Course information

Introduction, General principles, The laser idea: Spontaneous and stimulated emission. Transition rates and Einstein coefficients. Non-radiative de-excitations. Radiative de-excitations. Laser beam properties. Line broadening mechanisms. Saturation. Degenerate levels. Molecular systems. Pumping processes, Laser operation conditions: Optical pumping. Electrical pumping. Chemical pumping, etc. Passive optical resonators. Laser operation condition. Optical resonator stability condition. Unstable resonators. Transition rate equations. Laser oscillation rates. Single-mode operation. Continuous wave laser behavior. Transient laser behavior. Pulsed laser behavior. Q-switching. Mode-locking. Types of lasers: Solid-state lasers, Gas lasers: Dye lasers, Chemical lasers. Semiconductor lasers, Color center lasers. Free electron lasers, Fiber optics lasers. Continuous lasers (c.w.), Pulsed lasers ms-μs-ns. Laser beam transformation, Driving circuits. Gaussian beam propagation, Laser amplification: Second harmonic generation, Parametric oscillation, Pulsed lasers ps - fs. Laser driving circuits, Preionization. High voltage technology, Blumlein transmission lines. Laser applications: Laser applications in physics and chemistry. Introduction to laser applications in biology, biophotonics and medicine. Applications in biophotonics, Materials processing. Introduction to laser applications in optical communications, Measurement and inspection, Commercial applications of lasers. Applications in thermonuclear fusion, Energy problem. Applications in information processing and recording, Telemetry, Geodesy, Atmospheric optics. Introduction to laser applications in environment and pollutant detection, Lidars, Atmospheric optics. Laser applications in cultural heritage issues. Radiation pressure phenomena, Optical trapping, Microbeams, lasers, Nanobeams, lasers. Laser safety: Laser safety, Laser radiation exposure limits, Laser dosimetry.