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Introduction to the Helium – Neon Laser

Introduction
In this experiment, you will investigate some of the properties of laser radiation. You will
also be introduced to the internal working components of a typical gas laser. These
components are similar in all gas lasers, and with the exception of the gas tube, are also
similar to the components of solid-state lasers. Please take due care in making your
measurements and be sure to record everything in a notebook.

SAFETY WARNING: The output of a laser is very intense! Never look


into a laser beam; instead, use a white card to detect the output.
Block all stray reflections.

Internal Workings of a Helium - Neon Laser


The helium-neon laser consists of three main components:

• A discharge tube containing the helium-neon laser medium,


• A high voltage power supply that excites the gases in the discharge
tube,
• An optical cavity consisting of two highly reflective mirrors surrounding
the laser medium. These components are mounted on an optical
breadboard and are visible to the user.

One mirror of the optical cavity is sealed directly onto the back of the
discharge tube. This concave mirror has a 60 cm radius of curvature and is
called a high reflector because its reflectivity at the lasing wavelength of
632.8 nm is essentially 100%. The other end of the discharge tube is sealed
by a transparent flat window oriented at 56o. At this special angle, known as
the Brewster angle, this window transmits virtually all light polarized parallel
to the plane of incidence. Light that is polarized perpendicular to the plane of
incidence is partially reflected by the Brewster window; therefore, this light
escapes from the cavity. If this window were not oriented at the Brewster
angle (or not properly coated), its reflectivity would introduce a loss in the
cavity, which would prevent laser operation. The other laser mirror, called
the output coupler, is a flat mirror held in a gimbal mount on a sliding track
so that its orientation and the optical cavity length can be adjusted. The
output coupler reflects roughly 99% of the stimulated emission from the laser
medium back into the optical cavity and transmits 1% of the stimulated
emission as the laser's output beam.

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Part A. Laser Alignment
Sketch the laser apparatus in your lab notebook, and identify the name and
purpose of each component.

To support laser action, the optical cavity must be aligned so that the light
beam inside the optical cavity does not "walk off" the end mirrors after
repeated reflections. A systematic search procedure is used to align the
output coupler parallel to the high reflector. During this and subsequent
procedures, be careful not to touch the Brewster window or output coupler.
CAUTION: The emitted laser beam is very intense. Never look directly into a
laser beam or into any reflections of a laser beam. Remove watch and
jewelry from wrist and fingers to prevent stray reflections.

Turn on the power supply and wait 5 seconds for the discharge. If the laser
has been left in an unaligned configuration, it should not be lasing; however,
the discharge tube should glow. Slide the output coupler mount to about 4
cm from the Brewster window and lock down the carrier onto the sliderail.
Adjust the vertical knob so that the output coupler points slightly downward.
This setting is easily verified by observing that the vertical post extending
upward from the mirror mount slants a few degrees toward the discharge
tube. With a delicate touch, grasp the vertical post and rock it back and forth
a few degrees. Rocking the output coupler about a horizontal axis sweeps
the mirror through a range of angles that includes the correct vertical
orientation required for lasing.

The horizontal adjustment knob rotates the output coupler about a vertical
axis and allows for the correct left-to-right mirror orientation required for
lasing. Position this knob so that the output coupler points slightly to the left
or right of the discharge tube. This position may be verified by viewing the
output coupler holder from above the apparatus.

The search procedure calls for a systematic two-dimensional search over all
vertical and horizontal mirror positions to locate the lasing position of the
output coupler. Make a very small adjustment (1/32 of a full turn) of the
horizontal knob to move the output coupler toward the correct horizontal
position. Then gently rock the vertical post to pass through the full range of
vertical orientations. These two different motions must be performed
independently, but in succession. As the mirror is rocked between small
horizontal adjustments of the output coupler, watch for a flash of red laser
light on the output coupler. If none appears, advance the horizontal knob in
the same direction and then rock the post again. Continue this procedure. A
smooth systematic search eventually produces a flash of red laser light.
Once the flash has occurred, stop adjusting the horizontal knob and allow the
vertical post to return to its resting position. Then, advance the vertical knob
until lasing is continuous. At this point, "tweak" both knobs for maximum

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laser brightness. CAUTION: The laser beam cannot hurt one's fingers, but be
careful not to look directly into the beam. Verify that the beam and any stray
reflections are blocked.

