The fastest laser

1992/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika

In a project developed by scientists at Cornell University, the most frequent laser has been achieved to date. Its diameter is very small (smaller than that of a human hair) and works at a huge speed.

This laser works in 28 gigahertz, i.e. it turns on and off 28 billion times per second. The maximum frequency reached so far was 24 gigahertz.

But why is laser frequency so important?

The speed of a laser is critical to determining the amount of information that can be carried. With this new developed laser it is estimated that the speed of data transmission by fiber optic will be multiplied by 15.

To obtain these fine laser beams ultrafine materials are used, that is, with a width of 40 atoms.

These lasers should be placed in the family of lasers with quantum well effect. In the lasers of this family the electrons jump from one level of energy to another and emit photons like rays of light.