Just over a century ago, we moved from lanterns to incandescent lightbulbs and more recently, CLFs and LEDs. As we peek into the future, we can also see these amazing devices are going to be phased out soon, as well.
Scientists from Arizona State University have created a white laser, which is brighter and more efficient than that of most modern day LED’s. In short, lasers are powerful energy beams, able to emit up to 2 quadrillion watts of power.
All laser’s are based on the base principle of coherence (laser emits a narrow in bandwidth wavelengths), while typical light comprises of a much larger and wider wavelength.
So, in essence, creating a white laser is actually an irony. However, there are also other ways to generate a laser to appear as though it is actually emitting a white color, by combining several other laser beams together of different colors, in order to create a white laser.
Scientists from the ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering have developed a sheet of nanoscal semiconductor, based on that of a quaternary known as ZnCDSSe. With this advanced semiconductor sheet, the scientists where able to combine all three colors from the lasers, in order to form a new and pure white laser.
However, controlling the proportions of each of these colors, in order to create the white, was the tricky part. In order to achieve optimal constancy, the scientists had to adjust the lattice pattern of the semiconductor. This was tampered in order to provide all three of the lasers to produce a uniform required area. Thus, resulting in a single material consisting of different lattices, from which they were able to produce a white light laser.
Since 1960, lasers and laser applications have been in our life, and we have seen them mostly as death rays, laser swords, and even cutting-edge military technology. However, laser applications are being tested by large known corporations such as Facebook. Facebook is using laser technology in order to beam Internet at a rate of 10Gbps through drone technology.
With this new laser technology, there are several applications that would make it practical to use in our everyday life; such as televisions and monitors. Since the white laser is much brighter and more efficient, we can see the white laser replacing our current light source today.
Scientists are already working on a protocol to harness the power of laser light technology, in order for “futuristic optical communication.” Basically meaning, they are trying to use laser light technology to replace Wi-Fi, as the speeds of laser lights are much faster than that of our traditional Wi-Fi signals.
While the white laser has actually been developed, it is still years away from being anything practical. In order for this to become even a common light source, we would require it to run from batteries. As of now, the white laser is powered by a separate laser.
Sources: Fossbytes.
This article (White Laser: Created to Alter Lighting and Display Tech) is a free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com.
