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Lecture 8: Laser amplifiers

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Two-level systems<br />

<br />

<br />

No matter how a true two-level system is pumped, it is not<br />

possible to achieve population inversion for an optical gain<br />

in the steady state.<br />

The optical pump for a two-level system has to be in<br />

resonance with the transition between the two levels –<br />

inducing both downward and upward transitions.<br />

|2><br />

pump<br />

h p<br />

h p<br />

<br />

While a pumping mechanism excites atoms from the lower<br />

energy level to the upper energy level, the same pump also<br />

stimulates atoms in the upper energy level to relax to the<br />

lower energy level.<br />

|1><br />

51

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