Lab 10: Spatial Profile of a Laser Beam 2 Background

We will deal with a special class of Gaussian beams

for which the transverse electric field can be written
as,
r2
1 Introduction E(r) = Eo e− w2 (1)
Equation 1 is expressed in plane polar coordinates
Refer to Appendix D for photos of the appara- where r is the radial distance from the center of the
tus beam (recall r2 = x2 + y 2 ) and w is a parameter which
is called the spot size of the Gaussian beam (it is also
A laser beam can be characterized by measuring its referred to as the Gaussian beam radius). It is as-
spatial intensity profile at points perpendicular to sumed that the transverse direction is the x-y plane,
its direction of propagation. The spatial intensity pro- perpendicular to the direction of propagation (z) of
file is the variation of intensity as a function of dis- the beam.
tance from the center of the beam, in a plane per-
pendicular to its direction of propagation. It is often Since we typically measure the intensity of a beam
convenient to think of a light wave as being an infinite rather than the electric field, it is more useful to recast
plane electromagnetic wave. Such a wave propagating equation 1. The intensity I of the beam is related to
along (say) the z-axis will have its electric field uni- E by the following equation,
formly distributed in the x-y plane. This implies that εo cE 2
the spatial intensity profile of such a light source will I= (2)
2
be uniform as well. However, in reality, a light beam
does not extend to infinity. Therefore, this picture Here, εo = 8.85x10 − 12C 2 /N m2 is the permittivity of
of a light beam as an infinite plane wave is just an free space and c = 3.00x108 m/s is the speed of light.
idealization. Substituting equation 1 into equation 2 we get,
2r 2

In this experiment, we will investigate the spatial pro- I(r) = Io e− w2 (3)

file of a Gaussian laser beam. The shape of a 2
Here, Io = εo cE o
is the (maximum) intensity on the
laser cavity is responsible for the intensity profile. A 2
z-axis (r = 0). Equation 3 is similar to equation 1; it
Gaussian profile is characteristic of most lasers. We
represents a Gaussian function centered at r = 0.
will discuss some properties of such Gaussian beams.
In particular, we will concentrate on the fact that a
Figure 1 is a plot of the Gaussian beam intensity pro-
Gaussian beam has a non-uniform intensity profile.
file given by equation 3. Notice that the Gaussian is
Furthermore, by studying the profile of a laser beam,
a radially symmetric distribution.
we are able to extract a characteristic radius of the
Gaussian beam, known as the spot size, at a partic-
If we set r = w in equation 3, we obtain I = Io /e2 .
ular location along the direction of propagation of the
This means that at a distance w from the z axis, the
beam.
intensity of light is reduced to 1/e2 of its maximum
value. If we put a small screen perpendicular to the
The experiment consists of two parts. In the first part,
z-axis at that position, we would observe a spot of
you will verify that the laser beam has a Gaussian
radius ∼ w.
intensity profile. You will use this profile to extract
a value for the spot size. In the second part of the
The spot size is a function of position along the di-
experiment, you will study an alternative technique
rection of propagation z of the Gaussian beam. It is
for measuring spot size. This technique is suitable for
given by, s
laser beams that have large diameters.
λz 2
w(z) = wo 1 + ( ) (4)
EXERCISES 3-4 PERTAIN TO THE BACK- πwo 2
GROUND CONCEPTS AND EXERCISES 1- where λ is the wavelength of the light. Notice that
2 AND 5 PERTAIN TO THE EXPERIMEN- wo is the minimum spot size which occurs at the par-
TAL SECTIONS. ticular position z = 0. The size of the beam at the
 Figure 2: Propagation of a fundamental Gaussian beam. Il-
lustrates the intensity profile, variation of the spot size with
longitudinal position and changes in the curvature of the beam.

