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Lecture 8: Laser amplifiers

Lecture 8: Laser amplifiers

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Gain<br />

<br />

For an interaction region of total length d, the overall gain of<br />

the laser amplifier G() is defined as the ratio of the photonflux<br />

density at the output to the photon-flux density at the<br />

input,<br />

G( ) (<br />

d) / (0)<br />

<br />

G( ) exp[ ( ) d]<br />

<br />

Note that in the absence of a population inversion, N is<br />

negative (N 2 < N 1 ) and so is the gain coefficient. The<br />

medium will then attenuate light traveling in the z direction.<br />

A medium in thermal equilibrium cannot provide laser<br />

amplification.<br />

80

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