Jelena Vučković creates tiny Titanium-Sapphire Laser
In a single leap from tabletop to the microscale, they have produced the world’s first practical titanium-sapphire laser on a chip, democratizing a once-exclusive technology.
In their recent publication, 'Titanium:sapphire-on-insulator integrated lasers and amplifiers,’ Professor Jelena Vučković, et al describe a tunable integrated Ti:sapphire laser.
“This is a complete departure from the old model,” states Jelena, “Instead of one large and expensive laser, any lab might soon have hundreds of these valuable lasers on a single chip. And you can fuel it all with a green laser pointer.”
“When you leap from tabletop size and make something producible on a chip at such a low cost, it puts these powerful lasers in reach for a lot of different important applications,” said Joshua Yang (EE PhD) and co-first author of the study along with Vučković’s Nanoscale and Quantum Photonics Lab colleagues, research engineer Kasper Van Gasse and postdoctoral scholar Daniil M. Lukin.
In technical terms, Joshua explained that Ti:sapphire lasers are so valuable because they have the largest “gain bandwidth” of any laser crystal. In simple terms, gain bandwidth translates to the broader range of colors the laser can produce compared to other lasers. It’s also ultrafast, sending pulses of light every quadrillionth of a second.
The new Ti:sapphire laser fits on a chip that is measured in square millimeters. If the researchers can mass-produce them on wafers, potentially thousands, perhaps tens-of-thousands of Ti:sapphire lasers could be squeezed on a disc that fits in the palm of a human hand.
“A chip is light. It is portable. It is inexpensive and it is efficient. There are no moving parts. And it can be mass-produced. What’s not to like? This democratizes Ti:sapphire lasers,” states Joshua Yang, EEPhD and co-first author of the study.