Spaser Technology with Graphene Could Create Tiny Phones that Print on Your Clothing

Phones are become smaller and smaller as technology improves. But could you ever imagine them being mall enough to be printed on your clothing? Scientists have developed a new version of "spaser" technology that could result in mobile phones that are so small, efficient and flexible, that might just be possible.

A spaser is essentially a nanoscale laser or nanolaser. It emits a beam of light through the vibration of free electrons, rather than space-consuming electromagnetic wave emission. Spaser-based devices can actually be used as an alternative to current transistor-based devices, such as microprocessors, memory and displays, in order to overcome bandwidth limitations.

In this case, the researchers decided to use graphene, a high-tech, ultra-light material, for their spaser.

"Other spasers designed to date are made of gold or silver nanoparticles and semiconductor quantum dots while our device would be composed of a graphene resonator and a carbon nanotube gain element," said Chanaka, one of the researchers, in a news release. "The use of carbon means our spaser would be more robust and flexible, would operate at high temperatures, and be eco-friendly. Because of these properties, there is the possibility that in the future an extremely thin mobile phone could be printed on clothing."

The new spaer is created using graphene and carbon nanotubes, which are more than a hundred times stronger than steel. They can conduct heat and electricity much better than copper, and can also withstand high temperatures.

"Graphene and carbon nanotubes can be used in applications where you need strong, lightweight, conducting, and thermally stable materials due to their outstanding mechanical, electrical and optical properties," said Chanaka in a news release. "They have been tested as nanoscale antennas, electric conductors and waveguides."

The findings could mean new ways to create devices that are both small and strong. This could be huge in both the technological and medical fields. Spaser can generate high-intensity electric fields concentrated into a nanoscale space, which means fields that are far stronger than ones generated by illuminating metal nanoparticles by a laser in applications such as cancer therapy.

The findings are published in the journal ACS Nano.