World’s first 3D microlaser created, has a gooey Bragg-onion center

Solid-state lasers are fine, durable and reliable and all that, but what if you want something a little softer, maybe a little more conforming to your needs and moods? Or, what if you want something that can beam light in all directions at once ? Then you need to go liquid, baby, liquid. That’s what Slovenian scientists (and diacritic wunderkinds) Matjaž Humar and Igor Muševič have done, creating, in their words, “3D microlasers from self-assembled cholesteric liquid-crystal microdroplets.” Various layers of fluids form what’s called a Bragg-onion optical microcavity, including embedded crystals not unlike those that flip the tiny switches in an LCD . These blobs are self-assembled chemically and, when a little laser is applied to them, can create a 3D image by shining their light in every dimension simultaneously. Well, not every one — you know the Fifth Dimension can only be seen if you let the sunshine in. World’s first 3D microlaser created, has a gooey Bragg-onion center originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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