Scottish Researchers Develop ‘Laser-Eyes’

A team of Scottish scientists has developed a type of laser that is thin enough to be integrated into contact lenses.

However, those hoping to emulate their favorite Marvel character with super-ocular powers could be disappointed! The type of light the putative 'laser contacts' was designed to emit is more likely to turn someone into an authorized individual with easily-scanned credentials rather than an artificial X-man.

Lasers & How They Work

The focus may be a specially-constructed chamber, shaped in such a way that all the source-light bounces off it and strikes the medium (a crystal like a prism) at right angles, simultaneously. Some laser chambers are very big and composed of materials such as gold.

However, in theory, lasers can also be produced by specific materials in layers as thin as 200 nanometers (nm). Many modern lasers are made out of other materials that are much bulkier and require a greater surface area to function properly.

How Lasers Were Made Flexible

The scientists solved this problem by employing the technique of nano-UV lithography, which uses UV light to 'etch' the materials into the desired conformation.

The laser itself consisted of a UV-curable material, which afforded DFB, and a light-absorbing polymer called F8BT. This polymer, which is also a semiconductor, supplied light to the DFB via the property of photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). These two layers, with the DFB layer on the bottom, were overlaid onto a final polymer layer that, in turn, sat on a layer of glass. This sandwich was then immersed in water, which caused the bottom-most polymer layer to dissolve and the rest of the 'sandwich' to float upwards away from the glass.

References

Deirdre O’Donnell, Scottish Researchers Develop ‘Laser-Eyes’, Article from www.evolving-science.com