Guest_Jim_* Posted April 28, 2015 Posted April 28, 2015 Since their creation, lasers have proven an invaluable tool for analysis, and that is not going to change anytime soon. With a push towards developing lab-on-a-chip technologies, lasers may become even more useful, in their smallest forms. Researchers at Northwestern University have recently created a nanolaser that is partially liquid and tunable, which would be of great use in various technologies, including lab-on-a-chip devices. Instead of using a lasing material between two mirrors to stimulate and amplify light of a specific frequency, this new lasers uses gold nanoparticles in a solution. Thanks to plasmonics, the gold nanoparticles concentrate the light around themselves, amplifying it. Plasmonic lasers have been made before, but always with a solid gain material, so this is the first liquid nanolaser. Among the advantages to using a liquid is that the liquid can be manipulated to alter the laser, such as changing the index of refraction to tune the frequency of the laser. This tuning can even be done in real time. While lab-on-a-chip devices may be one of the best examples of an application for this technology, it could also be used in optical data storage and lithography. All of these applications would likely benefit from how relatively inexpensive the design is and its stability, as the gain molecules can be constantly replaced. Source: Northwestern University Back to original news post Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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