Experiments suggest that the carbon sheets can produce beams in broad range of colors
Graphene, hailed as one of the thinnest, strongest and most conductive materials ever found, seems to have bagged one more amazing property. Experiments suggest that it can be used to create ultrashort laser pulses of any color, owing to an ability to absorb light over a broad range of wavelengths.
The discovery could help researchers to build small, cheap and highly versatile ultrashort-pulse lasers, with potential applications ranging from micro-machinery to medicine.
Conventional ultrashort-pulse lasers use a material that absorbs light like a sponge and then releases it back in quick bursts, typically lasting for femtoseconds (one femtosecond is 10?15 seconds, or one millionth of a billionth of a second). These “saturable absorbers” function only at specific wavelengths, says Roy Taylor, a physicist at Imperial College London. Applications such as monitoring pollutants in the atmosphere need to use multiple wavelengths to detect a range of molecules, so several separate lasers are required.
In 2009, physicist Andrea Ferrari of the University of Cambridge, UK, and his collaborators first showed that graphene— a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon, with the atoms arranged in hexagons like chicken wire—can act as a light sponge in the infrared spectrum. More recently, Taylor, Ferrari and colleagues from the United Kingdom and Switzerland have coaxed the material to produce pulses of infrared radiation lasting tens of femtoseconds.
Now, the researchers have improved their device to produce a broad spectrum of infrared wavelengths, which are useful in applications such as fiber optic communications. Moreover, their results, together with the known properties of graphene, suggest that the material should be able to yield similar ultrashort pulses over the entire spectrum of visible light as well, says Ferrari. The team’s latest results will be reported at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics in San Jose, Calif., in June.
On–off switch
The Latest Bing News on:
Ultrashort laser pulses
- Towards Exawatt-Class Lasers: New Concept for Next-Generation Ultra-Intense Laserson January 16, 2021 at 8:06 pm
Ultra-intense lasers with ultra-short pulses and ultra-high energies are powerful ... has one important characteristic of high intensity (or high peak power for pulse lasers): historically, laser peak ...
- Researchers refine laser method to 3-D print delicate glass partson January 15, 2021 at 11:25 am
D printing intricate parts made of glass. With further development, the new method could be useful for making complex optics for vision, imaging, illumination or laser-based applications. “Most 3-D ...
- Laser-based process to 3D print detailed glass objectson January 12, 2021 at 2:22 pm
Researchers have developed a new laser-based process for 3D printing intricate parts made of glass. With further development, the new method could be useful for making complex optics for vision, ...
- Researchers develop laser-based process to 3-D print detailed glass objectson January 12, 2021 at 9:00 am
D printing intricate parts made of glass. With further development, the new method could be useful for making complex optics for vision, imaging, illumination or laser-based applications.
- Scientists unveil latest femtosecond laseron January 11, 2021 at 2:49 pm
head of the team of Ultrafast Laser Techniques at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences. "We deal with sources that produce ultrashort pulses of light. Really very ...
- Laser harmonyon January 11, 2021 at 9:57 am
head of the team of Ultrafast Laser Techniques at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences. "We deal with sources that produce ultrashort pulses of light. Really very ...
- Towards Exawatt-class laserson January 10, 2021 at 9:00 pm
Researchers from Osaka University propose a concept for next-generation ultra-intense lasers, possibly increasing the current record from 10 Petawatts to 500 Petawatts.
- Laser Solutions for Device Cutting from Tubes and Flat Stockon January 10, 2021 at 4:00 pm
The long (e.g., 50 µs) pulse duration can cause a small amount of heat-affected zone (HAZ) such as recast material and minor edge roughness, which may require some post-processing. Fortunately, the ...
- How Laser Technology Market Booming Worldwide? Fortune Business Insightson January 5, 2021 at 4:22 am
The increasing integration of laser technologies in semiconductor optoelectronic devices such as LDs and LEDs, and ultrashort pulse laser will have a tremendous impact on the market, states ...
- Laser Technology Market 2020 Industry Size, Business Opportunities, Top Key Players, and Global Analysis by Forecast to 2027on January 5, 2021 at 3:11 am
The increasing integration of laser technologies in semiconductor optoelectronic devices such as LDs & LEDs, and ultrashort pulse laser will have a tremendous impact on the market, states Fortune ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Ultrashort laser pulses
The Latest Bing News on:
Ultrashort-pulse lasers
- Lens for 532 nm applications has 13 µm spot sizeon January 12, 2021 at 6:33 am
The F-Theta lens for 532 nm applications, part of the Silverline lens portfolio, is designed for high-volume electronic production with ultrashort-pulse lasers such as PCB depaneling. The solid ...
- Laser Solutions for Device Cutting from Tubes and Flat Stockon January 10, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Fortunately, the new type of laser—the ultrashort-pulse (USP) laser with femtosecond output pulses—eliminates the HAZ issue. With USP lasers, most of the extra heat associated with the cutting or ...
- Jenoptik's F-Theta Lens Withstands Kilowatt-Powered Laserson January 7, 2021 at 9:04 am
The company says it designed the solid-fused silica lens especially for high-volume electronic production processes, such as PCB depaneling, that use ultrashort pulse lasers. Jenoptik says the F-Theta ...
- Detecting cancerous cells faster and more accurately with multimodal imagingon January 6, 2021 at 1:00 am
Laser-based microscopes usually use only one ... Basis: novel tunable ultrashort pulse source In cooperation with the Belgian research institute Multitel the scientists of the LZH are working ...
- How Laser Technology Market Booming Worldwide? Fortune Business Insightson January 5, 2021 at 4:22 am
The increasing integration of laser technologies in semiconductor optoelectronic devices such as LDs and LEDs, and ultrashort pulse laser will have a tremendous impact on the market, states ...
- Laser Technology Market 2020 Industry Size, Business Opportunities, Top Key Players, and Global Analysis by Forecast to 2027on January 5, 2021 at 3:11 am
The increasing integration of laser technologies in semiconductor optoelectronic devices such as LDs & LEDs, and ultrashort pulse laser will have a tremendous impact on the market, states Fortune ...
- Global Picosecond Ultrafast Lasers Market Overview Report by 2020-2025on December 24, 2020 at 12:41 am
The global Picosecond Ultrafast Lasers market size is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2020 to 2025, with a CAGR of xx%% in the forecast period of 2020 to 2025 and will ...
- CARMEN imaging project aims to improve detection of cancerous cellson December 23, 2020 at 8:24 am
In cooperation with the Belgian research institute Multitel, the LZH scientists are working on a fiber-based ultrashort pulse source for the new laser system. The source will synchronously pump two ...
- Trumpf establishes joint venture to develop ultrashort-pulse disk laserson December 2, 2020 at 4:00 pm
has founded Trumpf Scientific Lasers GmbH + Co. KG (Munich, Germany), which will develop and manufacture ultrashort-pulse lasers for the scientific market based on Trumpf’s disk-laser technology. Dec ...
- Nitinol R&D Accelerates in Northeast Ohioon December 1, 2020 at 4:00 pm
a femtosecond laser purchased by the NCA. Two heads are better than one, according to the old saying. But in the case of the Nitinol Commercialization Accelerator (NCA), no less than six institutes ...