Figure 1: Gaussian intensity profile of a laser ditions a process known as stimulated emission can
beam/determination of the spot size. be induced inside the cavity. This causes further am-
plification of light. The amplified electric field has
to satisfy the boundary conditions imposed by the
z = 0 position is called the beam waist. In practice, cavity walls. This determines the number of trans-
z = zo will often correspond to the position of a focal verse (spatial) modes that the cavity can support. A
spot of a lens introduced in the laser beam. good Laser cavity allows only the fundamental
(or TEM00 ) mode to be amplified. This mode
Figure 2 illustrates the variation of w as the beam has a Gaussian spatial profile. The laser that
propagates along the z-axis. It also shows that the is being used in this lab produces a number
radius of curvature of the wavefronts varies along the of spatial modes. Equation 3 is therefore only
axis of propagation. an approximation of the spatial profile of the
laser.
Keep in mind that although the spot size and the
radius of curvature vary along the z-axis, the inten- Finally, notice that Gaussian beams exhibit diffrac-
sity profile remains Gaussian at every position along tion (even without a lens!). As you can see in Figure
the direction of propagation. The underlying reason 2, the beam is diverging, as if it is diffracting from
is that Gaussian beams have a unique property that the minimum spot size wo . In fact, this imposes a
they maintain their Gaussian form along their prop- limitation on our ability to focus a laser beam. It is
agation direction. This is an important characteris- not possible to focus laser light to a single point be-
tic of Gaussian beams, in contrast to most ordinary cause it is diffraction-limited by the very fact that it
sources of light which cannot maintain a specific pro- is Gaussian in nature.
file along the direction of propagation. For instance,
if you shine a flashlight through a circular aperture,
its spatial profile is uniform close to the aperture. At
distances far away from the aperture, the beam pro- 3 Suggested Reading
file changes because of diffraction. Another property
of Gaussian beams is that they remain Gaussian as
they propagate through any combination of optical Refer to the chapters 14-17,
elements such as lenses and mirrors.
A.E. Siegman, Lasers (University Science Books,
The unique properties of Gaussian beams that we have 1986)
been discussing so far provide the motivation to inves-
tigate them. A light source which naturally produces
Gaussian beams is a Laser. It is instructive to briefly 4 Apparatus
mention how the laser operates, to gain insight as to
how it produces Gaussian beams. A Laser consists
• Laser: N-type semiconductor diode laser (635nm
of a “Lasing medium” which is located between two
wavelength)
spherical mirrors, one of which can partially transmit
the light produced in the cavity. Under special con- • Translation stage and pinhole
 • Photodiode
• Box for covering the photodiode
• Digital multimeter
• Two mirrors and mirror holders
• Three convex lenses with focal lengths ∼ 8 cm,
∼ 15 cm and ∼ 30 cm
• Three lens holders
• Large iris Figure 3: Schematic diagram of the setup for experiment 1.

• Cylindrical rod machined with variable diameters

MAKE SURE ALL MOUNTS ARE SE-
• 90 degrees clamp CURELY FASTENED ON THE OPTICAL
TABLE.
• Five 3” postholders and six 2” postholders
• Ten posts and eleven bases
• Screws, bolts, 3/16” Allen key, cardboards, trans- 5 Experiment I: Gaussian profile of
parent lens tissue a laser beam - measurement of the
• Optical table spot size

