Since the creation of the first working laser, scientists have fashioned these light sources from substances ranging from neon to sapphire. Silicon, however, was not considered a candidate. Its structure would not allow for the proper line-up of electrons needed to get this semiconductor to emit light.

Now a trio of Brown University researchers has achieved the impossible. The team has created the first directly pumped silicon laser. They did it by changing the atomic structure of silicon itself. This was accomplished by drilling billions of holes in a small bit of silicon, using a nanoscale template.

"There is fun in defying conventional wisdom, and this work definitely goes against conventional wisdom", Jimmy Xu, leader of the research team, said.

Currently, this breakthrough is not yet practical, because, as Xu said, the laser has to be engineered so that it operates at room temperature (the laser requiring a temperature of 200°C below zero).

The researcher is convinced that once a material with the electronic properties of silicon and the optic properties of a laser is discovered, it will be usable in the electronics and the communications industries.


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