Developed by a consortium of researchers, and dubbed the “spaser,” it is the thinnest laser ever developed. About 44 nanometers in diameter and about 10 times smaller than the wavelength of light, the nanolaser could pave the way for superfast computers, which use light to process data instead of electrons currently used. This novel invention that emits visible light has been brought about by harnessing clouds of electrons called “surface Plasmons,“ which produce photons of light waves.
Cased in a glass shell, the spacers are drenched in green dye, through which when light is shown, plasmons generated by the gold cores amplify and photons of visible light are created in form of laser. This unique development in nanophotonics could also be used to create powerful hyperlenses that besides use in computers would also be used in sensors and microscopes, making them highly efficient to even see objects as small as DNA.
Via: Purdue
