July 23, 2007
Plastic Laser Unveiled – The Future of Lasers is Plastic
Light Beam Industries, LLC, a leading technology firm dedicated to providing eco-efficient lighting solutions utilizing its patented wave guide, diffraction grading and LEC materials, has developed a new Solid State Dye Laser Material (SSDLM).
The Solid State Dye Laser Material is based on patents created by inventor Daniel Naum. This new material is a self-healing polymeric cross-linked gain medium that uses high-efficiency fluorescent laser dyes in a high temperature co-polymer matrix in ways never before done.
SSDLM can be produced in all colors in large quantities and can be easily shaped into laser rods of any size, rotating disc gain media, rings, films and as fiber optic fiber. The material is also grating tunable and can be pumped by many optical sources including; other lasers (doubled Q-switched ND:YAG lasers) and flash lamps. CEO John Darland states, “Very soon we will have wave-guide matched laser diodes and light emitting diodes (LED’s) as optical pump sources. This means that inexpensive – high powered lasers, pumped by off the shelf Diode Lasers – LED’s would be readily available and would give research facilities, colleges and others easy accessibility to lasers which cost thousands of dollars currently.”
Long Range research efforts will focus on nano-crystalline lasing structures incorporated in a plastic matrix (paint-on nano lasers) with further potential applications in lighting, solar collection, visual displays as well as search and rescue operations. President Mark Benson said, “There are also some very exciting medical, research, display, lighting and military applications which will be focused on by LBI. One such project will be using single pulse – very high powered SSDLM’s (very compact), using chemical burst reaction as a pump source and high-damage threshold pyromethane-BF2 laser dyes.