amplifiers are often incorporated into laser systems. However, except in a few exceptional cases, light amplifiers would not be regarded as lasers. A laser consists of a pumped amplifying medium positioned between two mirrors as indicated below. The purpose of the mirrors is to provide what is described as 'positive feedback'. This means simply that some of the light that emerges from the amplifying medium is reflected back into it for further amplification. Laser mirrors usually do not reflect all wavelengths or colors of light equally well - their reflectivity is matched to the wavelength or color at which the laser operates. In appearance, they do not look like ordinary mirrors and are transparent at some wavelengths. An amplifier with positive feedback is known as an oscillator.


The space between the two mirrors is known as the laser cavity. The beam within the cavity undergoes multiple reflections between the mirrors and is amplified each time it passes through the amplifying medium. One of the mirrors reflects almost all of the light that falls upon it (total reflector in the above diagram). The other mirror reflects between 20% and 98% of the incident light depending upon the type of laser, the light that is not reflected being transmitted through the mirror. This transmitted portion constitutes the output beam of the laser.

The laser cavity has several important functions. Following pumping, spontaneous emission of light from excited atoms within the amplifying medium initiates the emission of low intensity light into the laser cavity. This light is increased in intensity by multiple passes through the amplifying medium so that it rapidly builds up into an intense beam. In the absence of cavity mirrors, this self-starting process, or oscillation, would not occur.

The cavity ensures that the divergence of the beam is small. Only light that travels in a direction closely parallel to the axis of the cavity can undergo multiple reflections at the mirrors and make multiple passes through the amplifying medium. More divergent rays execute a zig-zag path within the cavity and wander out of it.

The laser cavity also improves the spectral purity of the laser beam. Usually, the amplifying medium will amplify light within a narrow range of wavelengths. However, within this narrow range, only light of particular wavelengths can undergo repeated reflection up and down the cavity. The characteristics that a light beam within the cavity must possess in order to undergo repeated reflections define what is referred to as a cavity mode. Light which may still be amplified by the amplifying medium but which does not belong to one of these special modes of oscillation is rapidly attenuated and will not be present in the output beam. This behaviour is similar to that of a vibrating guitar string in that a particular string will only vibrate at certain frequencies. In a similar way, an optical cavity will only sustain repeated reflections for particular well-defined wavelengths of light.


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