激光原理及其应用（课件） Laser and its applications.ppt

Laser and its applications Prof. Dr. Taha Zaki Sokker Laser and its applications Chapter (1): Theory of Lasing (2) Chapter (2): Characteristics of laser beam ( )Chapter (3): Types of laser sources ( ) Chapter (4): Laser applications ( ) Chapter (1) Theory of Lasing 1.Introduction (Brief history of laser) The laser is perhaps the most important optical device to be developed in the past 50 years. Since its arrival in the 1960s, rather quiet and unheralded outside the scientific community, it has provided the stimulus to make optics one of the most rapidly growing fields in science and technology today. The laser is essentially an optical amplifier. The word laser is an acronym that stands for “light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation”. The theoretical background of laser action as the basis for an optical amplifier was made possible by Albert Einstein, as early as 1917, when he first predicted the existence of a new irradiative process called “stimulated emission”. His theoretical work, however, remained largely unexploited until 1954, when C.H. Townes and Co-workers developed a microwave amplifier based on stimulated emission radiation. It was called a maser. Following the birth of the ruby and He-Ne lasers, others devices followed in rapid succession, each with a different laser medium and a different wavelength emission. For the greater part of the 1960s, the laser was viewed by the world of industry and technology as scientific curiosity. 1.Einstein’s quantum theory of radiation In 1916, according to Einstein, the interaction of radiation with matter could be explained in terms of three basic processes: spontaneous emission, absorption and stimulated emission. The three processes are illustrated and discussed in the following: Before After