First Ever White Lasers May be the Future of Wireless, Light-Based Communication

Scientists have created the first ever white lasers, which could be the future in lighting and light-based, wireless communication. Researchers have created lasers that are one step closer to being a mainstream light source.

In this latest study, the researchers created a novel nanosheet, which is a thin layer of semiconductor that measures roughly one-fifth of the thickness of human hair in size with a thickness that is roughly one-thousandth of the thickness of human hair-with three parallel segments, each supporting laser action in one of three elementary colors. The device is capable of lasing in any visible color, completely turning from red, green to blue, or any color in between.

This new advance actually puts lasers one step closer to being a mainstream light source. It also puts lasers a step closer to becoming a potential replacement or alternative to light emitting diodes (LEDs). Lasers are brighter, more energy efficient, and can potentially provide more accurate and vivid colors for displays like computer screens and televisions.

"The concept of white lasers first seems counterintuitive because the light from a typical laser contains exactly one color, a specific wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum, rather than a braod-range of different wavelengths," said Cun-Zheng Ning, one of the researchers, in a news release. "White light is typically viewed as a complete mixture of all of the wavelengths of the visible spectrum."

In typical LED-based lighting, a blue LED is coated with phosphor materials to convert a portion of the blue light to green, yellow and red light. This mixture of color light can be perceived as white light by humans and thus be used for general illumination. In this case, humans are just as comfortable with white light produced by diode lasers as that produced by LEDs.

With that said, this is the first proof of concept, which means a lot more needs to get done. With that said, this could be a huge step forward for lasers.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

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