- #1
junglebeast
- 515
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Apparently the nano laser is a key component necessary for practical application of optical computers.
"Conventional lasers are limited in how small they can be made because this feedback component for photons, called an optical resonator, must be at least half the size of the wavelength of laser light.
The researchers, however, have overcome this hurdle by using not photons but surface plasmons, which enabled them to create a resonator 44 nanometers in diameter, or less than one-tenth the size of the 530-nanometer wavelength emitted by the spaser."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090816171003.htm
So what's the deal with surface plasmons...aren't they still an EM wave that is made of photons?
"Conventional lasers are limited in how small they can be made because this feedback component for photons, called an optical resonator, must be at least half the size of the wavelength of laser light.
The researchers, however, have overcome this hurdle by using not photons but surface plasmons, which enabled them to create a resonator 44 nanometers in diameter, or less than one-tenth the size of the 530-nanometer wavelength emitted by the spaser."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090816171003.htm
So what's the deal with surface plasmons...aren't they still an EM wave that is made of photons?