Schawlow and Townes Condition (Threshold condition)

The amplitude of the light beam must be amplified in order to get laser action. Schawlow
and Townes discussed the necessary conditions for achieving the laser action. The material
in which population inversion, can takes place is called active medium. This medium may be
gas, liquid or solid, in which light amplification takes place and is placed in between two
mirrors of which one is partially reflecting, while the other one is 100%reflecting, as shown
in figure-1. The light beam bounds back and forth between the two mirrors and hence, the
intensity of the beam gets increased. However, there will be losses in each reflection but
one can obtain a threshold condition for laser action to take place.

Figure-1
The threshold condition is that the losses in the medium should be overcome by induced
transition in the amplifying medium. The total losses are due to the following reasons;
(i) Transition, absorption and scattering by mirrors
(ii) Absorption within the medium
(iii) Scattering due to optical inhomogeneity,and
(iv) Diffraction losses by the mirrors
All the losses depend on the lifetime of photons existing in the cavity and it is
represented as t
Ph
.
The total rate of losses of photons from the laser medium per second is
1/t
Ph
[1]
By taking two level energy systems, the stimulated transition ratee is given by
e= (v) BN
2
[2]


Where B
12
=B
21
=B. Substituting the value of B in Einsteins coefficients relation

3
3
21
21
8
c
h
B
A v t
=
3
3
8
c
h
B
A v t
=
[3]

3
2
3
8
) ( '
u t
u e
h
N
Ac =


3
2
3
8
) (
'
u t
u
e
h
N
c
A
=
[4]
In practice, the laser line width is very narrow than the line width of atomic transition. Let
g(v) represent the probability of frequency of the curve during absorption or emission. It is
also called the shape of absorption or emission curve, as shown in figure-2.

Figure-2
The factor g(v)dv represents the probability of absorption or emission by photons whose
energy is hv and hv+ hdv.The curve is usually normalised to unity, i.e.

}
+

=1 ) ( u u d g [5]
On account of uncertainty, it is necessary to replacee as,
e=eg(v)dv [6]
Similarly, for spontaneous emission, whose frequency ranges from v tov+dv as
A=Ag
L
(v)dv [7]
Where g
L
(v)dv is the Langevin function for line widths and is equal to
}
+

=
t
u u
2
) ( d g
L
[8]
3
2
3
8
) (
) (
) ( '
u t
v
u u
u u e
h
N c
d Ag
d g
L
= [9]
The radiation density (v) is simply related to radiation flux or intensity I(v) as,
I(v)=(v)c [10]
Where c is the velocity of light in laser medium, we know, for spontaneous emission

SP
A
t
1
= [11]
From Equations {9},{10} and [11] we can written as,

SP
L
h
d g N c I
d g
t u t
u u u
u u e
3
2
2
8
) ( ) (
) ( ' = [12]
The total transition rate is obtained by integrating on both sides of equation [12]
t t u t
u
u e
SP
h
N c I
3
2
2
8
2 ) (
) ( ' = [13]
Consider two level energy systems, Let N
1
and N
2
be the populations of ground state and
the first excited state with energies E
1
and E
2
respectively. Assume a light beam of energy
density (v) is made to incident on this system. The rate of absorption= B
12
(v) N
1
.Absorption of a photon removes an energy hv from the incident beam. Therefore, the total
energy removed from the incident beam= B
12
(v) N
1
hv.
Due to radiation incident on the two level energy systems, stimulated emission takes place.
The rate of stimulated emission= B
21
(v) N
2
.As in the absorption process, the emission of
photon produces an energy hv and therefore, the total energy added to the incident beam
is = B
21
(v) N
2
hv.The rate of energy density in a frequency interval dvorAvis
u u u u
u u
h N B h N B
dt
d d
1 12 2 21
) ( ) (
} ) ( {
=
u
u
u u
h N N
d
B
dt
d
) (
) ( ) (
1 2
= [14]
Where B
12
=B
12
=B, substituting the value (v)=
c
I
u
in equation[14], we get
u
u
u
u
h N N
d
B
cdt
dI
) (
) (
1 2
=
i.e. c h N N
d
B
dt
dI
u
u
u
u
) (
) (
1 2
= [15]
The net rate of change in the energy level will be numerically equal to the product of net
photons emitted and its energy.
Usually, there will be always degeneracy in the energy levels. Let g
1
and g
2
represent the
degeneracy in the energy levels E
1
andE
2
.
Putting the value ofe from [2], we have

c
N g
g
N N
d
h
dt
dI
gain
}
) ( '
){ ( } {
2 1
2
1 2
u e
u
u
u
= [16]
This results is increased intensity on account of population inversion only if
0
1
2
1 2
>
g
g
N N [17]
If this condition is not satisfied, the laser medium will simply lose or that there will be
transition losses.
The rate of loss of intensity is
ph
loss
I
dt
dI
t
u) (
} { = [18]
For laser action,
0 } { } { >
loss gain
dt
dI
dt
dI
[19]

ph
I
c
N g
g
N N
d
h
t
u u e
u
u ) (
}
) ( '
){ (
2 1
2
1 2
>
Substituting the value ofe(v) from[13] we, get

ph sp
I I
h
c
g
g
N N
h
t
u
tt
u
u t u
u ) (
}
) ( 2
}{
8
){ (
3
3
1
2
1 2
>
A
[20]
Simplifying and rearranging the above equation, we get
u
t
t
u t
A > } }{
4
{ ) (
3
2 2
1
2
1 2
ph
sp
c g
g
N N [21]
The threshold condition represents that the loss of photon is just balanced by the gain of
photon i.e. at threshold condition.
u
t
t
u t
A = } }{
4
{ ) (
3
2 2
1
2
1 2
ph
sp
c g
g
N N [22]
For non -degenerate energy levels equation [22] can be written as,
u
t
t
u t
A = } }{
4
{ ) (
3
2 2
1 2
ph
sp
c
N N [23]

In terms of angular frequency equation [23] can be written as
e
t
t
t
e
A = } }{
2
{ ) (
3
2
1 2
ph
sp
c
N N [24]
The laser oscillation takes place at particular single frequency. To represents this, let us
replace ebye
o

0 3
2
0
1 2
} }{
2
{ ) ( e
t
t
t
e
A =
ph
sp
c
N N [25]
If n
0
is the refractive index of the amplifying medium (where n
0
=c/v), then by taking into
account the refractive index of the medium, the above equation can be written as
0 3
2
0
3
0
1 2
} }{
2
{ ) ( e
t
t
t
e
A =
ph
sp
c
n
N N [26]
This is known as Schawlow and Townes Condition (Threshold condition) for population
inversion near the line g(v) at v=v
0
for laser oscillation.