Skip to content

The tiny laser system operates at room temperature

Introduction to the compact fiber laser

An international team of researchers has presented the world’s most compact fiber laser that can operate in the visible range at room temperature. Such a laser system emits a green coherent laser beam at room temperature; it is possible to detect the light with the naked eye by applying a conventional optical microscope.

Material and design of the laser system

The small fiber laser system utilizes halide perovskite as its material. This material enables them to produce coherent stimulated laser beam emission and to confine electromagnetic energy. The generation of laser beam radiation at room temperature requires “fabrication of a cubic-shaped, 310-nm nanoparticle from the perovskite and photoexciting it with a femtosecond laser pulse.”

Laser generation and threshold process

The design of the laser system efficiently reduces the stimulated emission energy, leading to a high enough amplification of electromagnetic fields for laser beam generation. The researchers claim that fiber laser generation is regarded as a threshold process: the nanoparticle with a laser beam pulse is excited, and then this particle creates laser emission at a specific ‘threshold’ intensity of the external source.

Room temperature operation

Insufficiently reduced light prevents the emission of a laser beam. Additionally, it is not required to use external pressure or a very low temperature for the nanoparticle to work as a fiber laser system. This type of system has already been tested and demonstrated effects described at a regular atmospheric pressure and at room temperature.

Potential applications

Fiber laser technology is regarded as highly promising for producing optical chips, sensors, and other devices that employ laser beam light to transfer and process information, containing chips for optical computers. The green portion of the visible spectrum creates obstacles for the development of laser systems, leading to challenges for room-temperature nanolasers made of conventional semiconductor materials.

Advantages of green fiber lasers

Fiber lasers that operate in the visible range are more compact than red and infrared (IR) sources with the same properties. “The volume of a small laser typically has a cubic dependence on the emission’s wavelength, and as the wavelength of green laser beam light is three times less than that of IR light, the limit of miniaturization is much greater for green fiber laser systems.”