When looking for ways to reduce heat in lasers, PhD student Kathrin Sandner and Helmut Ritsch came up with a revolutionary idea: The theoretical physicists suggest using heat to power the laser. In their work, recently published in Physical Review Letters, the two physicists propose the theory that the heating effect in quantum cascade lasers could not only be avoided but, in fact, reversed through a cleverly-devised modification of the thickness of the semiconductor layers. "A crucial part is to spatially separate the cold and warm areas in the laser," explains Kathrin Sandner. "In such a temperature gradient driven laser, electrons are thermally excited in the warm area and then tunnel into the cooler area where photons are emitted." This produces a circuit where light particles are emitted and heat is absorbed from the system simultaneously. "Between the consecutive emissions of light particles a phonon is absorbed and the laser is cooled. When we develop this idea further, we see that the presence of phonons may be sufficient to provide the energy for laser amplification," says Kathrin Sandner. Such a laser could be powered without using electric current.
"Of course, it is quite a challenge to implement this concept in an experiment," says Helmut Ritsch. "But if we are successful, it will be a real technological innovation." The physical principle behind the idea could already be applied to existing quantum cascade lasers, where it could provide internal cooling. This simplified concept seems to be technically feasible and is already being examined by experimental physicists.
Let's see if they pull this off. If so...o.O
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