WARNING!!: KEEP TRACK OF YOUR The purpose of this part of the experiment is to ver-
LASER BEAM AT ALL TIMES. NEVER ify that the transverse beam intensity for the laser
POINT THE BEAM AT PEOPLE, OR LOOK has a Gaussian profile. Once you measure the inten-
IN THE APERTURE OF THE LASER OR BE sity profile at a particular position, you will be able
AT EYELEVEL WITH THE BEAM. to determine the spot size of the laser beam at that
position.
KEEP EYES AWAY FROM DIRECT OR
REFLECTED LASER BEAMS. OTHERWISE The experimental setup is shown in Figure 3. The
SERIOUS EYE DAMAGE WILL OCCUR. laser beam is reflected from two mirrors so that you
can conveniently manipulate the beam by adjusting
YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF WHERE the mirrors. The beam then passes through a trans-
THE LASER BEAMS STRIKE OPTICAL lation stage. In order to measure the profile of the
COMPONENTS. REFLECTIONS FROM beam, we need to measure the intensity at various
OPTICAL COMPONENTS SHOULD BE points on the beam’s cross-section. This can be done
BLOCKED BY USING PIECES OF CARD- by scanning a pinhole attached to a translation stage
BOARD THAT ARE PROVIDED. BE PAR- across the beam’s cross-sectional area, and measur-
TICULARLY CAREFUL WHEN YOU IN- ing the light transmitted through the pinhole. Ide-
SERT OR REMOVE LENSES INTO A ally, one must measure the intensity at every point in
LASER BEAM. this area. But that is definitely time-consuming. For
our purposes, it is enough to assume that the pinhole
DO NOT TOUCH THE OPTICAL SUR- has radial symmetry and to scan the pinhole in the
FACES OF LENSES AND MIRRORS. IF horizontal direction only. The pinhole can be moved
THE SURFACES ARE UNCLEAN, PLEASE vertically and horizontally by using the graduated mi-
BRING IT TO THE ATTENTION OF THE crometer screws on the translation stage.
TA IMMEDIATELY.
The size of the pinhole to be used in conducting this
USE THE TRANSPARENT LENS TISSUES experiment is very important. If the size of the pin-
TO DETECT THE BEAMS. hole is small compared to the spot size to be mea-
sured, the laser beam emerging from the pinhole will naked eye and that the spot hits the photodiode. Use
be strongly diffracted. This will make it difficult to the box provided to reduce background light noise.
measure the transmitted signal. You will be using a Remember that for a BNC connector, the central pin
100µm pinhole. carries the signal and the outer shield is the return
(which is often connected to ground).
After passing through the pinhole, light will hit a pho-
todiode which must be placed as close to the pinhole Exercise 1: Why should the photodiode be placed
as possible. A major challenge in performing measure- very close to the pinhole?
ments with the photodiode is that it produces a weak
signal. Another challenge is the noise introduced by Exercise 2a: Adjust the micrometers to obtain the
background light hitting the photodiode. Unless the maximum signal. Then using the horizontal microm-
experiment is performed in the dark, the signal-to- eter, scan the pinhole across the beam and record the
noise ratio will be very small. For this reason, you voltmeter reading at each position. As you move the
must cover the photodiode by a box and make sure pinhole, make sure that only the part of the beam
that stray light hitting the detector is minimized. passing through the pinhole hits the photodiode. Take
a number of data points across the whole width of the
It is worth noting that photodiode does not mea- beam. Tabulate your results. Block the laser light
sure light intensity. It measures light power. The and record the voltmeter reading. What is the maxi-
voltage reading is proportional to the photocurrent it mum signal-to-noise ratio? Subtract this background
produces (V=IR). But we know that power = cur- signal from all your data points.
rent*voltage, therefore the voltmeter reading is pro- Exercise 2b: Plot the photodiode voltage as a func-
portional to the power. On the other hand, intensity tion of micrometer position. Show error bars on your
(= power/area) depends on the area of the beam in- plot. This plot is the intensity profile of the laser
cident on the photodiode. beam. Comment on the shape of the curve. Does it
convince you that the laser beam profile is Gaussian?
For example, consider a beam with a diameter of 2cm Exercise 2c: From your plot, determine the spot size
incident on a photodiode. Suppose the reading of the of the beam at the position of the pinhole. The size of
voltmeter is V. Now we expand the same beam to a the pinhole you used is 100µm in diameter. Compare
diameter of 4cm. The voltmeter reading will be V it to the value of the spot size you determined. Was
again, since it is proportional to the total light power the pinhole size appropriate for measuring the spot
which obviously does not change by expanding the size of the laser at the particular position you chose?
beam. It is the power per unit area, i.e. the intensity Discuss whether this has any impact on the accuracy
of the beam that changes by expanding the beam. (In of your result.
this case it is reduced by a factor of 4). Therefore, the
photodiode voltage is not necessarily proportional to
the intensity of light unless you take all your data
without changing the area of the incident beam. This
is precisely what you need to do in this part of the 6 Experiment II: Power distribution
experiment. The pinhole has a fixed area and thus within a laser beam - measurement
the voltmeter readings will be proportional to the light
of spot size of an expanded laser
intensity.
beam.
Setup the experiment as shown in Figure 3.

Use a clamp to fix the laser horizontally. Check that In Experiment 1, you determined the spot size of a
the beam is horizontal by marking the height of the laser beam from its intensity profile by scanning a
beam on a piece of cardboard. Adjust the mirrors so pinhole across the beam. An alternative method for
that the beam strikes the same mark when the card- determining the spot size is to measure the power con-
board is placed at a large distance away. Also make tained within a radius r of the beam. If the power is
sure that the beam is centered at the pinhole. Place measured as a function of r, and the total power is
the photodiode as close to the pinhole as possible. determined, the spot size can be deduced. This tech-
Verify that you see the transmitted spot with your nique is appropriate for determining the spot size of
an expanded laser beam.
 Figure 5: Schematic diagram of the setup for experiment 2.

