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UK physicists tie light in knots 'for laser developments'
A team of scientists at UK universities have tied light in knots, a development they claim to be important to laser technology.
Light has been tied in knots by a team of physicists in the UK, a development which is said to be important to laser technology for a variety of industries, which could include the semiconductor sector.
Physicists working at Southampton, Glasgow and Bristol universities created optical vortices with holograms which direct the flow of light.
The Nature Physics study explained that although light can travel in a straight line, it also flows in "whirls and eddies", forming optical vortices.
Knot theory was used to design the holograms and professor Miles Padgett, from Glasgow University, said: "The sophisticated hologram design required for the experimental demonstration of the knotted light shows advanced optical control, which undoubtedly can be used in future laser devices."
In an effort to find an explanation of atoms, Lord Kelvin began studying knotted vortices in 1867.
Other laser developments which could impact upon the semiconductor industry is that made by the Japan Society of Applied Physics, where researchers observed a maximum wavelength of 506.4 nanometres under pulsed operation - the longest reported for aluminium gallium nitride cladding-free III-nitride laser diodes.
