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Annalen der Physik

Verschwinden des Laser‐Effektes bei sehr starkem Pumpen

Theodor W. Hänsch, P. E. Toschek

Published Jan 1, 1969• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The perturbation of a CW laser by a coupled optical transition is studied. In case of incoherent perturbation light, the laser photon number has been calculated recently by a fully quantum‐mechanical approach. It is more easily obtained by simple rate equations, if the effect on the transition probability is considered by the introduction of a line broadening. In case of coherent perturbing radiation, a properly defined transition probability is derived from a semiclassical emission rate formula, given by FELD and JAVAN. The application on gas laser transitions reveals a dependence of the laser gain on the mutual directions of propagation of the laser light and the perturbation light.

DOI
10.1002/andp.19694780507

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The perturbation of a CW laser by a coupled optical transition is studied. In case of incoherent perturbation light, the laser photon number has been calculated recently by a fully quantum‐mechanical approach. It is more easily obtained by simple rate equations, if the effect on the transition probability is considered by the introduction of a line broadening. In case of coherent perturbing radiation, a properly defined transition probability is derived from a semiclassical emission rate formula, given by FELD and JAVAN. The application on gas laser transitions reveals a dependence of the laser gain on the mutual directions of propagation of the laser light and the perturbation light.
Abstract The perturbation of the process of stimulated transition, in case the lower level is coupled to a third level by a) a spontaneous emission or b) a second stimulated transition. is investigated theoretically. For strong perturbation a quantum mechanical treatment of the problem — in contrast to a calculation using rate equations — yields a reduction of the effective transition rate for the stimulated transition which may be interpreted in case a) as a broadening and in case b) as a splitting of the level, thus giving some insight into the disappearance of the laser effect due to sufficiently strong pumping discussed in a preceding paper.
This lecture describes the operation principle of a continuous-wave (cw) laser. In order to keep the photon rate equation and its solution simple, usually the spontaneous-emission rate is neglected with the argument that it is so much smaller than the stimulated-emission rate. The direct consequence is that in a cw laser the gain would equal the losses. Yet, additional implications are that the light emitted by such a laser would be a pure sine wave with an infinite coherence length, its linewidth would become a delta function, its Q-factor would assume an infinite value, the coherent photon number would build up and coherence would manifest itself inside the resonator only when pumping above the laser threshold, and the threshold inversion would depend only on the total resonator losses. None of these implications holds true for any laser that mankind has ever created. Starting from vacuum fluctuations, we consider spontaneous emission directly in the photon rate equation, thereby a priori avoiding all these inconsistencies. It is then straight-forward to see that in a cw laser the gain is smaller than the losses, a cw laser does not only have a finite linewidth that can be derived in a very simple manner, but also a finite Q-factor, as well as two laser thresholds which are both different from the commonly assumed “threshold inversion‿. This work was performed in collaboration with Dr. Marc Eichhorn from the French-German Research Institute of St. Louis, France.
Abstract Using the quantum mechanical equations describing the laser process we calculate the photon number and the amplitude fluctuations of the laser radiation for the stationary case, if the atomic frequencies are assumed to be distributed inhomogeneously in form of a LORENTZ line. It is shown, that, on principle, the results in comparision with the case of homogeneously broadened atomic line are unchanged. However, the photon number and therefore especially the threshold condition for the laser effect as well as the amplitude fluctuations are changed quantitatively in general due to the dependence of the line width 2ϵ of the LORENTZ line.
We extend the existing theory of continuous-wave lasers by systematically considering spontaneous emission. In a simple rate-equation approach, the laser eigenvalue, defined as the ratio of coherent photons coupled out of the resonator divided by the number of photons coupled in via spontaneous emission, emerges as the fundamental parameter describing a continuous-wave laser. We derive a general equation for the laser eigenvalue and confirm the point at which coherence manifests itself in the resonator. The theory describes all types of lasers of three-level, four-level, or any intermediate nature.
We consider a laser model consisting of a single four-level or three-level atom, an optical cavity, and an incoherent pump. Results for photon statistics for varying pump levels are obtained using a quantum trajectory algorithm. In particular, we calculate the mean photon number, Fano factor (which is the variance over the mean). We examine that the behavior of the single-atom device as \ensuremath{\beta}, the fraction of spontaneous emission into the lasing mode, is varied. Typical values considered for \ensuremath{\beta} are $0.01<\ensuremath{\beta}<1.0.$ We find that for large enough \ensuremath{\beta}, lasing action, with properties similar to those predicted by semiclassical theories that factorize atom-field correlations and use a small-noise approximation, can occur. Squeezing can occur as \ensuremath{\beta} is increased. There is no evidence of a sharp phase transition from weakly excited thermal light to coherent light at a particular pump power. This is consistent with work on many-atom lasers with \ensuremath{\beta} values in the range considered here. As \ensuremath{\beta} is increased, the output goes from quasithermal light to coherent and finally to squeezed light, progressing into a fully quantum-mechanical regime. We also consider the effects of cavity damping and spontaneous emission rates on these results.
Abstract The quantum mechanical description of the interaction of light with atoms treats absorption, gain, and recombination as upward and downward induced transitions of electrons between two states by perturbation due to the optical electric field. This provides the basis for a quantitative theory of diode lasers. The chapter begins with Einstein’s description of absorption, stimulated emission, and spontaneous emission, setting the scene for calculation of the transition probability by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a coherent superposition of the wavefunctions of two states. The resulting absorption spectrum has a Lorentzian lineshape due to dephasing of these wavefunctions. Expressions for the optical absorption cross section and Einstein coefficients are derived in terms of the dipole matrix element, and the dipole is illustrated using a hypothetical one-dimensional atom. Fermi’s Golden Rule for transitions to a continuum of states (as in quantum wells) is introduced in terms of the momentum matrix element.