nm for these lasers. The pulse duration of a light pulse ...read more

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What is Slope Efficiency?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

May 13, 2022

Slope Efficiency in laser is the efficiency by which the input pump power is converted into signal power. It is one of the most important properties of a laser and is simply the slope of the output power versus input power.For a medium to be able to amplify incident radiation, the state of population inversion must prevail in the medium. To generate radiation, this amplifying medium is placed in a...read more

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What is Polarization Extinction Ratio of a Laser Beam?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

Jul 18, 2022

Polarization Extinction Ratio (PER) is a measure of the quality of polarization in optical systems and is defined as the ratio of the power in the strongest polarized component of the light to the weakest polarized component. In other words, it represents the difference between the highest and lowest intensity of light in two orthogonal polarization states.A laser beam is a transverse beam with th...read more

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What are Gain-Guided Lasers and Index-Guided Lasers?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

Feb 10, 2023

The goal of laser structures is to maintain a low threshold with high efficiency and a focused output beam. Gain guiding and Index guiding are two fundamental laser design strategies. A gain-guided laser is a type of laser in which the laser light is confined within the active medium rather than by external mirrors. Gain-guided lasers have a broad stripe geometry, where the active region span...read more

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What are Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) Lasers?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

Mar 20, 2023

A Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) Laser is a semiconductor laser with a p-n junction as an active medium and contains one or two Bragg reflectors on each side of the active region. Bragg reflectors are gratings that act as mirrors or end reflectors with reflectivity optimized at a particular wavelength and it narrows the laser linewidth. In DBR, the grating is outside the active region where no ...read more

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What is Spatial Hole Burning?

Lasers

Editorial Team - GoPhotonics

Feb 7, 2023

Spatial hole burning is a phenomenon that occurs in laser systems when several light beams pass through a laser medium with inhomogeneous absorption. It refers to the process wherein some areas of the medium experience a loss in gain, resulting in holes in the output beam. The performance of laser systems may be constrained by this phenomenon, especially when high optical power is desired. This ph...read more

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Gophotonics Community

Questions & Answers on Lasers

What is the Duty Cycle of a Laser?

What is Population Inversion?

What is Spectral Width of a Laser?

Explain the Principle of Laser Amplification?

What is a Laser?

What is Power Conversion Efficiency in a Laser?

What is Threshold Current in Lasers?

What is Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM)?

What are Nd:Glass Lasers?

What is a Quantum Well Laser?

What is Slope Efficiency?

What is Polarization Extinction Ratio of a Laser Beam?

What are Gain-Guided Lasers and Index-Guided Lasers?

What are Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) Lasers?

What is Spatial Hole Burning?

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