South Africa: Scientists Develop the World's First Digital Laser
press release
Researchers at South Africa's Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have developed the world's
first digital laser. This innovation is regarded as a milestone in laser
technology and could spur future laser-related innovations.
The team has shown that laser beams can be digitally controlled from within a laser device. Their findings have just been published in a prestigious journal, Nature Communications, in the following issue: Nature Communications 4, no 2289, 2 August 2013.
There is hardly a domain of our modern existence which does not benefit from some form of laser technology. The domains range from devices for laser lighting displays in entertainment to office equipment such as laser printers, DVD players at home, barcode scanners in the shops, surgical technology in hospitals or devices to cut and weld industrial materials in factories.
"This ground breaking development is further evidence of the great potential we have in scientific innovation - that the world's first digital laser should come from our country is testimony to the calibre of scientists that South Africa has," says Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Derek Hanekom.
Laser devices normally consist of mirrors, energy (light) and a casing containing a medium, for example crystal or glass. The medium changes the frequency of the light to create a laser beam with the perfect characteristics for these different applications.
In conventional lasers, the shape of the light that comes out is either not controlled at all, or a single shape is selected by expensive optics. For example, when a medical doctor undertakes surgery, the beam must be appropriate for precision-cutting.
Alternatively, the laser light can be shaped after exiting the laser using a spatial light modulator - a liquid crystal display (LCD) that can be digitally addressed with grey-scale images representing the desired change to the light. The CSIR team has demonstrated for the first time that this can all be done inside the laser.
"Our digital laser uses the LCD as one of its mirrors that is fitted at one end of the laser cavity. Just as with LCD televisions, the LCD inside the laser can be sent pictures to display. When the pictures change on the LCD inside, the properties of the laser beams that exit the device change accordingly," says Prof Andrew Forbes, leader of the mathematical optics research group.
Source: All Africa
The team has shown that laser beams can be digitally controlled from within a laser device. Their findings have just been published in a prestigious journal, Nature Communications, in the following issue: Nature Communications 4, no 2289, 2 August 2013.
There is hardly a domain of our modern existence which does not benefit from some form of laser technology. The domains range from devices for laser lighting displays in entertainment to office equipment such as laser printers, DVD players at home, barcode scanners in the shops, surgical technology in hospitals or devices to cut and weld industrial materials in factories.
"This ground breaking development is further evidence of the great potential we have in scientific innovation - that the world's first digital laser should come from our country is testimony to the calibre of scientists that South Africa has," says Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Derek Hanekom.
Laser devices normally consist of mirrors, energy (light) and a casing containing a medium, for example crystal or glass. The medium changes the frequency of the light to create a laser beam with the perfect characteristics for these different applications.
In conventional lasers, the shape of the light that comes out is either not controlled at all, or a single shape is selected by expensive optics. For example, when a medical doctor undertakes surgery, the beam must be appropriate for precision-cutting.
Alternatively, the laser light can be shaped after exiting the laser using a spatial light modulator - a liquid crystal display (LCD) that can be digitally addressed with grey-scale images representing the desired change to the light. The CSIR team has demonstrated for the first time that this can all be done inside the laser.
"Our digital laser uses the LCD as one of its mirrors that is fitted at one end of the laser cavity. Just as with LCD televisions, the LCD inside the laser can be sent pictures to display. When the pictures change on the LCD inside, the properties of the laser beams that exit the device change accordingly," says Prof Andrew Forbes, leader of the mathematical optics research group.
Source: All Africa
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