UK scientist have developed a plastic optical gain material, and a simple process to make it.
Optical gain materials are at the heart of lasers and optical amplifiers, where they transfer pump energy at one wavelength into a signal at another wavelength.
"This is UV cured and you can form it whatever shape you want to make waveguides as well as lasers," Simon Andrews, business development manager at the Scottish Institute of Photonics, told Electronics Weekly.
The Institute of Photonics is based at the University of Strathclyde, where the material was invented.
The active molecules are 5nm-long truxene-based oligomers, dissolved in a UV-curable polymer host.
Although the material could be cast in almost any shape, the University has developed a way to make 100µm thick membranes by floating the uncured mixture on water, then exposing it to UV.
"This substrateless membrane had shown stimulated emission, with the ease of manufacture opening up the possibility of mass manufacture and even disposable optical devices," said the University. "The Institute has already received enquiries from industry."
Although gain has been demonstrated, the University has yet to report truxene-based lasers or amplifiers.