Sonic 'laser' developed, makes quite an impression at 80s night

A researcher from the University of Nottingham and his Ukrainian colleague have built the world's first Saser: a device that generates a highly concentrated beam of sound waves at terahertz frequency. Not unlike the frenetic warblings of Welsh chanteuse Bonnie Tyler, when alternating layers of aluminum arsenide and gallium arsenide are exposed to an intense beam of light, photons are released, causing them to bounce back and forth between the layers. Eventually the sound waves combine into much stronger, highly concentrated sounds in which every particle is synchronized -- creating an ultra-high frequency "phonon" beam. Although practical applications for this technology have yet to be developed, it is hoped that Sasers could someday be used to probe and manipulate electronic devices at the nanoscale level, with results that include terahertz-frequency processors which would make the "computers of the future" a thousand times faster. Video after the break.

[Via Gizmag]

[B3astofthe3ast @ Jun 24th 2009 4:14PM]

her eyes...they stare right into your soul...

[The Observer @ Jun 24th 2009 4:18PM]

Didn't know my soul was that wide.. her eyes are looking in different directions.. more like my soul and my neighbor's soul =)

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA1 Plumbing @ Jun 24th 2009 4:18PM]

Great, some egghead has finally found a way to replicate a nagging wife. Talk about useless discovery.

[Josh @ Jun 24th 2009 5:01PM]

Perhaps if you get one that can generate sound waves in anti-phase with a female, the two will destructively interfere and we'll all live happily ever after.

[Michael Nelson @ Jun 24th 2009 4:18PM]

You, too? Nice video.

[Paul @ Jun 24th 2009 4:20PM]

hmm I was expecting a video explanation of the saser... engadget, you cheeky bastard.

[G @ Jun 24th 2009 4:25PM]

Don't sase me bro!

[Amun @ Jun 24th 2009 4:26PM]

There's no need to put quotes around the word phonon; it's not an uncommon word.

[joseph.flatley @ Jun 24th 2009 4:29PM]

"thanks"

[Josh @ Jun 24th 2009 5:08PM]

And it's not a fake media word for sound, which is what i think Engadget were getting at - although it is true that sound does not exhibit particle behaviour, it is just our word for vibrations (unless you're dealing with advanced quantum physics). A phonon is a quanta of lattice vibration (i.e. the atomic lattice in a solid crystal). A single phonon, if you want to think of it like a photon (remember sound = vibration), is an elementary vibration. They can be described using the relationship between energy and frequency (E = νh - where v is nu, the frequency).

[waterwagen @ Jun 24th 2009 4:36PM]

Processors a thousand time faster? Finally, smooth Hulu playback in fullscreen!

[Funke, Tobias Dr. @ Jun 24th 2009 4:37PM]

Faster than the speed of night!

[Wwhat @ Jun 24th 2009 4:48PM]

No matter how fast the CPU or GPU, it'll say "you aren't one of the chosen people called yanks and we the wondeul hulu won't show you any video until you are absorbed in the holy USA empire"

[Balatro @ Jun 24th 2009 4:34PM]

Darn it. Now I need to track down the Literal Version of Total Eclipse of the Heart on Youtube again. :)

[kamikazejoe @ Jun 24th 2009 4:37PM]

Sounds like a first step to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver!

[andres @ Jun 24th 2009 7:22PM]

who is the doctor? ehh ;)

[Wwhat @ Jun 24th 2009 4:46PM]

So what are the limits what air can carry? I mean sooner or later the molecules are too far apart compared to the frequency to transfer the vibration you'd think, not that this isn't meant for air as I understand it, but I'm curious.

[Josh @ Jun 24th 2009 5:23PM]

You are correct, the maximum transmissible frequency is dependent on the distance between the molecules of air (loose description as you know the air is made of up lots of different gases) - i.e. the mean free path.

As i understand it, the maximum frequency at sea level is somewhere in the GHz range. It is possible to produce Terahertz sound, called "hypersound", but anything above 10^13Hz is impossible to transmit - even within a solid.

The vibrations in the semiconductor lattice are produced when electrons are introduced (these vibrations are the phonons), there is a chain reaction (more phonons release more electrons, etc) and after a while a beam of ultrasound comes out. Ultrasound is a wishy-washy definition, there is no specific frequency/wavelength, it is simply anything above human hearing (>20kHz).

Personally i have no idea how it works - in theory it would only produce a stable beam inside a solid/liquid, but i haven't read that much into it.

