News Article
Tiny GaAs lasers light up future electronics
Lasers made from gallium arsenide nanowires will lead to much faster and lighter computers because light travels faster than electrons, allowing much faster data processing
Faster, smaller electronics are one step closer with researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) successfully making the first room temperature lasers from GaAs nanowires.
“The wires and lasers will lead to much faster, much lighter computers because light travels faster than electrons, allowing us to process data much faster,” explains Dhruv Saxena from the Research School of Physics & Engineering.
“The lasers in use at the moment often require a lot of processing steps to produce a nice cavity and mirrors in order to emit laser light,” points out Saxena, who went on to explain these older lasers also are much bulkier.
Saxena authored a paper in Nature Photonics explaining how to make smaller lasers using GaAs nanowires - solid wires only several billionths of a metre in diameter.
Nanowires standing on substrate
These wires get ‘grown’ in the lab, says Sudha Mokkapati, an ANU-based ARC Super Science Fellow who co-authored the paper with Saxena. “We have a substrate covered in gold particles which act as catalysts, or seeds.”
“We provide gases containing gallium and arsenic and raise the temperature of the substrate up to 750°C. At these temperatures the elements react and nanowires start growing.”
Nian Jiang, Sudha Mokkapati, Hark Hoe Tan, Dhruv Saxena and Qiang Gao standing in front of the MOCVD reactor, used for growing nanowires. (Photo by Timothy Wetherell)
“It’s crystal growth,” adds Saxena. “The substrate provides the direction of the growth, so they grow straight up, standing vertically on the substrate instead of growing in random directions.”
“The shape of the nanowire confines light along its axis. The ends of the nanowire are like tiny mirrors that bounce light back and forth along the wire and the GaAs amplifies it. After a certain threshold, we get laser light,” says Mokkapati.
Pattern of light emitted from a nanowire laser
Now that GaAs nanowire lasers have been shown to work at room temperature, Saxena hopes this research will lead to cheaper, faster and lighter computers.
“We hope our lasers could be used in photonic circuits on a chip that enable computing using light,” concludes Chennupati Jagadish, who leads this research.
This work has been described in detail in the paper, "Optically pumped room-temperature GaAs nanowire lasers," by Dhruv Saxena et al in Nature Photonics, (2013), published online on 17th November 2013. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.303
“The wires and lasers will lead to much faster, much lighter computers because light travels faster than electrons, allowing us to process data much faster,” explains Dhruv Saxena from the Research School of Physics & Engineering.
“The lasers in use at the moment often require a lot of processing steps to produce a nice cavity and mirrors in order to emit laser light,” points out Saxena, who went on to explain these older lasers also are much bulkier.
Saxena authored a paper in Nature Photonics explaining how to make smaller lasers using GaAs nanowires - solid wires only several billionths of a metre in diameter.
Nanowires standing on substrate
These wires get ‘grown’ in the lab, says Sudha Mokkapati, an ANU-based ARC Super Science Fellow who co-authored the paper with Saxena. “We have a substrate covered in gold particles which act as catalysts, or seeds.”
“We provide gases containing gallium and arsenic and raise the temperature of the substrate up to 750°C. At these temperatures the elements react and nanowires start growing.”
Nian Jiang, Sudha Mokkapati, Hark Hoe Tan, Dhruv Saxena and Qiang Gao standing in front of the MOCVD reactor, used for growing nanowires. (Photo by Timothy Wetherell)
“It’s crystal growth,” adds Saxena. “The substrate provides the direction of the growth, so they grow straight up, standing vertically on the substrate instead of growing in random directions.”
“The shape of the nanowire confines light along its axis. The ends of the nanowire are like tiny mirrors that bounce light back and forth along the wire and the GaAs amplifies it. After a certain threshold, we get laser light,” says Mokkapati.
Pattern of light emitted from a nanowire laser
Now that GaAs nanowire lasers have been shown to work at room temperature, Saxena hopes this research will lead to cheaper, faster and lighter computers.
“We hope our lasers could be used in photonic circuits on a chip that enable computing using light,” concludes Chennupati Jagadish, who leads this research.
This work has been described in detail in the paper, "Optically pumped room-temperature GaAs nanowire lasers," by Dhruv Saxena et al in Nature Photonics, (2013), published online on 17th November 2013. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.303
