Collimating Semiconductor Lasers Without Lenses

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at Harvard University and Hamamatsu Photonics have found a way to collimate lasers without lenses. In the new 'plasmonic collimator' technique, grooves are etched directly into the semiconductor laser's internal mirror. This results in surface plasmons giving rise to constructive interference, eliminating the need for the bulky optical lenses that usually focus the light from semiconductor lasers. The technique has promise for steering laser beams without moving parts and for working with polarized light."

Comments

Re:It may be very cool

[dgatwood]

Amazing. A reference to a relatively mindless comedy (Austin Powers) gets modded up, while a reference to a really good geek movie (Real Genius) gets modded down as off topic. *sigh* Kids with mod points, I tell ya.... Bets on whether the person who modded the parent down had been born yet when this movie came out? :-)

Re:Translation:

[f8l_0e]

I don't know what's more sad.

1. Someone dumbing down a tech article for the slashdot crowd to read.

2. Said post getting modded up as informative.

Welcome to the new slashdot. Striving to be more like FOX news every day.

Re:Disc size reader?

[gmack]

From the article:The researchers claimed that the plasmonic collimator effect is similar to the way phased-array antennas steer a beam, creating the possibility of steering laser beams with no moving parts.