Currently the most powerful ultrasound devices (in common use) operate in the MHz region.

[Wwhat @ Jun 24th 2009 9:51PM]

I was surprised when I heard that's it's very common to use ultrasound to connect plastic in manufacturing, you see it on a regular basis in 'how it is made' on discovery, that they join plastic parts by using ultrasound to melt it together.
Funny how that stuff can pass you by unnoticed and then you find it's used everywhere.

[Ty @ Jun 24th 2009 4:57PM]

hi,

a short correction:
in : " when alternating layers of aluminum arsenide and gallium arsenide are exposed to an intense beam of light, photons are released" it should read "phonons are released".

Light consists of Photons, Sound of Phonons.

Just my two cents :)

[Garst @ Jun 24th 2009 5:00PM]

Are we sure this is real? I mean they could have come up with a better name for there fictional college than Nottingham.

[Tom Clague @ Jun 24th 2009 8:11PM]

I sincerely hope you're kidding...

[Garst @ Jun 25th 2009 6:26AM]

What do you mean, "hope you're kidding?" Everyone can tell you every univesity and college in the world, and can even tell you the city they are in. And I've never heard of University of Nottingham.

P.S. if this ends up being a double post, I blame Engadget. When I posted this time, the original still hadn't shown up.

[simbr @ Jun 25th 2009 7:40AM]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=nottingham+university&l=1
You evidently missed one from your vast mental encyclopaedia.

[dBs @ Jun 24th 2009 5:02PM]

That sounds like how most lazers work anyway. Your average solid state lazer is built like a diode with reflective walls (and sometimes ridges in the two chemical halves to increase power). The length of the chamber of the diode for the lazer is extremely important if a specific frequency for the light is desired. If an improper chamber length is used for a desired frequency you could produce a great deal of internal energy losses from the forward and reflected photon waves canceling one another out. Using highly reflective walls allows the photon waves to reflect and [if the proper chamber lengths are used] amplify one another until enough amplitude is achieved such that it can escape the mirrored walls and be seen as the light exiting the lazer. Im not seeing anything here thats particularly cutting edge. Maybe the real marvel here is the terrahertz frequencies they are generating but I am not read up enough on modern lazer breakthroughs to know if this is a frequency of any significance.

[dBs @ Jun 24th 2009 5:07PM]

If that was a mistype up there where it says photons. If phonons is what was meant then that is something new. Otherwise its the same concept as lazers almost exactly, even down to the same chemical compositions (though most lazers I believe now use 3 chemical diode composites instead of just 2 GaAs).

[dBs @ Jun 24th 2009 5:28PM]

Ok, just read the article and that is a mistype, it should read phonons instead of photons. I wonder if you could create a waveguide for this effective in the same way that optical fiber is for lasers (yes I mistyped myself earlier =P), I suspect that this will be a bit more difficult though. I should talk to an old professor of mine about this, he patented and pioneered a lot of technology and applications for Acoustic Pyrometry and I suspect this could be useful for further development for him.

[Gavin @ Jun 24th 2009 5:18PM]

Wait ... how could there be no mention of carbon nanotubes?

[_man1c_ @ Jun 24th 2009 5:42PM]

awe, bonnie tylor is an ownage singer. still love listening to total eclispes of the heart.

[SiXiam @ Jun 24th 2009 5:58PM]

So, this is how the Goa'uld motherships can send audio down to a planets service. In the form of: 'you will surrender or perish', while we bomb your cities from orbit.

[SiXiam @ Jun 24th 2009 6:11PM]

....'surface'

What was I smoking...lol

[fucter @ Jun 24th 2009 6:19PM]

dugg for 'V'






wait, wrong site

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Jun 24th 2009 6:47PM]

Are you freaking kidding me?

[Samurai Jack @ Jun 24th 2009 6:55PM]

I'll bet this is the last time you invite Dazzler to a party. #$#$%$^&& mutants...

[ImJacksAmygdala @ Jun 24th 2009 6:56PM]

OMG this is the first step to a true light saber! Mark my words... All we need now is to develop a way to contain the raw destructive power of this "Saser" using a crystal and add some color effects for "safety".

[simbr @ Jun 25th 2009 7:42AM]

beam of light.. photons released.. "Eventually the sound waves"...

Eventually /what/ sound waves? You never mentioned any until that point.

[steve @ Jun 26th 2009 10:48AM]

wow that sucked!

[taiki @ Jun 28th 2009 10:09PM]

Am I the only one who hears drums?