CHAPTER 1: THE BASICS
- Basic laser physics: Introduction; Absorption; Spontaneous and stimulated emission of light; Amplification; Basic laser setup; Gain, saturation and line broadening
- Basic properties of laser light: One direction; One frequency; One phase; Laser light is intense.
CHAPTER 2: LASER THEORY
- Introduction: The need for more than two energy levels; Rate equations for a 4-level laser
- Continuous-wave (cw) laser action: Output power in cw regime; Influence of experimental parameters; Transients
- Pulsed laser action: Introduction; Gain switching; Q-switching; Cavity dumping; Mode-locking; Ultra-short pulses
CHAPTER 3: LASER RESONATORS AND THEIR MODES
- Introduction
- Modes in a confocal resonator: Wave fronts; Frequencies; Transverse light distribution
- Modes in a non-confocal resonator: Stability criteria; Frequencies
- Modes in a waveguide resonator: Modes in a fiber waveguide resonator; Modes in an on-chip waveguide resonator
- Modes in a (free-space/waveguide) ring resonator
- Modes in a real laser: Line broadening; Selection of modes
- Saturation and hole-burning effects: Spatial hole burning; Spectral hole burning
CHAPTER 4: LASER BEAMS
- Gaussian beams: Basic Formulas; Propagation; Transformation by a lens and focusing; Transmission through a circular aperture
- Multimode beams: Introduction; Spot radius W for a multimode beam; Beam Propagation Factor M; A more theoretical approach; Practical use
CHAPTER 5: TYPES OF LASERS
- General introduction
- Gas lasers: General; Neutral gas (He-Ne); Ionized gas (argon ion); Molecules (CO2); Excimer lasers (ArF)
- Liquid lasers (dye laser)
- Solid-state lasers: General; Rare-earth-doped lasers (Nd:YAG and Er:fiber); Transition-metal-doped lasers (Ti: Sapphire); Changing the wavelength by optical nonlinear effects
- Other lasing mechanisms: Raman lasing
CHAPTER 6: LASER DIODES:OPERATION PRINCIPLES
- Geometry and important characteristics
- Material aspects: heterostructures, gain and absorption, low dimensional materials,
- Gain saturation
- Fabry-Perot laser diodes: cavity resonance
- Fabry-Perot laser diodes: rate equations and dynamic operation
- Noise: power spectrum and phase noise, injection locking
CHAPTER 7: OVERVIEW OF SEMICONDUCTOR LASER TYPES
- Distributed Feedback and Distributed Bragg Reflector laser diodes
- Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser diodes
- Tunable laser diodes
- Quantum cascade lasers
- Laser diode packaging
