Topics Covered

Black body radiation and the Planck law. Stimulated and spontaneous emission, atomic and spectral line width, 3-level atomic, systems. Laser operation under steady state condition, laser output coupling and power . Q-switching and mode locking. Line broadening mechanisms: homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening. Open resonator and Gaussion beam, stability criterion for optical resonators. Principles of operation of gas, solid state and semiconductor lasers.