Scientists from Imperial College London and University College London have invented life-like lasers that can not only adapt their structure, but also swarm like living systems. This study hopes to further the development of smart photonic materials capable of better mimicking properties of biological matter, like responsiveness, adaptation, self-healing, and collective behavior.
Lasers are essentially devices that amplify light to generate a special form of light and the self-assembling lasers in this experiment consisted of microparticles dispersed in a liquid with high ‘gain’, or the ability to amplify light. Once enough of these microparticles swarmed, they are able to harness external energy to ‘lase’ – produce laser light. An external laser was utilized to heat up a ‘Janus’ particle (coated on one side with light-absorbing material), around which the microparticles gathered. This lasing produced by these microparticle clusters could be switched on / off by changing the intensity of the external laser, thus controlling the size and density of the cluster. Speaking of lasers, Cornell University researchers have already developed a microscopic robot that moves using laser pulses.
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Our laser system can reconfigure and cooperate, thus enabling a first step towards emulating the ever-evolving relationship between structure and functionality typical of living materials. e asked ourselves if we could create a laser with the ability to blend structure and functionality, to reconfigure itself and cooperate like biological materials do,” said Professor Riccardo Sapienza, from the Department of Physics at Imperial.