The purpose of this part of the experiment is to use the

power distribution method to determine a spot size of
the laser beam. The experimental setup is shown in
Figure 5.

First, the beam has to be expanded so that we can

easily measure the power within a wide range of ra-
Figure 4: Power distribution P(r) within a radius r of the laser
beam and measurement of the spot size. dial distances. This can be achieved by constructing a
beam expanding telescope. For constructing the tele-
scope, use two convex lenses. The distance between
We know that the intensity distribution is given by
2r 2 the lenses should be equal to the sum of their focal
equation 3, I(r) = Io e− w2 . Since the power P = lengths. Keep first convex lens fixed and adjust the
I ∗ Area, we can easily obtain an expression for the position of the second convex lens until you observe
power P (r) contained within an arbitrary radius r of that the expanded beam is properly collimated. A
the beam, by integrating equation 3 from 0 to r, large iris diaphragm and a smaller diaphragm nested
Z r Z 2π within it can be used to vary the radius of the beam
2r 2
P (r) = Io e− w2 dθrdr (5) incident on the photodiode. A cylindrical rod is ma-
0 0
chined at various accurately measured diameters. You
where da = rdrdθ is an infinitesimal area element in
can use it to vary the diameter of the aperture. The
plane polar coordinates.
table placed at the end of the write up gives
you the dimensions of the two cylindrical rods
By evaluating equation 5, we obtain,
that will be used to define the diameters of the
Io πw2 2r 2 two apertures. A third convex lens is used to focus
P (r) = [1 − e− w2 ] (6)
2 the beam on the photodiode. This ensures that all the
In the limit as r → ∞, the exponential term of equa- light transmitted through the iris hits the photodiode.
tion 6 goes to zero and the total power P (∞) is given
by, Note: The beam diameter is maximized when
Io πw2 the focal lengths of the telescope lenses are f1
P (∞) = (7) = 8 cm and f3 = 30 cm. Use the lens with f2
2
Note that this result makes physical sense. = 15 cm to focus the light on the detector.

Consequently, equation 6 can be written as, Exercise 4: Using geometrical optics, show that in
2
order for the beam emerging from the telescope to be
− 2r2
P (r) = P (∞)[1 − e w ] (8) collimated, the distance d between the concave and
the convex lenses has to be equal to f2-f1. Here, f2
Figure 4 shows a plot of the power distribution given is the focal length of the convex lens and f1 is the
by equation 8. absolute value of the focal length of the concave lens.
When r = w, P (w) = P (∞)[1 − 1/e2 ] ∼ 0.865P (∞). Setup the experiment as shown in Figure 5. Make
It is therefore possible to infer w from the graph in sure that the laser beam is centered on the two nested
Figure 4. irises.
Exercise 3: Evaluate the integral in equation 5 and
obtain the result in equation 6.
 Table 1: Dimensions of cylindrical rods

Small rod radii (mm) Large rod radii (mm)

— 5.73
1.18 6.70
1.57 7.40
1.80 7.94
2.35 8.69
2.82 9.09
3.20 9.59
3.94 10.01
4.80 10.65
11.23
11.77
12.29
12.73

Exercise 5a: Record voltmeter readings for various

values of the iris radius r. Block the laser beam and
record the voltmeter reading. Subtract this back-
ground signal from your data.
Exercise 5b: Plot a graph of the power distribution
and show your error bars on the plot.
Exercise 5c: Determine the spot size of the laser
beam. Does this spot size have the same value you
determined in experiment 1? Explain why or why
not.
Exercise 5d: Determine the power (in mW) within
the spot size of the laser beam. Assume that the total
power of the laser beam is 1mW.
Exercise 5e: Calculate the peak intensity Io of the
laser beam. Notice from equation 7 that Io must be a
function of z, since the spot size depends on z.
Exercise 5f: Calculate the magnitude Eo of the elec-
tric field vector.
Exercise 5g: Calculate Io and Eo again, now using
the spot size you determined in the first part of the
experiment.

Note: Once you have completed the experi-

ment please remove all optical elements and
the detector from their mounts and place them
on the optical table.

Your lab report should include:

Answers to exercises 1-5 with relevant data tables,

graphs, figures and qualitative comments.

Refer to Appendix C for Maple worksheets.