Nanolasers: Researchers Create Lasers the Size of a Virus Particle

Posted on November 5, 2012

Northwestern University researchers say they have found a way to manufacture virus-sized lasers. The plasmonic nanolasers operate at room temperature. The results are published in an article in the journal Nano Letters.

Teri Odom, a nanotechnology expert who led the research, said in a release, "Coherent light sources at the nanometer scale are important not only for exploring phenomena in small dimensions but also for realizing optical devices with sizes that can beat the diffraction limit of light."

Odom says one reason they were able to make these nanolasers is because they "made the lasing cavity out of metal nanoparticle dimers -- structures with a 3-D 'bowtie' shape." The researchers say the bowtie geometry offers the following benefits:

  1. The bowtie structure provides a well-defined, electromagnetic hot spot in a nano-sized volume because of an antenna effect
  2. The individual structure has only minimal metal "losses" because of its discrete geometry.

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