Lecturer: Antoniangelo Agnesi  

Course name: Industrial laser design
Course code: 505015
Degree course: Electronic Engineering
Disciplinary field of science: ING-INF/01
L'insegnamento è caratterizzante per: Electronic Engineering
University credits: ECTS 6
Course website: n.d.

Specific course objectives

Laser operating principles are discussed in relation to specific laser systems and materials. The aim is to provide the student with the working knowledge to understand the most used laser systems and their tecnological evolution, as well as how to choose the most appropriate laser for a given application. In particular, the approach to solid-state laser design will be explained with some practical examples. Solid-state laser engineering involves today most of the professionals designing laser sources or optimizing specific industrial applications of lasers. Lastly, the main applications of industrial lasers are presented, as well as those of the rapidly emerging ultrafast laser family.

Course programme

·Continuous-wave laser oscillators: 4 levels and quasi 3 levels systems. Factors determining threshold and efficiency. · Optical resonators: Gaussian beams and ABCD techniques. Stable resonators. Beam quality. Unstable resonators. · Techniques for controlling the emission spectrum. · Most important industrial lasers: Solid-state lasers. Fiber lasers. Semiconductor lasers, electrically and optically pumped. Other lasers of practical interest. · Nanosecond and sub-nanosecond pulsed operating regimes: Q-switching at low and high frequency. Gain-switching. Cavity dumping. Switching devices. Mode locking: techniques and devices. Stability condition for passive mode-locking. Propagation in dispersing media with Kerr nonlinearity. Technology of ultrafast lasers (ps/fs). · Techniques for measurement of ultrafast pulses. · Example of design of a solid-state laser working in cw and in Q-switching mode. · Pulsed and cw laser amplifiers. · Solid-state sources with nonlinear frequency conversion: harmonic, parametric and Raman generation. · Industrial applications of high power lasers: marking, cutting, soldering, drilling, trimming, surface processing. · Industrial and biomedical applications of ultrafast lasers: micromachining, nonlinear microscopy.

Course entry requirements

Electromagnetism, geometric and wave optics, basic notions of optical and optoelectronic components.

Course structure and teaching

Lectures (hours/year in lecture theatre): 45
Practical class (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0
Practicals / Workshops (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0

Suggested reading materials

Lectures notes (A. Agnesi)
. Further readings: 
O. Svelto: Principles of Lasers, Springer, New York, 2010

Testing and exams

Exam is oral, it includes discussion of a laser project assignment. Date and time can be decided on mutual agreement.