Fresh insights into living cells, brighter video projectors and more accurate medical tests are just three of the innovations that could result from a new way of fabricating lasers.
The new method, developed by an international research team from U of T Engineering, Vanderbilt University, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and others, produces continuous laser light that is brighter, less expensive and more tuneable than current devices by using nanoparticles known as quantum dots.
"We've been working with quantum dots for more than a decade," says Ted Sargent, a professor in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at U of T. "They are more than five thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair, which enables them to straddle the worlds of quantum and classical physics and gives them useful optical properties."
"Quantum dots are well-known bright light emitters," says Alex Voznyy, a senior research associate in Sargent's lab. "They can absorb a lot of energy and re-emit it at a particular frequency, which makes them a particularly suitable material for lasers."
By carefully controlling the size of the quantum dots, the researchers in Sargent's lab can 'tune' the frequency, or colour, of the emitted light to any desired value. By contrast, most commercial lasers are limited to one specific frequency, or a very small range, defined by the materials they are made from.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2, Insightful) by darkpixel on Wednesday March 22 2017, @12:02AM
"Quantum dots are well-known bright light emitters,"
...so what you're really saying is that your real money-maker is the next generation of stupid blue LEDs that get plastered over the face of all electronic devices and that they will get brighter and slightly more blue-er?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 22 2017, @12:18AM (2 children)
This could be the key to white lasers!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 22 2017, @04:00AM
I'm not sure how seriously you meant that, but a typical quantum dot laser would have a single wavelength as well; the point TFA's clumsily trying to make is that the wavelength is controlled by the geometry of the dots, rather than by a material characteristic, and thus may be freely selected at design/build time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 22 2017, @07:43AM
David Duke, is that you?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Some call me Tim on Wednesday March 22 2017, @01:24AM (1 child)
Dammit, now we need to make really small sharks!
Questioning science is how you do science!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 22 2017, @01:33AM
Nah the sharks can stay the same size, this just miniaturizes the laser apparatus that would be attached to their heads, reducing the shark laser from a bicycle helmet sized harness to a laser medallion, broach or maybe tiara. The reduction in size and accompanying removal of the visual obstruction that plagued the first generation (laser barrels that point forward tend to be hard to see around) means that the animal will be able to be on duty for longer periods without requiring rest. Of course, this would enable the creation of fewer laser sharks in the future to do the work of many in the past.
Now if only we could do something about the portable nuclear fission power source strapped to the back...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Scrutinizer on Wednesday March 22 2017, @03:09AM
Citizens, be sure to check to see if your new portable quantum-dot laser is made in the USA!
'Cause if it isn't, the Food and Drug administration [laserglow.com] won't let you have it. (I will admit to conflicting feelings [laserpointerforums.com] on this.)