3D microlasers from self-assembled cholesteric liquid-crystal microdroplets, a new microlaser developed at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana and this microlaser is small,tunable, cheap and essentially the world’s first practical three-dimensional laser……
Scientists in Slovenia has made a breakthrough that has resulted in the world’s first microlaser that emits in 3D. The new 3D microlaser was created at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia.The laser that has been developed is small, tunable, and cheap to build making it the world’s first practical 3D laser. The laser has been described in a recent issue of Optics Express and was developed by Matjaž Humar and Igor Muševic. The laser is a microdroplet 3D laser system that allows light to shine in all directions using a dye molecule lodged inside spherical drops of helical molecules that are dispersed in a liquid.
The molecules don’t mix well with the polymer liquid that surrounds them. The inability of the two to mix creates an index of refraction that varies periodically outward through the body of the 15 micron droplets. The researchers describe the molecules like an onion with the layers corresponding to materials with different index of refraction.The active medium inside the new lasers is the florescent dye molecules that are inside the liquid crystals. The lasers are very easy to build because the molecules self assemble according to chemistry meaning that no fabrication process is needed.