Intentionally misalign the laser by randomly twisting both knobs slightly and
repeat the alignment procedure until it is performed confidently and easily.
Each student should align the laser.

Part B. Laser Cavity Stability


Laser activity is sustained only when amplification exceeds the loss of laser
light from the optical cavity. If an optical cavity is constructed with small or
flat mirrors, diffraction causes some of the laser light to spill out around the
edges of the mirrors. Such radiation losses must be minimized for efficient
laser activity. The problem of diffraction loss can be minimized by using at
least one slightly concave mirror so that light is redirected back toward the
optical axis upon each reflection. One can show that a cavity is stable, i.e.
can support lasing, when

0 < g1g2 < 1 (1)

Where gi = 1 – (L/ri), where L is the separation between the two mirrors, and
ri is a spherical mirror's radius of curvature.

Evaluate the laser stability condition, Equation (1), for the laser. The high
reflector mirror has a radius of curvature, r1 = 60 cm, and the output coupler
is flat, i.e., r2 = ∞. Evaluate g2. Substitute the value of g2 into Equation (1) so
that the only remaining variable is g1. Replace g1 with its definition
containing the current value of r1, and rearrange the inequality to find the
maximum and minimum lengths L for this laser. Can both limits be tested
with the present apparatus?

Use the meter stick to measure the distance. Make your measurements from
the back mirror of the laser (the one inside the laser housing). Unlock the
sliding carrier for the output coupler and increase the cavity length. Relock
the carrier and reestablish lasing if necessary. Note that lasing is more
difficult with increased cavity length. Increase L until the cavity no longer
sustains laser activity. At this point, the laser cavity has become unstable.
How does the final, limiting value of L agree with the theoretical prediction?

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Part C. Laser Light Polarization
While some helium-neon lasers emit randomly polarized light, the discharge
tube in the present apparatus (sealed at one end by a flat window oriented at
the Brewster angle) produces a polarized light beam. The reason, as
mentioned above, is that at the Brewster angle, the window transmits
virtually all light polarized parallel to the plane of incidence. Light polarized
perpendicular to the plane of incidence is partially reflected out of the cavity.
The plane of incidence is the plane containing both the incident and reflected
beams. Discrimination against perpendicularly polarized light during the 200
or so passes that a light wave makes through the Brewster window results in
a polarized output beam.

The theoretical expression for transmission of polarized light through a


polarization analyzer is known as Malus’ Law:

P(Θ ) = Pocos2(Θ) (2)

In this expression, P(Θ) is the transmitted power at angle Θ, and Po is the


power at Θ = 0°.

With the polarizing filter, investigate the polarization of the laser beam
emitted by the present laser. Rotate the filter in a plane normal to the laser
beam and observe the variation in intensity of the light transmitted through
the film. In which plane is the laser light polarized, vertical or horizontal?
Does this polarization correspond to light polarized parallel or perpendicular
to the plane of incidence of the laser's Brewster angle? Explain by sketching
the Brewster window and indicating the polarizations of the transmitted and
reflected beams.

Quantitatively measure the degree of polarization of the laser light as follows.


Set the laser power meter to 3 mW full scale, and place the detector head in
the laser beam. CAUTION: Insure that the reflection from the detector head
is safely blocked. Tweak the output mirror to maximize the laser power; you
will need more than 1 mW. Place the polarization analyzer in the laser beam
between the output coupler and the detector head of the power meter.
Check that the polarization analyzer is mounted such that the maximum
transmitted power occurs at angle Θ= 0o and the minimum occurs at Θ= 90o.
Acquire experimental data for the transmitted power, P(Θ), as a function of
analyzer angle, Θ. Take a reading every 20° from -90° to 90°. Plot P(Θ) on the
y-axis vs. Θ on the x-axis. On the same figure, plot Malus’ law, Equation (2).
Is there sufficient agreement between the data and Malus's Law to suggest
that the laser beam is polarized?

