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First Room-Temperature Germanium Laser Completed
eldavojohn writes "MIT researchers have built and demonstrated the first room-temperature germanium laser that can produce light at wavelengths suited for communication. This achievement has two parts: '[U]nlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips. So the result could prove an important step toward computers that move data — and maybe even perform calculations — using light instead of electricity. But more fundamentally, the researchers have shown that, contrary to prior belief, a class of materials called indirect-band-gap semiconductors can yield practical lasers.' While these are only the initial steps in what may become optical computing devices, the article paints it as very promising. The painful details will be published in the journal Optics Letters."
Why is this better than existing solid-state lasers?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
It does suck for the English, they could use Europium but the best I could find was Rhodium, meaning rose. The next best is Rutherfordium for Ernest Rutherford as he was a British citizen but was born a New Zealander.
Hell even Ytterby a Swedish village has two elements named after it (Ytterbium and Yttrium).
A few more but by no means an exhaustive list.
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Don't forget Terbium (Tb) and Erbium (Er). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytterby