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Laser physics

Fantastic plastic

Nature volume 429, pages 709–710 (2004)Cite this article

Plastics are ubiquitous, thanks to the cheapness and versatility of these materials. Now plastic lasers are in prospect, battery-operated for low-cost communication and display applications.

Nearly all plastics are electrical insulators, but one class of plastics is different. These are conjugated polymers, whose discovery was celebrated with the award of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. They differ from other polymers in having a backbone of alternating single and double bonds, and this difference in structure makes them semiconductors. Conjugated polymers are therefore interesting materials, with their unique combination of semiconducting properties and scope for simple fabrication and shaping. Lasers are a promising application, and now Reufer et al.1, writing in Applied Physics Letters, report fresh progress towards the creation of low-cost polymer lasers.

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Figure 1: Low-cost lasers from plastic.

References

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  1. the Organic Semiconductor Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, KY16 9SS, St Andrews, UK

    Ifor D. W. Samuel

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  1. Ifor D. W. Samuel
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Samuel, I. Fantastic plastic. Nature 429, 709–710 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/429709a

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