BUILDING plastic lasers may soon be possible, say researchers at Bell Labs in
New Jersey. A team there has just made the world’s first organic laser using
tetracene, a substance whose molecules closely mimic those of polymers in the
way they handle electricity and light.
The tetracene molecule contains four benzene rings. When a current is made to
flow through this molecule, light is emitted. And the photons bounce back and
forth between the reflective walls of the tetracene crystal, resulting in the
light amplification that makes a monochromatic (single wavelength) laser beam.
Henrik Schön of Bell Labs’ solid state…
