The most powerful sound laser ever made

The microsphere, levitated by the dual beam optical tweezer (green), is driven by the active optomechanical system (red) to generate nonlinear phonon lasers (coloured waves). Meanwhile, the injected electrical signal, represented by the white lightning mark, acts as a simple but powerful way to enhance the quality of the nonlinear phonon laser, shown as the coloured spectrum.
Credit by Guangzong Xiao, Tengfang Kuang, Yutong He, Xinlin Chen, Wei Xiong, Xiang Han, Zhongqi Tan, Hui Luo, Hui Jing

Scientists have made a significant leap in developing lasers that use sound waves instead of light. These “phonon lasers” hold promise for advancements in medical imaging, deep-sea exploration, and other areas.

The new technique involves a tiny electronic nudge that dramatically enhances the power and precision of the sound waves produced by the laser. This paves the way for future devices that could utilize sound for a broader range of applications.

Previously, phonon lasers made from small objects suffered from weak and imprecise sound waves, limiting their usefulness. The new method overcomes this challenge by essentially “locking” the sound waves into a more stable and powerful state.

This breakthrough paves the way for powerful and precise phonon lasers suitable for real-world applications, such as medical imaging and deep-sea exploration. Phonon lasers can create more sensitive and less harmful medical imaging techniques, while deep-sea vehicles could implement improved communication and navigation.

Phonon lasers could also have applications in material science, quantum computing, and other fields.

This research represents a significant step forward in phonon laser development, potentially unlocking a range of new technologies.

Journal: eLight
DOI: 10.1186/s43593-024-00064-8
Article Title: Giant enhancement of nonlinear harmonics of an optical-tweezer phonon laser

Media Contact

WEI ZHAO
Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences
zhaowei@ciomp.ac.cn
Office: 86-431-861-76852

Expert Contacts

Guangzong Xiao
National University of Defense Technology
xiaoguangzong@nudt.edu.cn

Hui Luo
National University of Defense Technology
luohui.luo@163.com

Hui Jing
Hunan Normal University
jinghui@hunnu.edu.cn

Media Contact

WEI ZHAO
Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences

All latest news from the category: Physics and Astronomy

This area deals with the fundamental laws and building blocks of nature and how they interact, the properties and the behavior of matter, and research into space and time and their structures.

innovations-report provides in-depth reports and articles on subjects such as astrophysics, laser technologies, nuclear, quantum, particle and solid-state physics, nanotechnologies, planetary research and findings (Mars, Venus) and developments related to the Hubble Telescope.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Novel catalyst for charge separation in photocatalytic water splitting

A research team led by Prof. JIANG Hailong, Prof. LUO Yi, and Prof. JIANG Jun from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) discovered a metal-organic framework (MOF)…

Finding a missing piece for neurodegenerative disease research

Research led by the University of Michigan has provided compelling  evidence that could solve a fundamental mystery in the makeup of fibrils that play a role in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and…

BESSY II: New procedure for better thermoplastics

Thermoplastic blends, produced by a new process, have better resilience. Now, experiments at the IRIS beamline show, why: nanocrystalline layers increase their performance. Bio-based thermoplastics are produced from renewable organic…