CO2 Laser - Organized

b.
Electric Discharge: By applying very high potential between the plates of

discharge tube gas gets discharge leads to pumping. Ex: Argon Laser.
c. Atom-Atom Collision: Excited atoms collide with other types of atom and
transfer its energy to bring other atoms to excited state. Ex: He-Ne Laser.
d. Chemical Method: Exothermic chemical reactions liberate energy. This
liberated energy is used in pumping the atoms. Ex: Dye Laser.
e. Using Current : In semiconductor diode laser the tuning of current input
brings the charge carriers to achieve population inversion.
4. Requisites of a Laser System:
1) The excitation source for pumping action.
2) Active medium for population inversion.
3) Laser cavity, an active medium bounded by two mirrors. (Resonator/ Fabry-
Perot resonator)
Co2 LASER (The molecular gas laser) : Construction and Working (Ref:
http://www.daenotes.com and www.intechopen.com)
The CO2 stands for carbon dioxide. In CO2 laser the laser light takes place within the
molecules of carbon dioxide rather than within the atoms of a pure gas. Therefore
CO2 gas laser is considered the type of molecular gas laser. This laser uses the
energy difference between rotational-vibrational energy levels. Within the vibrational
levels of CO2 there are rotational sub-energy levels. Carbon dioxide lasers are
extremely efficient, around 70%, and powerful compared to other gas lasers making
them useful for welding and cutting.
Characteristics of CO2 lasers

The CO2 laser produces a far infrared beam at 10.6 µm. It can also operate with an
output of 9.6 µm but this output is not much common. The beam divergence of the
CO2 gas laser ranges from 1 to 10 milli radians. The beam width varies from 3 mm
for low power lasers up to 100 mm for high powered lasers. The CO2 laser can be
operated in either CW or Pulse mode commonly. Continuous wave (CW) power
output can ranges from few watts to over 15,000 watts. In pulsed mode peak power
output can be in the millions of watts. The operating frequency for CO 2 laser is
about 10% normally but theoretically it could be much higher.
The three independent vibrational oscillations are known as the vibrational modes.
These vibratioal degree of freedom are quantized. At any one time, a CO2 molecule
can vibrate in a linear combination of three fundamental modes. The three
fundamental modes of vibrations are symmetirc stretching, bending mode and
asymmetric stretching as shown below:
Fig.1: The three fundamental modes of vibrations of CO2 molecule.

Department of Physics -7-
The energy states of the molecules are represented by three quantum numbers (m n
q). These numbers represent the amount of energy associated with each mode.
Example (0 2 0) is pure bending mode with two unit of energy. Each vibrational
state is associated with rotational states corresponding to the rotational of CO 2
molecule about its center of mass. The separations between vibrational and
rotational states are much smaller on the energy scale compare to the separations
between the electron energy levels. N2 molecules are also characterized by such
vibrational levels.
Construction of CO2 gas laser
The CO2 gas laser can be constructed in the number of different configurations. In
each configuration there is a specific manner in which the gas flows in the tube.
Five important configuration of CO2 laser constructions are:
 Sealed tube design
 Coaxial flow design
 Fast axial flow design
 Transverse flow design
 TEA design.
The most common and the simple design is sealed tube design. The schematic
diagram of this type of last is as below:
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of CO2 Laser.
Fig. 2 shows the schematic diagram of sealed tube designed CO2 laser source. It
consists of a discharge tube having a bore of cross section about 1.5 mm 2 and a
length of about 260 mm. Discharge tube is filled with a mixture of CO 2, N2 and He
gases in the ratio of 1:2:3 proportions respectively. Water vapours are added as an
additive. Generally, the CO2 laser is pumped by glow discharge in the low mixed gas
(CO2, N2, He, and etc.) pressure. The active centers are CO2 molecules, lasing on the
transitions between the vibrational levels of the electronic ground state.
Function of CO2 Laser

