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page 405

64. LASER CUTTING

64.1 LASERS

Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

When are they best used?

-when highly focussed energy is required (light or heat)

-when contact forces must be eliminated

-when a small geometry is required

What do LASERs do?

-Produce collimated light - all of the light rays are (nearly) parallel. This means the light doesn’t diffuse quickly like normal light.

collimated light

diffuse light

-Monochromatic - because the light is generated using specific gases, the frequency (wavelength) has a specific value. Normal white light tends to contain a wide mixture of different frequencies (a wide spectrum), but laser light is very specific.

-The light has significantly less power than a normal light bulb, but it is highly focussed, thus delivering a significantly higher light intensity.

The principle behind lasers are

1. Excitation of light emission by electrical discharge.

page 406

1. electrical charge moves an electron

to a higher energy orbit

2. electron is unstable in higher orbit and falls back to lower obit,

3.

As the electron falls, a photon is emitted

2. Resonance - the laser chamber has reflecting ends separated by a multiple of half wavelengths one end is completely reflecting, and the other end is partially reflecting. The result is a reflection that leads to resonance.

light is emitted by atoms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

completely

 

partially reflecting mirror,

reflecting mirror

 

feeds resonance, but also

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lets laser light escape.

light is trapped in resonance between mirrors

page 407

- light reflecting between mirrored ends

over time

The height of the orbit the electron is in determines the wavelength of the photon. Larger atoms have higher orbits, therefore longer wavelengths (infrared). Smaller atoms have shorter falls, therefore shorter wavelengths (Ultraviolet).

The electrons are caused to jump by a discharge of electrons with a potential charge in the range of KV.

page 408

ballast

power supply

gas inlet

-

coolant outlet

+

bellows

 

insulator

 

 

anode

 

cathode

output

 

 

mirror

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cooled discharge tube

 

 

 

 

adjustable

 

 

coolant inlet

 

 

 

 

gas outlet

 

 

 

 

 

 

mirror

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mount

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HR Mirror

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(both ends)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AN AXIAL FLOW CO2 LASER WITH COOLING

• Various gases are used in Lasers. The contents of a laser can be a single gas, or a combination of gases.

- e.g. in a CO2 laser, CO2 is used to produce light with a 10.6 micrometer wavelength. Nitrogen is used to maintain electron populations in the upper valence shell of the CO2 molecules. Helium is used as an intracavity cooling agent.

Lasers are very inefficient and build up excessive heat. If this heat becomes high enough it will effect the performance, and eventually damage the laser. To counteract this, heatsinks, water, and other forms of heat dissipation are used.

The lasers often have sensors to shutdown when the temperatures become too high.

1 Angstrom A = 10-10m

page 409

freq (Hz)

approx. wavelength (m)

classification

 

 

 

 

103-106

1010

radio waves

106-108

107

short waves

108-1010

105

microwaves

1010-1013

102

infrared (deep)

1014-1015

100

light

1015-1017

10-2

UV and X-Rays

1017-

10-4

Gamma rays

transition energy levels for electrons

E3

 

 

E3-2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E3-1

E2-1 E1

E1-0

E2-0

E3-0

E0

• Energy of a photon

c E = hf = h --λ

h = 6.6× 10–34Js = Planks constant

c = 3× 10

8 m

 

---

= light speed

s

f = frequency of light

λ= wavelength of light

Absorption is when energy causes an electron to accept enough energy to jump up one or more energy levels.

Spontaneous emission is the drop of the electron to a lower energy orbit, and the release of the energy change as a photon.

page 410

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E2

Absorption

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

spontaneous

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

emission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E1

• Absorption can be caused by energy sources, such as light, but it is also caused by the heat of an object. (as with incandescent lights)

W = σ T4ε

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

W =

the radiated energy (W)

σ =

5.67×

 

–8

 

W

 

 

10

 

---------------

= Boltzmans constant

 

m

2

K

–4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T= temperature (K)

ε= emissivity factor dependant on frequency [0, 1], table lookup

Wein’s law predicts the maximum emitted frequency.

λ maxT = 2.9× 10–3mK

e.g. normal light sources have,

Tmax = 3000C

W

P = 6----------

 

mm2

• We can draw out a spectrum for frequencies emitted.

page 411

Intensity

black body

 

non-black body

 

selective emitter

 

lambda

• Fluorescence is light of one color that causes emission of light of another color. (a shorter wavelength).

E2

E1

initial

absorption fluorescent emission

E0

The state E1 can be very stable and electron orbits might not decay for long periods of time.

In a laser the energy levels are increased to move more than 50% of the electrons (in the lasing material) to a higher energy state.

The usual population inversion allows incoming photons to cause a new photon to be emitted without being absorbed itself. The two photons have,

-the same frequency

-the same phase

-the same direction

**** This effect is also a 2 times amplification

page 412

How a laser works,

1.The electrical/light discharges are used to cause electron population inversion and cause a few spontaneous emissions of photons.

2.The new photons travel in all directions, but some travel toward the mirrors, where they are reflected back and forth between the mirrors.

3.As the photons travel, they cause the generation of other photons travelling in the same direction.

4.This builds until the laser has a high intensity output.

5.The output beam escapes through one end of the laser that has a half silvered mirror.

Laser light is polarized

x

y

direction of propagation

two different photons with the same phase, but polarized 90 degree to one another

• Various lasers are suited to different applications.