A nanolaser composed of biocompatible materials by Only 50 to 150 nanometers thick, the devices are potentially suitable for imaging inside living tissues. Source: Northwestern Universityengineers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Columbia University and Northwestern University offers new opportunities for in vivo imaging. The size of the devices, only 50 to 150 nanometers thick, makes them potentially suitable for imaging inside living tissues to detect disease biomarkers or to treat deep-brain neurological disorders.

The efficiency of such miniature devices is typically lower than those of their larger, conventional counterparts, and small lasers are prone to damage from excess heat and UV light. The team applied upconversion technology to resolve these issues and enable the nanolasers to convert multiple low-energy infrared photons into a single higher-energy photon to yield visible laser beams.

The continuous wave, low-power characteristics of the glass-based nanolasers are also applicable to quantum circuits and microprocessors for ultra-fast and low-power electronics.