Cooler Silicon Lasers Via Energy Harvesting

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday May 4, 2007 @06:08AM from the more-power-to-ya dept.

Light Licker writes "UCLA researchers have developed a way to cut power use and heat output from a silicon laser used for optoelectronics. Both have been problems because silicon absorbs too much light — producing high-energy free electrons that make heat. One of Intel's best silicon lasers produced 125 times more heat than usable light. The UCLA team added a diode to their laser which can harvest free electrons and use them to help power the circuit — simultaneously cutting heat output and power use."

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Not expected? by pclminion · 2007-05-04 06:13 · Score: 1, Flamebait

"It's a very clever approach," says Philippe Fauchet, an applied physicist at the University of Rochester in New York State. "I did not expect it at all, which is always a nice surprise."

An applied physicist "didn't expect" that an electric field would move the free electrons out of the way?