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New Nano-Laser Created
Many sources are reporting that researchers have created the world's smallest laser since the inception of lasers almost a half-century ago. Dubbed "spasers," as an acronym for "surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," their incredibly tiny size could become a critical component for future technologies like "nanophotonic" circuitry. "Such circuits will require a laser-light source, but current lasers can't be made small enough to integrate them into electronic chips. Now researchers have overcome this obstacle, harnessing clouds of electrons called 'surface plasmons,' instead of the photons that make up light, to create the tiny spasers."
... geneticists are now working feverishly to develop the world's first nano-shark.
I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
I tried to find a driver for my new nano laser, for Ubuntu, but no luck. Help!
Awesome! I can finally get this mobile emitter working again so I can get the hell out of sick bay.
Ze Atomic Device! It iz Ztolen!
Optical Writeable Readable Hard drives that are Giga-giga-bakillion-kazakcipaloo-bytes and are random access/seeking - they're coming.
All this technology and Slashdot's scripts still suck.
"Suck" implies stable enough functionality to maintain a vacuum.
So do they split into three parallel beams, thus covering a wider area than a single beam could along? And do they do the whole sinusoidal-oscillation thing if combined with a Wave Beam?
But I think I'll wait for the Laser Shuffle.
I bet fiber optic would make good connections between multiple chips and/or other similarly capable hardware
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I see about three revolutionary breakthroughs per day, three of which never go anywhere because of cost or something. This reminds me of those "water on mars," articles -- we've been "getting new compelling evidence for water on mars" for decades. So, really, I've started to lose interest. I'll be excited when it finally goes somewhere. Really, what gets my blood pumping is what I can see coming down the pipe -- 128gb flash drives, C++0xA, etc.
"Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad." [Ecclesiastes 7:3]
"surface plasmons"
Really? Plasmons? Are they just making words up now?
http://CryoLANparty.com/ A lan I'm staff on!
someone can use this to further the idea/technologies of creating an artificial brain; use the spaser as an artificial receptors.
This is starting to be more than what I've dreamed to be. Is our nature going to evolve fast enough to keep up with the the technology, or are we escalating individual power enough to a point that the possibility of mass destruction by single individuals is going to be common, and therefore inevitable sooner or later.
I sincerely hope humans can keep up.
The tiny "pew pew pew" sounds? Hardly sounds fun to me.
"but current lasers can't be made small enough to integrate them into electronic chips."
Yeah, except VCSELs have been around since the 80s. They are definitely small enough to integrate into an electronic chip, and they have been for quite some time.
We have NO nano cats to use it with!
...of his peoples' accomplishment!
We have no nano cats to chase them!
Horton Hears the Pew!
Never mind. Like anyone here knows/remembers Mork and Mindy.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
needs to learn the definition of 'backronym'
Many sources are reporting that researchers have created the world's smallest laser since the inception of lasers almost a half-century ago.
How necessary is the end of that statement? Were they worried someone might assume a smaller laser had been created before the inception of lasers?
Just where do I get a nano shark to mount one of these ere lasers on?
--- Users are like bacteria -> Each one causing a thousand tiny crises until the host finally gives up and dies.
That formulation parses and functions for me.
It's a compact way of saying: ...
- Lasers were invented almost a century ago.
- Since then there has been a continuing series of inventions of progressively smaller lasers.
- And with each of these inventions the inventor and/or the media went into a hype frenzy about the latest "world's smallest laser"
- But there's something special about this one
And there is: It's the first one where the resonator (a size-limiting component) is MUCH smaller than a quarter-wavelength of the resonant frequency light.
And, as somebody who worked in a laser lab back in the late '60s and with cutting-edge semiconductors these days, I can attest that this little device is a BIG DEAL (TM).
I expect the next step - an electrically-pumped version - in a year or less. Followed by one that can be grown epitaxially on a wafer and hooked to a waveguide that's also built by stock chip manufacturing techniques. And that's the point where you switch to optics - first for getting signals on and off the chip (a BIG power eater), eventually maybe for getting signals around the chip.
Unless something BETTER comes along before then. (Which is the REAL reason most of these breakthroughs never make production.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
One of the more interesting talks this week at the UW is the one on nano-ethics.
At first I thought this was going to be about the ethics of using nanotech to observe or interact, but now I'm starting to wonder if it has to do with the ethics of giving nanobots some frickin nano-lasers to rebel against us with.
Remind me to get some ablative undershorts.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
...was featured on the arxiv blog not long ago: First Free-Electron Light Source on a Chip . Well, it isn't a Laser, yet. I know. But this also looks very promising for integrated optics and the team that's working on it want to get it lasing.
a PCI-X card using actual rays for ray tracing? I'd like that very much!
You may not short the signals, but you'd have to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.