Lasers, they're just cool right?
Lasers come in all kinds of colors, whether it's the highly popular red, green, or violet colors, or some other fancy color, lasers are all essentially the same, but different light colors call for different characteristics.
One thing that has baffled scientists for years is how to make a laser emit white light. Although it has been possible to combine laser colors to create an illusion of white light, no scientist has yet been able to produce a single laser that emits a white light.
Until now, of course, because we wouldn't be taking the time to share this with you if it wasn't important!
Researchers from Arizona State University have found a way to make a single laser that emits light form every light spectrum, allowing white light to be formed. It is fully tunable, which means that the color can be changed at any time. The heart of the laser is a novel nanosheet, which the researchers say is ultra thin and small and provides the laser with its color options.
Lasers, which have been around since the 1960's, have always been one single color. Lasers are incredibly energy efficient and provide an incredibly accurate color display, which can't be said for many other forms of light emissions.
With a white laser now being demonstrated, researchers now have a credible platform for laser light testing that could change the world of lasers forever.
Despite having a credible platform however, it's still not what researchers want. Researchers still want to find a way to combine the diodes of the laser into one, so that rather than having three separate colors emitting to create white light, a single white laser diode will do the job for them.
"While this pioneering proof-of-concept demonstration is impressive, those independent lasers cannot be used for room lighting or in displays," university professor Cun-Zheng Ning said. "A single tiny piece of semiconductor material emitting laser light in all colors or in white is desired."
Although researchers eventually want to make lasers into a way to illuminate computer and TV displays, Ning doesn't feel that it's ready until a single diode can be created.
Nonetheless, this is some pretty breakthrough stuff. No one has ever made an all-in-one white laser before.
Source: Arizona State University via Science Daily