The N2 atoms are excited through an electrical pumping mechanism. The excited
atoms then collide with the CO2 atoms transfer energy. This transfer of energy
causes the CO2 to go into a higher vibrational level. The excited CO2 molecules then
go through spontaneous emission when they are relaxed to lower rotational-
vibrational levels increasing the signal of the incident light. The CO2 laser oscillates
in the vibrational level of CO2 molecular. The CO2 laser has about 100 oscillation
lines at the center of 9.6 μm and 10.6 μm. Fig.3 shows the energy diagram of CO2
laser. The CO2 laser is efficiently pumped by very low electron temperature because
the energy of the laser upper level 001 is 2349.2 cm-1 and the energy required for
excitation of CO2 molecule is about 0.28 eV. However, generally, the CO 2 molecular
pumped by the higher electron temperature than 0.28 eV because of an electrical
gradient to sustain the discharge. The CO2 laser oscillates at 10.6 μm band (001 –
100 transition) and 9.6 μm band (001 – 020 transition) and has about 100
oscillation lines because of the rotational levels. The laser lower levels of 100 and
020 are relaxed by the collision with the CO2 molecule of ground state. The 010 level
serves as a bottleneck. But the thermal relaxation of the 010 level is accelerated by
the collision with other molecular, He atom and the laser tube wall. Then, the 010
level returns to the ground state. Therefore, in the efficiently laser oscillation, the N2
molecular that supplies the upper laser level of CO2 and media like He that eases the
lower laser level of CO2 are essential. However, in the low-pressure pulse-discharge
at the low repetitive operation, He may be unnecessary.
Fig.3. Energy diagram of CO2 laser.
During the process shown, the lower lasing level must remain with a low population.
Therefore the molecule must be removed from the lower lasing level as soon as it has
emitted its photon. This can be done by cooling the gas. But most cooling systems
cannot cool the gas quick enough to keep the lower lasing level depopulated.
Therefore the helium gas is used in CO2 lasers. When the helium gas enters the
process then it removes energy from the CO2 molecule by atomic collision and so
reducing the molecules to the lower energy state.
Application / Uses of CO2 Lasers
The CO2 laser is one of the most efficient and useful gas laser discovered up to now.
Its application is as follows.
 The CO2 gas laser can be used in industry usually for welding and cutting
purposes.
 The CO2 laser acts as a surgical tool in the operating room.
 In both energy and weapons research, there is good field of application of CO 2
lasers.
Advantages of CO2 Laser
 In CO2 laser high power levels are obtained ranges from few watts to 15000
watts.
 The CO2 gas lasers are more versatile lasers.

 The efficiency of CO2 gas lasers (i.e. 10% or higher) is beat than He-Ne and
argon lasers.
 CO2 lasers have become the workhorse of the material processing industry
because of their low cost (below $100 per watt).
 In many configurations the CO2 gas lasers are available.
 In some cases its divergence is small but is not true always.
 Pulsed output can be obtained from TEA CO2 lasers, making them more
efficient.
 Long sealed-off lifetime of greater than 20,000 hours.
 Wide variety of output waveform formats.
 High absorption of its output wavelengths by many materials.
 Small size per watt of output power
Disadvantages of CO2 Laser
 Divergence of CO2 lasers approximately in all cases is greater than He-Ne and
Argon laser. Usually the divergence is ranges from 1 to 10 milli radians.
 Beam width varies from 3mm to 100mm.
 Some CO2 lasers have the disadvantage of a short and thick optical cavity.
 Cooling system requirement in some configurations also a disadvantage.
 Its cost is comparatively high.
 In TEA design of CO2 laser it is very difficult to maintain ionization in the gas.
Gallium-Arsenide Laser: Semiconductor laser:
A Semiconductor diode laser is a specially fabricated p-n junction device that

emits coherent light when it is forward biased. In the case of germanium and silicon
based diodes, this energy is released in the form of heat because of recombination of
carriers take place through interaction with the atoms of the crystal. But in the case
of GaAs, the energy is released in the form of photons as the atoms of the crystal are
not involved in the release of energy. The wavelength of the emitted photon depends
upon the activation energy of the crystal.
Construction: A schematic diagram of semiconductor laser is as shown in the

figure. The diode is very small size with sides of the order of 1mm. The junction lies
in a horizontal plane. The top and bottom surfaces are metalized and Ohmic
contacts are provided for external connection. The front and rear faces are polished.
The polished faces constitute the Fabry-perot resonator. The other two faces are
roughened to prevent lasing action in that direction. The active region consists of
about 1m thickness.
The emitted photon stimulates the recombination of the other carriers.
Department of Physics - 10 -

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b.

Electric Discharge: By applying very high potential between the plates of

Characteristics of CO2 lasers

Fig.1: The three fundamental modes of vibrations of CO2 molecule.

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of CO2 Laser.

Function of CO2 Laser

Fig.3. Energy diagram of CO2 laser.

Application / Uses of CO2 Lasers

Advantages of CO2 Laser

Department of Physics -9-

Disadvantages of CO2 Laser

Gallium-Arsenide Laser: Semiconductor laser:

A Semiconductor diode laser is a specially fabricated p-n junction device that

Construction: A schematic diagram of semiconductor laser is as shown in the

The emitted photon stimulates the recombination of the other carriers.

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