Disposable Lasers Created Using Inkjet Printer (dailymail.co.uk)

An anonymous reader quotes this report from The Daily Mail: Researchers have invented a way to print lasers that's so cheap, easy and efficient they believe the core of the laser could be disposed of after each use. The disposable organic lasers amplify light with carbon-containing materials and they are produced using a simple inkjet printer...

"The low-cost and easiness of laser chip fabrication are the most significant aspects of our results," said Sebastien Sanaur, an associate professor in the Center of Microelectronics in Provence at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Saint-Etienne in France... One obstacle that has held back organic lasers is the fact that they degrade relatively quickly -- but that hurdle might be less daunting if the lasers are so cheap they could be tossed when they fail. Sanaur's research team produced their ultra-low-cost organic laser using a familiar technology: an inkjet printer... They estimate it could be produced for only a few cents. Like the replaceable blades in a razor, the lasing capsule could be easily swapped out when it deteriorates.

Comments

Disposable?

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

Why the fuck would anyone create yet another disposable anything? Is there a widespread contagion of viruses caused by unsanitary lasers shared by groups of people?

We live in a closed system with limited ressources, stop wasting them and turning them into garbage!

Re:Disposable?

[Anonymous Coward]

Anything can be disposable at any price if the use has other constraints. I've worked with equipment in the past used for mining and ocean monitoring equipment that had $1k+ lasers that were disposable, because it would have taken a lot more resources to make the rest of the equipment survive longer or be easier to retrieve, etc. A classmate in grad school worked on an experiment that would destroy about $10k with of optics every time it went off. But that was enough years ago that now the experimental setup would be a lot cheaper to not bother with half the optics and just pay for a couple laser diodes to be lost every shot.

Engineering isn't about making everything last as long as possible at any cost, but about minimizing the resources needed to make something work within necessary constraints. And quite often, you can use less resources by not making every part as strong as possible. Saying nothing should be made disposable runs counter to your plea that we need to stop wasting resources.

Re:Why do you hate capitalism?

[thinkwaitfast]

Not too long ago, fewer than 10 years ago, people here used to get excited about developments like this and all the new technologies it would enable. Print a monitor or any sort of electronic circuit on a piece of cheap paper for pennies, no more big polluting factories. Download and print a cell phone, print a wall size monitor. It's what all the nerds wanted.

Now nerds want comic book movies and to complain about the doom and gloom of the future. Well good luck with that. The enlightenment is dead, long live romanticism. I hear there's a new zombie move coming out.

Re:Scientific Article with actual info

[ColdWetDog]

This is the Daily Mail. I don't think this quite gets to the 'professional journalism' level.

Re:Why do you hate capitalism?

[cosmo154]

Did you pay Cash for your houses, and vehicles?

No?

Then you don't own them, so if that's the case, your point is a bit thin, at best.