Teaching laser physics by experiments

TY - JOUR

T1 - Teaching laser physics by experiments

AU - Henningsen, Jes

PY - 2011/1/1

Y1 - 2011/1/1

N2 - Experimental activities in the undergraduate physics curriculum often suffer from a lack of connection with the courses they are designed to support. This paper describes a set of experiments in laser physics based on a commercially available HeNe gain tube with one internal and one external mirror. The experiments take students through several important topics including the spatial and temporal properties of laser radiation, a rate equation based model for the laser, and elements of the underlying spectroscopy. The experiments can be integrated into existing courses or provide the backbone of a complete course with close integration of theory and experiment.

AB - Experimental activities in the undergraduate physics curriculum often suffer from a lack of connection with the courses they are designed to support. This paper describes a set of experiments in laser physics based on a commercially available HeNe gain tube with one internal and one external mirror. The experiments take students through several important topics including the spatial and temporal properties of laser radiation, a rate equation based model for the laser, and elements of the underlying spectroscopy. The experiments can be integrated into existing courses or provide the backbone of a complete course with close integration of theory and experiment.

U2 - 10.1119/1.3488984

DO - 10.1119/1.3488984

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0002-9505

VL - 79

SP - 85

EP - 93

JO - American Journal of Physics

JF - American Journal of Physics

IS - 1

ER -