Lesson: Lasers Physics • 9th Grade

In this lesson, we will learn how to describe the components of a laser and how lasers produce coherent light.

Lesson Plan

Students will be able to

understand that atoms in excited states can spontaneously emit photons,
understand that atoms in excited states can be stimulated to emit photons,
understand that photons emitted by stimulated emission will have the same frequency and phase as the incident photon,
label the gain medium, the output coupler, and the high reflector on a diagram of a simple laser,
recall some gain media,
state what is meant by the term population inversion.

Lesson Worksheet

Q1:

Which of the following statements is the correct definition of population inversion?

Q2:

In order for a laser to produce laser light, the number of atoms in the gain medium in excited states must be greater than the number of atoms in unexcited states. What is the term for this phenomenon?

Q3:

Which of the following statements correctly describes the stimulated emission of photons from excited atoms?