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Part D. Laser Transverse Modes
Most helium-neon lasers are designed to emit a laser beam that produces a
single spot on a screen. Detailed examination of the cross-sectional intensity
profile of such a beam reveals it to have a Gaussian profile, with maximum
intensity in the center that smoothly drops off with increasing radius. Lasers
can operate in transverse modes, in which the radiation field within the
optical cavity contains both maxima and minima in the cross-sectional plane
perpendicular to the optical axis. Transverse modes are characterized by two
integers, m and n, representing the number of vertical and horizontal nodes
in the radiation filed. The TEM00 mode, which has no nodes, is the narrowest
transverse mode; it has the minimum diffraction loss, has the minimum
divergence, and can be focused to the smallest possible spot size. For these
reasons, it is often the most desirable mode for commercial applications.
Higher order modes are larger in diameter and therefore suffer higher
diffraction losses.

To observe the TEM modes, you need to magnify the laser beam and project
it onto a screen.
• Slide the output coupler close to the discharge tube and establish laser
action
• Maximize the power output
• Insert a - 1" focal length diverging lens in the output beam of the laser
• Display the resulting divergent beam on a white sheet of paper placed
behind the lens.

The laser may be operating on multiple transverse modes, thereby obscuring


distinctive nodal patterns. Slightly adjust the output coupler alignment
and/or cavity length to select a single TEMmn, mode while suppressing the
others. Sketch this mode in your lab notebook and label it with the
appropriate integers, e.g., TEM12 for one vertical node and two horizontal
nodes. Locate and sketch at least three different transverse modes.

The laser can be forced to operate in TEM00 by introducing an aperture of the


proper size to discriminate against higher order modes. The easiest way of
doing this is to increase the cavity length to L > 50 cm. At this length, the
bore of the discharge tube acts as the limiting aperture. At shorter cavity
lengths, a pinhole of roughly 1 mm diameter inserted on the optical axis near
the Brewster window suppresses higher order transverse modes. This
pinhole is held in an xy-translation mount so that it can be precisely
positioned on the optical axis of the laser. Obtain TEM00 operation by one or
both of these methods.

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Part E. Laser Longitudinal Modes
The high reflectivity of the end mirrors in a laser optical cavity causes the
light to make many round trips before it escapes though the output coupler.
Constructive interference of the light inside the cavity results when the
maxima of the waves and their subsequent reflections overlap in space. The
electric field oscillations of these light waves then add in phase, and the
resulting light intensity increases and induces stimulated emission at that
wavelength more efficiently. If the laser mirrors are nearly flat, such
constructive interference occurs when an integral number of wavelengths are
contained in the roundtrip distance of the cavity, i.e., when

qλ q = 2L (3)

Where q is an integer, λq is the wavelength, and L is the cavity length. If the


wavelength does not satisfy Equation (3), then destructive interference
occurs among successive reflections of the light in the cavity, thereby
suppressing stimulated emission at these wavelengths. Thus, a laser cavity
only supports laser activity at distinct wavelengths, λq. Each constructively
interfering, oscillating electromagnetic field configuration is referred to as a
longitudinal mode and is characterized by a unique integer index q. It is often
more convenient to express the laser cavity boundary condition of Equation
(3) in terms of frequency, ν q. We do not measure longitudinal modes in this
experiment.

Lab Report:

• Be certain to include a detailed drawing of the laser apparatus.


• Show all calculations.
• For the plot of Malus’ law, use a line for theoretical values, and points
for the experimental values.
• Using the maximum power you generated, calculate the intensity of
this laser if the laser spot is 1.0 mm2.
• Calculate the laser energy in joules/photon, kJ/mol, and cm–1.
• Calculate the number of photons emitted from this laser in 5 minutes.
• Go to the LaSalle Laser Web,
http://www.lasalle.edu/academ/chem/laser_web/index.htm
And provide a brief (one paragraph each) summary on the properties of
three different lasers.

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