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 LASER is an acronym for:
L : Light
A : Amplification (by)
S : Stimulated
E : Emission (of)
R : Radiation
 Invented in 1958 by Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow of Bell
Laboratories.
 Term coined by Gordon Gould.
 Laser means to absorb energy in one form and to emit a new form
of light energy which is more useful. 3
 HIGH MONOCHROMATICITY

 HIGH DIRECTIONAL

 HIGH INTRNSITY

 COHERENT

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 Albert Einstein created the foundations for the laser.
Einstein’s quantum theory of radiation: According to Einstein, the
interaction of radiation with matter could be explained in terms of
three basic processes:
a). Induced Absorption
b). Spontaneous Emission
c). Stimulated emission

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 1960 - Theodore Maiman : Built first visible laser by
using a ruby crystal medium.

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 1963 - C. Zweng: First medical laser trial (retinal
coagulation).
 1965 - W.Z. Yarn: First clinical laser surgery.
 1967- The excimer laser was invented
in by Nikolai Basov.
 1971 -Neodymium yttrium
aluminum garnet (Nd.YAG)
and Krypton laser developed.

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1. Based on the mode of operation
(i) Pulsed Laser systems
(ii) High power Q-switched systems
(iii) Continuous wave Laser systems
2.Based on the mechanism in which Population
Inversion is achieved
(i) Three level lasers
(ii) Four level lasers
3.Based on state of active medium used
(i) Tunable dye Laser
(ii) Gas Laser
(iii) Solid state Laser
(iv) Semiconductor Laser 10
DYE LASER

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GAS LASER

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SOLID STATE LASER

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SEMICONDUCTOR LASER

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 APPLICATIONS
• Scientific
• Computing Speeds
• Medical
• Military
• Industrial and commercial

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 SCIENTIFIC
 Raman spectroscopy AND Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy
(LIBS).
 Atmospheric remote sensing.
 Holographic techniques employing lasers also contribute to a
number of measurement techniques.
 Laser based LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) technology
has application in geology, seismology, remote sensing
and atmospheric physics.

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 COMPUTING SPEEDS
 At present the computing speed ranges from 256 kilobits per
second to 1 gigabit per second, which is slow for the present
world.
 The ability to achieve a speed of 25 gigabits per second can be
done with the use of laser chips.
 Lasers are already used to transmit high volumes of computer
data over longer distances — for example, between offices,
cities and across oceans — using fibre-optic cables. In
computer chips, data moves at great speed over the wires
inside, then slows when it is sent chip-to-chip inside a
computer.

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 MILITARY DEFENCE
1. Find Target
An infrared camera on the laser continuously scans a
6 to 10-mile radius around the airport for suspicious
heat emissions. When it finds a plume, it relays the
coordinates to an identification and tracking system,
which is also on the unit.
2. Confirm Threat
The onboard computer checks the object’s heat
signature against a data bank, confirms that it’s a
missile (and not a bird or a plane), and activates the
laser.
3. Prepare to Fire
Reactive gases in the laser’s fuel tanks are funneled
through a vacuum tube to heat up atoms and send
them cascading through resonator mirrors. This
produces a tightly focused, high-energy beam.
4. Destroy Missile
The laser-beam cannon emits a burst of intense light
aimed at the missile’s most vulnerable spot, usually
the explosives compartment. Simultaneously, it sends
a signal to airport control tower to give authorities a
fix on the origin of the rocket. 18
 METEOROIDS ATTACKS
 The concept which was used
for military defence can be
used to destroy the
meteoroids coming towards
earth.
 These incoming meteoroids
can be shattered into pieces,
thus saving our earth from
any major destruction.
 A group of strong laser beams
are focused together to the
target and the target is
shattered off.
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 MATERIAL PROCESSING
• Laser cutting, laser welding, laser brazing, laser
bending, laser engraving or marking, laser
cleaning, weapons etc. When the material is
exposed to laser it produces intense heat, thus the
material is heated and melted.

