world's first white lasers

[jos]

a thin layer of semiconductor that measures roughly one-fifth of the thickness of human hair in size with a thickness that is roughly one-thousandth of the thickness of human hair--with three parallel segments, each supporting laser action in one of three elementary colors. The device is capable of lasing in any visible color.

The technological advance puts lasers one step closer to being a mainstream light source and potential replacement  to LEDs. Lasers are brighter, more energy efficient, and can potentially provide more accurate and vivid colors for displays like computer screens and televisions. Ning's group has already shown that their structures could cover as much as 70 percent more colors than the current display industry standard..

Another important application could be in the future of visible light communication in which the same room lighting systems could be used for both illumination and communication. The technology under development is called Li-Fi for light-based wireless communication, as opposed to the more prevailing Wi-Fi using radio waves. Li-Fi could be more than 10 times faster than current Wi-Fi, and white laser Li-Fi could be 10 to 100 times faster than LED based Li-Fi currently still under development.

it is a single semiconductor piece capable of laser operation in the three fundamental lasing colors. The piece is small enough, so that people can perceive only one overall mixed color, instead of three individual colors

 

Hope it will reach market soon

Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=40895.php

[Knaj]

Next up is RGB Disco lasers.

[niofalpha]

I have a question... How can a laser be White if white isn't a color on the Visable spectrum of light?

[AlwaysFSX]

I have a question... How can a laser be White if white isn't a color on the Visable spectrum of light?

..how the hell do you see white then? Think about that.

[jos]

I have a question... How can a laser be White if white isn't a color on the Visable spectrum of light?

Lasers are distinguished from other light sources by their coherence. Spatial coherence is typically expressed through the output being a narrow beam, which is diffraction-limited. Laser beams can be focused to very tiny spots, achieving a very high irradiance, or they can have very low divergence in order to concentrate their power at a great distance. Lasers are characterized according to their wavelength in a vacuum. Most "single wavelength" lasers actually produce radiation in several modes having slightly differing frequencies (wavelengths), often not in a single polarization. Although temporal coherence implies monochromaticity, there are lasers that emit a broad spectrum of light or emit different wavelengths of light simultaneously. There are some lasers that are not single spatial mode and consequently have light beams that diverge more than is required by the diffraction limit. However, all such devices are classified as "lasers" based on their method of producing light, i.e., stimulated emission. Lasers are employed in applications where light of the required spatial or temporal coherence could not be produced using simpler technologies.

[Dabombinable]

Hmm...laser based point to point communication, I did that a while ago for voice using 2x torn down green laser pointers.

[Bensemus]

I have a question... How can a laser be White if white isn't a color on the Visable spectrum of light?

While light is all the colors combined. Shine a white light through a prism and you get a rainbow.

[niofalpha]

..how the hell do you see white then? Think about that.

White is a mixture of all the colors of light if I remember correctly, but normal light is all rays (hence why a Prism makes a rainbow). 

 

Lasers are distinguished from other light sources by their coherence. Spatial coherence is typically expressed through the output being a narrow beam, which is diffraction-limited. Laser beams can be focused to very tiny spots, achieving a very high irradiance, or they can have very low divergence in order to concentrate their power at a great distance. Lasers are characterized according to their wavelength in a vacuum. Most "single wavelength" lasers actually produce radiation in several modes having slightly differing frequencies (wavelengths), often not in a single polarization. Although temporal coherence implies monochromaticity, there are lasers that emit a broad spectrum of light or emit different wavelengths of light simultaneously. There are some lasers that are not single spatial mode and consequently have light beams that diverge more than is required by the diffraction limit. However, all such devices are classified as "lasers" based on their method of producing light, i.e., stimulated emission. Lasers are employed in applications where light of the required spatial or temporal coherence could not be produced using simpler technologies.

I'm not even gonna pretend I know what that means.

[iCrushDreams]

So Li-Fi is basically fiber optic communication without the cable.. I dig that.

[soaringchicken]

yee boi

[FaZe Booce]

I have a question... How can a laser be White if white isn't a color on the Visable spectrum of light?

It's magic. You know.

[DigitalHermit]

Next up is RGB Disco lasers.

