Trapping light with disorder

Like a pinball game in the hands of a good player, a collection of obstacles randomly positioned can be sufficient to trap light without the need for an optical cavity. By adding amplification, at no cost, a mirrorless laser—often ...

Guiding the random laser

At its most basic level, a random laser is precisely what its name implies; random. It's random in the spectrum of light it produces and in the way that light is emitted, making what could be an extremely versatile laser ...

First random laser made of paper-based ceramics

Working with physicists from the University of Rome, a team led by Professor Cordt Zollfrank from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) built the first controllable random laser based on cellulose paper in Straubing. The ...

Harnessing randomness to improve lasers

Randomly arranged items usually have poor optical properties. The rough—or random—surface of a frosted-glass window, for example, obscures the view of an object. The optical industry therefore expends considerable effort ...

Taking the 'random' out of a random laser

(Phys.org) —Random Lasers are tiny structures emitting light irregularly into different directions. Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology have now shown that these exotic light sources can be accurately controlled.

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