Spin lasers in the fast lane: New concept for ultrafast lasers developed
Friday, October 28, 2011 - 12:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Electrical engineers in Bochum, Germany, have succeeded in developing a new concept for ultrafast semiconductor lasers. The researchers make clever use of the intrinsic angular momentum of electrons, called spin, to successfully break the previous speed barriers. The new spin lasers have the potential to achieve modulation frequencies of well above 100 GHz in future. This is a decisive step towards high-speed data transmission, e.g. for the Internet of tomorrow. The researchers report on their results in the Applied Physics Letters.