 

Combine that tech with this tech:

 

 

Razer Chroma Projection Keyboards incoming....

[GoldSrc]

I'm not entirely sure, but I think white lasers were already a thing, so I will assume this uses better technology.

[patrickjp93]

..how the hell do you see white then? Think about that.

Simple, all three of your photoreceptor pigments are excited with near equal energy levels. You really should look into the anatomy of the eye and the science of optics. There's a reason "white" isn't a color of the rainbow or visible in a color-separating prism.

[othertomperson]

I have a question... How can a laser be White if white isn't a color on the Visable spectrum of light?

 

Because it's not a laser. It appears to be three lasers whose beams overlap.

 

 

I'm not even gonna pretend I know what that means.

 

He didn't really answer your question. He more sort of repeated it in more verbose language. The idea of coherence is about the light waves being emitted all being in phase. This almost always requires the light to be only one colour -- ie what you said was true that you cannot have a white laser.

[jos]

He didn't really answer your question. He more sort of repeated it in more verbose language. The idea of coherence is about the light waves being emitted all being in phase. This almost always requires the light to be only one colour -- ie what you said was true that you cannot have a white laser.

 

What i said is Laser uses stimulated emission. it is the process by which an incoming photon of a specific frequency can interact with an excited atomic electron, causing it to drop to a lower energy level.  An electron in an excited state may decay to a lower energy state which is not occupied, according to a particular time constant characterizing that transition. When such an electron decays without external influence, emitting a photon, that is called "spontaneous emission".  lasers can also have a spectrum consisting of multiple lines, and some (particularly mode-locked lasers for ultrashort pulses) can have a large spectral width of 100 nm or more with a frequency comb structure. Here they created 3 lasers in a semiconductor using stimulated emission, thie3 lights are RGB.they kept the three sources so close that eventhough the output is 3 lines of RGB we see it as white light. hence it have spatial coherence and hence laser

[gill2k]

Finally! White lightsabers!!!

[Shaade]

But I wanted black ones! D:

[AlwaysFSX]

Simple, all three of your photoreceptor pigments are excited with near equal energy levels. You really should look into the anatomy of the eye and the science of optics. There's a reason "white" isn't a color of the rainbow or visible in a color-separating prism.

But it is in the visible light spectrum technically because it's a color you can see. Orange is a mix of colors but it's still counted, so there's no difference for white.

[patrickjp93]

But it is in the visible light spectrum technically because it's a color you can see. Orange is a mix of colors but it's still counted, so there's no difference for white.

No, orange is an actual hue that exists as a single wavelength in the spectrum. White can only be produced by mixing a lot of lights of different wavelengths at the same energy levels.

[AlwaysFSX]

No, orange is an actual hue that exists as a single wavelength in the spectrum. White can only be produced by mixing a lot of lights of different wavelengths at the same energy levels.

..still the same thing imho..

 

Don't have a PhD in the field to know for sure though.

[patrickjp93]

..still the same thing imho..

 

Don't have a PhD in the field to know for sure though.

White does not exist as a single thing. Orange does. White is not a color in the spectrum. It's a compound "color" like brown is. Orange can be brought to you by a single light source at a certain wavelength. It's a singular color in light, a compound color in pigment. http://designbycoffee.com/hierarchy-of-color-consensus-seen-in-culture/

 

You can't get white without multiple wavelengths being present. You can get orange with only 1.

[AlwaysFSX]

White does not exist as a single thing. Orange does. White is not a color in the spectrum. It's a compound "color" like brown is. Orange can be brought to you by a single light source at a certain wavelength. It's a singular color in light, a compound color in pigment. http://designbycoffee.com/hierarchy-of-color-consensus-seen-in-culture/

 

You can't get white without multiple wavelengths being present. You can get orange with only 1.

Okay but as with brown, brown is considered a color, is it not?

[Bsmith]

Okay but as with brown, brown is considered a color, is it not?

 

every colour exists out of a singlewave length, except for black(no wavelength) and white(every wavelength)

[AlwaysFSX]

every colour exists out of a singlewave length, except for black(no wavelength) and white(every wavelength)

You're missing my point. Brown is technically considered a color even though it's a mix of different wavelengths. The only difference is that white is more wavelengths.