Laser power

• One photon from a 488 nm argon laser has an energy of

  
  
  E= 6.63x10-34 joule-seconds x 3x108
  
  
  

• To get 1 joule out of a 488 nm laser you need 2.45 x 1018 photons

• 1 watt (W) = 1 joule/second a 10 mW laser at 488 nm is putting out 2.45x1016 photons/sec

• UV Laser at 325 nm is putting out 1.63x1018 photons/sec

• He-Ne laser at 653 nm is putting out 3.18x1018 photons/sec

E=h_ and E=hc/_

= 4.08x10-19 J

Shapiro p 77

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Laser power

This slide correlates the concept of light carrying energy at specific wavelengths to its application via lasers.