Introduction to Lasers

NEXT SESSION:

Friday April 24, 2009

9 AM to 1 PM

UC-Denver campus

$300 CPIA Members $350 All others

COURSE OUTLINE

This is a 4 hour lecture course that will cover the basic principles of lasers explained from the practical prospective. Demonstrations and examples of how to apply these principles will be given, such as interpreting the data sheets of manufactures. There will be experimental demonstration to help visualize how these principles works. No prior photonics background is required. This course is designed for engineers or technical personnel who want to understand more about lasers. Topics intended to be covered in this class include:

Coherence: What is it?
Differences between a laser and a luminescence source, such as LED.
In what circumstances lasers are needed? When are they not?
Laser operation principle: simulated emission and optical cavity
Laser type: solid-state, gas, excimer, dye, semiconductor, fiber, etc
Laser linewidth and spatial mode quality
Pulsed lasers: Q-switched, active and passive mode-locked
Laser power and definitions: intensity, optical power, fluence, etc.
Laser data sheet: power and pointing stability, temperature fluctuations, etc
Laser installation: stability, temperature control, etc.
Simple laser diagnostic and troubleshooting

INSTRUCTOR

Emily Gibson is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado Denver. She has over 10 years experience in optics and has numerous publications on ultrafast optics and laser development. She has published papers on spectroscopy, non-linear imaging, and soft x-ray generation. Her current research work concerns the applications of optical and microfluidics technologies for medical diagnostics and biomedical research.