Physicists Dream Up the Antilaser

[n2doc]

By Alexandra Witze, Science News July 30, 2010 | 3:53 pm | Categories: Physics, Tech


Fifty years after physicists invented the laser, ushering in everything from supermarket scanners to music CDs, scientists have conceived its opposite — the “antilaser.”

Unlike its more popular cousin, the antilaser is unlikely to take over the world. Still, it could be useful one day, for instance in new types of optical switches for computers.

No one has yet reported building an antilaser, but a theoretical description of one appears in a paper published July 26 in Physical Review Letters.

“It’s kind of surprising that we’ve been using lasers for 50 years or so, and only now somebody noticed something pretty fundamental,” says Marin Soljačić, a physicist at MIT who was not involved in the work.

Instead of amplifying light into coherent pulses, as a laser does, an antilaser absorbs light beams zapped into it. It can be “tuned” to work at specific wavelengths of light, allowing researchers to turn a dial and cause the device to start and then stop absorbing light.



Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/antilaser/

[Taverner]

1. I envision T-Shirts that can change design while being worn

[NoNothing]

2. Fascinating

Sounds like they're on the road to inventing a dark bulb.

[thereismore]

3. Only if the incoming light is coherent (i.e., from another laser). nt

[Xipe Totec]

4. Or a laser shield nt

[valerief]

5. I think the general public needs an antitaser to protect themselves from bully cops. nt

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

6. Seeing as "laser" is an acronym for the amplification of light...

"anti-laser" would appear to be a misnomer.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. But "ldsar" is too hard to pronounce. nt

[ixion]

7. The early days of the 'Star Trek' like shield

very cool.