Researchers from the University of Wisconsin Madison have applied a simplified technique for growing material into ultra-small lasers that can be used in miniature optoelectronics, computers, and sensors. The material is an organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites. While most recent research has focused on making perovskite compounds into thin films, the researchers have developed a method to grow into elongated crystals. The crystals are about 10-100 millionths of a meter long by about 400 nanometers across. Furthermore, the new growth technique skips the complicated equipment needed to make conventional lasers. The nanowires grow in about 20 hours once a glass plate coated with a solid reactant is submerged in a solution of the second reactant. There is no need for heat, vacuum, or special equipment. When tested in the lab, the lasers were nearly 100 percent efficient. Essentially every photon absorbed produced a photon of laser light. Before these nanowire lasers can be used in practical applications, their chemical stability must be improved. It is also important to find a way to stimulate the laser with electricity rather than light, which was just demonstrated.
Source: EurekAlert