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 MEDICAL
 Cosmetic surgery (removing tattoos, scars, stretch marks,
sunspots, wrinkles, birthmarks, and hairs).
 Eye surgery and refractive surgery.
 Soft tissue surgery: CO2, Er:YAG laser
 Laser scalpel (General surgery, gynecological, urology,
laparoscopic)
 Photobiomodulation (i.e. laser therapy)
 "No-Touch" removal of tumors, especially of the brain
and spinal cord.
 In dentistry for caries removal, tooth whitening, and oral
surgery
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 Introduction
• The technique employs a low-energy pulsed laser
(typically tens to hundreds of mJ per pulse) and a
focusing lens to generate a plasma.
• Plasma vaporizes a small amount of a sample. A
portion of the plasma light is collected and a
spectrometer disperses the light emitted by excited
atomic and ionic species in the plasma.
• A detector records the emission signals, and
electronics take over to digitize and display the
results.
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 Nd: YAG Laser (Doped insulator
laser) :
• Lasing medium :
 The host medium for this laser is Yttrium Aluminium Garnet
(YAG = Y3 Al5 O12) with 1.5% trivalent neodymium ions
(Nd3+) present as impurities.
 The (Nd3+) ions occupy the lattice sites of yttrium ions as
substitutional impurities and provide the energy levels for
both pumping and lasing transitions.
 When an (Nd3+) ion is placed in a host crystal lattice, it is
subjected to the electrostatic field of the surrounding ions,
the so called crystal field.
 The crystal field modifies the transition probabilities
between the various energy levels of the Nd3+ ion so that
some transitions, which are forbidden in the free ion, become
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allowed.
 The length of the Nd: YAG laser rod various from 5 cm to 10
cm depending on the power of the laser and its diameter is
generally 6 to 9 mm.
 The laser rod and a linear flash lamp are housed in a
elliptical reflector cavity.
 Since the rod and the lamp are located at the foci of the
ellipse, the light emitted by the lamp is effectively coupled to
the rod.
 The ends of the rod are polished and made optically flat and
parallel.
 The optical cavity is formed either by silvering the two ends
of the rod or by using two external reflecting mirrors.
 One mirror is made hundred percent reflecting while the
other mirror is left slightly transmitting to draw the output.
 The system is cooled by either air or water circulation.
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• LIBS was applied for characterization of iron & steel
plant slag and open pit ore samples.
• In this system the solid sample is placed in the
aluminum cup and sample is rotated by a step motor.
• The important parameters such as laser energy,
distance between fiber optics and target material,
sample rotation speed and delay time were optimized.
• The optimized parameters were tested for the
preparation of the calibration curves for Mg, Pb, Cu,
Ca, Cr, Cd, S, Mn, P, K and other element of interest.
• The primary hazardous components of iron slag are
zinc, lead, cadmium, nickel and chromium
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 Materials and Methods
• Two different types of samples iron slag and open pit ore
sample.
• Iron slag samples were collected from a major steel
manufacturing plant situated in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
• These samples were grinded in spectro mill ball pestle impact
grinder (Model 1100-11, Chemplex Industries, Inc. 10707,
USA) to suitable mesh size for preparation of pellets.
• The slag samples under investigation were pressed to pellets
shape by applying a load of 8.6× 107 Nm-2 for half an hour by
placing the homogenous mixture in a die. These pellets have
diameter of 20 mm and thickness of 10 mm.
• While for testing on ICP the samples were digested with aqua
regia, dissolved in nitric acid and analyzed using inductively
coupled plasma emissions spectroscopy. 28
 The second sample under investigation was the ore sample. The
ore samples tested in this study were collected from an open pit
of the Al-Khnaiguiyah Zn-Cu mine.

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Schematic diagram of the LIBS
experimental setup

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• Nd: YAG Laser was employed for production of plasma spark at the
• sample surface.
• This laser can deliver maximum pulse energy of one joule with a
pulse width of 8 ns and operate at a 10 Hz pulse repetition rate in Q-
switched mode.
• A pulse from this Nd-YAG laser at fundamental wavelength 1064
nm was focused by a convex lens having focal length 30 mm onto
the surface of samples to create a plasma spark in the sample. The
pulse energy utilized in these experiments was in the range of 20–
120 mJ.
• The spectrometer used was Ocean Optics LIBS 2000+ system and a
locally-designed sample chamber as shown in Figure, along with the
OOLIBS software..
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• The light from the plasma spark is collected by a
collimating lens using UV graded fused silica 1 meter,
multimode sampling fiber with SMA connector and is
transferred to LIB2000 + Spectrometer (Ocean Optics).
• Our LIBS 2000+ has four spectrometers modules to
provide high resolution (FWHM 0.1 nm) in the 200 nm
to 620 nm wavelength region.

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 Results and Discussion
1). Analysis of Iron and Steel plant slag

• Emission spectra of iron slag samples recorded at

4.5 μs delay time in 200-620 nm region. Here the
laser pulse energy was 20 mJ.
• Elements detected in slag samples and comparison
of concentration detected with LIBS and ICP is
presented in Table.
• It is clear that Ba, Cr, and S are present in very
high concentrations.

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Typical spectrum of slag sample in 200 to 620 nm region recorded at delay time
of 4.5 μs and laser pulse energy of 20 mJ

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Analysis of ore samples

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• Emission spectrum of the ore sample at time delay of 4 μs recorded in 200
nm to 620 nm spectral region. In this case the laser pulse energy was 25 mJ.
• The LIBS spectra of Fe, Cr, Mn, Si, and Al were recorded in 200 to 620 nm
spectral region to detect the lines of each element.
• All the spectral lines for the above-mentioned elements recorded with our
LIBS setup were identified using the NIST atomic spectral data base and
also using the reference.
• It is clear from the Table 2 that concentration of iron, aluminum and calcium
is relatively high which is due to natural geological composition of area.
• Reasonable amounts of Cu, Zn and Mg are also present in the sample. The
concentration of aluminum and chromium in the ore sample are 10,205 ppm
and 72.1 ppm which are quite high as compared to permissible safe limits of
30 ppm and 1 ppm set by Environmental Regulation Standards by Royal
Commission Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
• These high concentrations can effect the nearby surface water resources and
soil through run off during rain.
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 Conclusions
• Slag samples collected from the local iron and steel plant were
characterized qualitatively as well as quantitatively for elemental
detection.
• Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, and Si were detected in
reasonable abundance in these samples.
• The detected concentration of some of the elements such as Ba,
Cr and S was higher than the permissible safe limits.
• Similarly the second sample under investigation was the open pit
ore sample. The concentration of various trace elements (Cu, Cr,
Ca,Mg,Zn, Ti, Si,Fe and Al) present in the ore sample.

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• The sensitive lines for above mentioned elements in both
sample iron slag and ore were identified using standard data
published by NIST for the elemental analysis and the
calibration curves were effective in quantifying the trace
metal concentration in samples.
• The concentrations of trace metals estimated with our LIBS
setup agree with another well established standard method
such as the inductively coupled plasma spectrometry (ICP).
• The experience gained through this work can be useful for
the development of a portable system for rapid online
analysis of solid waste from open pits, mineral processing
units, geological rock and iron slag analysis.

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