Researchers at NIST and JILA have developed a new type of pulsed laser that generates “dark pulses” – repeated dips in light intensity. Unlike traditional pulsed lasers that produce bright bursts, dark pulses could be useful for signal processing and optical communications. The new laser uses quantum dots, nanostructured semiconductor materials, to emit light. After emitting light, the quantum dots recover energy rapidly from within but more slowly from external sources, creating a steady state of brief intensity dips. This dark pulse laser could be useful for next-generation atomic clocks and other advanced applications.
Keywords: qdots, semiconductor, laser, quantum, metrology
