RUBY LASER
A ruby laser is a solid-state laser that uses a synthetic ruby crystal as its gain medium.
Construction of Ruby Laser
Operation of Ruby Laser:
Advantages of Ruby Lasers
• From cost point of view, the ruby lasers are
economical.
• Beam diameter of the ruby laser is comparatively less than C02 gas lasers.
• Output power of Ruby laser is not as less as in He-Ne gas lasers.
• Since the ruby is in solid form therefore there is no chance of wasting material of active medium.
• Construction and function of ruby laser is self explanatory.
A ruby laser is a solid-state laser that uses a synthetic ruby crystal as its gain medium.
The first working laser was a ruby laser made by Theodore H."Ted" Maiman at Hughes Research laboratories on May 16,1960.
Construction of Ruby Laser
The ruby laser consists of a ruby rod . which is made of chromium doped ruby material. At the opposite ends of this rod there are two silver polished mirrors. Whose one is fully polished and other is partially polished. A spring is attached to the rod with fully polished end for adjustment of wave length of the laser light. Around the ruby rod a flash light is kept for the pump input. The whole assembly is kept in the glass tube. Around the neck of the glass tube the R.F source and switching control is designed in order to switch on and off the flash light for desired intervals.
Operation of Ruby Laser:
When we switch on the circuit the R.F operates. As a result the flash of light is obtained around the ruby rod. this flash causes the electrons within ruby rod to move from lower energy band towards higher energy band. The population inversion take place at high energy band and electrons starts back to travel towards the lower energy band.
During this movement the electron emits the laser light. This emitted light travels between the two mirrors where cross reflection takes place of this light. The stimulated laser light now escapes from partially polished mirror in shape of laser beam.
The spring attached with the fully polished mirror is used to adjust the wave length equal to /2 of laser light for optimum laser beam. The switching control of the R.F source is used to switch on and off the flash light so that excessive heat should not be generated due to very high frequency of the movement of the electron.
Energy Level Diagram for Ruby Laser
The above three level energy diagram show that in ruby lasers the absorption occurs in a rather broad range in the green part of the spectrum. This makes raise the electrons from ground state the band of level E3 higher than El. At E3 these excited levels are highly unstable and so the electrons decays rapidly to the level of E2. This transition occurs with energy difference (El - E2) given up as heat (radiation less transmission)
. The level E2 is very important for stimulated emission process and is known as Meta stable state. Electrons in this level have an average life time of about 5m.s before they fall to ground state. After this the population inversion can be established between E2 and El. The population inversion is obtained by optical pumping of the ruby rod with a flash lamp. A common type of the flash lamp is a glass tube wrapped around the ruby rod and filled with xenon gas. When the flash lamp intensity becomes large enough to create population inversion, then stimulated emission from the Meta stable level to the ground level occurs which result in the laser output. Once the population inversion begins, the Meta stable level is depopulated very quickly. Thus the laser output consists of an intense spike lasting from a few Nano sec to psec. after stimulated emissions spike, solution inversion builds 1st and 2nd spike results. This process continues as long as the flash lamp intensity is enough to create the population inversion.
• From cost point of view, the ruby lasers are
economical.
• Beam diameter of the ruby laser is comparatively less than C02 gas lasers.
• Output power of Ruby laser is not as less as in He-Ne gas lasers.
• Since the ruby is in solid form therefore there is no chance of wasting material of active medium.
• Construction and function of ruby laser is self explanatory.
Disadvantages of Ruby Laser
• In ruby lasers no significant stimulated
emission occurs, until at least half of the
ground state electrons have been excited to
the Meta stable state.
• Efficiency of ruby laser is comparatively low.
Optical cavity of ruby laser is short as
compared to other lasers, which may be
considered a disadvantage.
Applications of ruby Laser
• Due to low output power they are class-I
lasers and so may used as toys for
children's.
• It can be used in schools, colleges,
universities for science programs.
• It can be used as decoration piece & artistic
display.
