Photonic crystal lasers move into the blue
Researchers in Japan have for the first time produced a photonic crystal surface-emitting laser (PC-SEL) that emits in the blue-violet wavelength range. They claim that their innovative fabrication method is an important step in the development of laser sources that can be focused to a spot much less than the emitted wavelength. (Science Express 10.1126/science.1150413)
"We have succeeded in developing a new method in the GaN system resulting in a current-driven PC-SEL that emits at a peak wavelength of 406.5 nm," Susuma Noda, a researcher from Kyoto University, told optics.org. "PC-SELs operating at blue-violet wavelengths could find uses in a variety of new areas including next-generation information storage and micro- to nano-operation in biological or medical fields."
