Difference between LED and LASER

Difference between LED and LASER, in this post the basic differences between LED and LASER. But before that, some basic information about LED and LASER is discussed before the differences.

Table of Contents

LED

The LED is a semiconductor p–n junction device that gives off spontaneous optical radiation when subjected to electronic excitation. The electronic excitation is achieved by applying a forward bias voltage across the p–n junction. This excitation energizes electrons within the material into an ‘excited’ state which is unstable. When the energized electrons return to the stable state, they release energy in the process and this energy is given off in the form of photons.

The radiated photons could be in the UV, visible or IR part of the electromagnetic spectrum depending on the energy band-gap of the semiconductor material. In LEDs, the conversion process is fairly efficient, thus resulting in very little heat compared to incandescent lights.

Advantages of LED

Simple design.
Ease of manufacture
Simple system integration
Low cost
High reliability
Simple fabrication
simple drive circuitry
Linear light output against current characteristics
Less temperature-dependent.

Disadvantages of LED

Refraction of light at the semiconductor/air interface.
The average lifetime of radiative recombination is only a few nanoseconds, therefore modulation BW is limited to only a few hundred megahertz.
Low coupling efficiency usually low optical power coupled into fiber (µW).
Large chromatic dispersion.

LASER

Laser, which is the acronym for light amplification by stimulated emitted radiation, is a device that amplifies (generated) light, as the name suggests, but they are rarely used for this purpose in practice.

Lasers are used mainly as an optical oscillator with light bouncing back and forth in an optical cavity. One end of the cavity is made to have almost 100% reflection while the other is significantly less to allow the emission of monochromatic light (not exactly single wavelength but a very narrow band of wavelengths, typically 0.1–5 nm). In the operation of a laser, certain vital conditions are required to be met before lasing can take place.

Advantages of Laser

Simple economic design
High optical power
Production of light can be precisely controlled
Can be used at high temperature
High coupling efficiency
Low spectral width (3.5 nm).
High radiance compared to LED.
Modulation capabilities upto GHz range.
Ability to maintain the intrinsic layer charecterics over long periods.

Disadvantages of Laser

At the end of the fiber, a speckle pattern appears as two coherent light beams add or subtract their electric field depending upon their relative phase.
The laser diode is extremely sensitive to overload currents and at high transmission rates.