University of California Researchers develop 1 micron nanoscale Laser - Optical SCoC Revival of the Apple G4 Cube

In a development that make me more hopeful about supercomputing coming to the Desktop, another research breakthrough has come to light, literally in the burgeoning field of NanoTechnology.

This is in the development of a Nano-Laser 1 micron in diameter by the University of California in San Diego, California as stated in the article “Nano-Laser is small as speck of dust”, published February 9, 2012 6:49 AM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News and the article “Electrical Engineers Build 'No-Waste' Laser’, published 9^th February 2012, The ScienceDaily.

This as it may herald the future development of an Optical SCoC (Super Computers on a Chip) functional at s.t.p (Standard Temperature and Pressure) which is 25 degrees Celsius and 1atm. Thus breaking the 3.6GHz speed barrier for Personal Computers without the need for exotic cooling techniques as opined in my blog article entitled “Intel and LightPeak - Race towards the Sun”.

More interestingly, Apple G4 Cube may be in for a revival and at an even smaller scale than before, possibly handheld and functional like a supercomputer!

But what is a Nano-Laser anyway?

At 1 micron, it’s smaller than a human hair (600 microns) or even pollen (10 microns)! The discovery was published in the science Magazine Nature in the article “Thresholdless nanoscale Coaxial Lasers”, published 08 February 2012, Nature. Worth spending you hard earned cash in your Scotia VISA Debit Card once you follow the instructions in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to use Scotia VISA Debit Card Online” to purchase!!

Lasers (Light amplified by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation) typically required a certain threshold energy level to be exceeded before they can begin “lasing”. This Threshold level is the point at which the coherent light output of the Laser far exceeds the input light that stimulates the emission of Light.

The problems faced at the nanoscale level are similar to those faced by Raytheon when placing a Directed Energy Weapon on a Ship, which is in the macroscopic level as stated in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Raytheon - Star Wars on the high Seas”. Or as in the case of Boeing making one portable enough to carry on a truck as stated in my blog article entitled “Boeing and the HELTD Direct Energy Weapon - StarShip Troopers Death Star in Revenge of the Sith”.

Same problems folks! It’s a matter of scale and size and the problems experienced both at the Macroscopic as well as the macroscopic level are the same, only scaled-up or scaled-down based on the application.

At the nanoscale level (1 micron and smaller), getting Lasers to work is rather difficult, as it’s very difficult to control the light source, owering to the fact that at that scale, photons are much bigger and more plentiful. Thus the clever new construction method used by Dr. Mercedeh Khajavikhan and her team at the University of California was to build the Nano-Laser in a construction manned similar to a Coaxial Cable.

This is the point where I get in on the action, as Coaxial Cable construction is of interest to me, being as it is a suggestion of mine made back in 2011AD in a Skype phone conversation with a friend of mine in New York. Coaxial Cables are deliberately build with:

• An outer Rubberized PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) casing
• An outer sheath of mesh wire that acts as an EMI shield as well as a strength member
• Plastic (Dielectric) insulation
• A Central Copper Core.

This is to reduce the EMI (Electromagnetic interference) caused by the oscillating pulses traveling along the Cable. By mimicking this construction type of a Coaxial Cable, they were able to do the very same thing: cut down on the production of EMI that would normally act as a choke (Lenz’s Law and Faraday’s Left Hand Rule) and create resistance to the production of more oscillations.

In the Coaxial Cable installation, this reduces the use of Analog or Digital Amplifiers (boosters), Repeaters or “Boosters” as Cable TV Technicians call them along the length of the CATV (Community Access Television) installation.

This as the outer Mesh Sheath is interwoven in a pattern similar to a twisted pair wire, thereby cancelling out the magnetic field generated by the straight Central Copper Core and thus cancelling out any inductance in the Coaxial Cable (Lenz’s Law and Faraday’s Left Hand Rule) and making the Coaxial Cable purely resistive.

A similar thing may have been happening at the nanoscale level which this new construction of the Nano-Laser used by Dr. Mercedeh Khajavikhan and her team at the University of California solved. More interestingly, they can make them even smaller or larger, Alice in Wonderland style, with variations in power accompanying the scale-up or scale-down of the Nano-Laser.

But what use does a Nano-Laser have anyways?

Because the Nano-Laser is so small, the upper threshold before the Nano-Laser turn is very small, almost threshold-less. Logical, as the Laser is so small in size and so would require very miniscule amounts of light to power up in the first place.

Thus the applications, like the original Ruby Red Laser invented by Theodore H. “Ted” Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories on May 16, 1960AD are mind bogglingly endless, some of which have not yet even being conceived:

• High-resolution LCD or OLED displays, making 4K Displays and Retina Display look passé
• Nanoscale Lasers that can scan atom by atom images of viruses and DNA molecules but at very high resolution
• The invisibility cloak as described in the James Bond movie Die another Day and the article “Cloak's on you: Scientists create 'invisible' object”, published January 26, 2012 7:04 AM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News could be made real i.e. nanocamera on side of the Aston Martin DB5 captures what they see and project it via embedded nanoscale Lasers as a display in the paint on the other side, making the car invisible on once side
• Advertisers will love it as well, as it will low-cost paste-on Moving Displays as seen in the movie “Minority Report” a reality
• Camera with higher pixel density for smartphones, exceeding even that of Sharp’s recent development of a 12.1 Megapixel camera, which may be featured in the apple iPhone 4GS or even the Apple iPad 3 as stated in my blog article entitled “Sharp develops world's thinnest 12.1 Megapixel Camera - Apple iPhone 5 and Apple iPad 3 in Sharp's focus”
• Optical Laser Printers with ultra high printing quality, something that Apple may be interested, being as no-one has yet to make a standard Cloud Printer, muchless a good printer as noted in my blog article entitled “Standardizing the Cloud Printer for Tablets and smartphones - Molly Wood rants about the broken printer ”

But it’s the applications in computing that have me very excited. Optical Computer would also be possible. Combined with the development of a superglue by 3M and IBM (International Business Machines) Vertical Processor Array of Low-Voltage Multi-Core Optical Processors may be coming to a Apple MacBook Air or even a revival of the Apple G4 Cube quite soon.

This concept, which I call Iso-Linear due to the non-linear relationship between processing power and the number of potential Multi-Core Processors in this 3D stack described in my blog article entitled “IBM and 3M to develope adhesive for Iso-Linear Processor - Rihanna's Umbrella for Intel's SuperComputer on a Chip” may not only be a SCoC (Super Computer on a Chip) but potentially also an Optical Computer, using these Nano-Lasers as their lasing source.

Dr. Mercedeh Khajavikhan and her team at the University of California paves the way for ultra-high imaging applications as well as the development of an Optical SCoC that may be used in the future return of the Apple’s G4 Cube that may change Tablets and UltraBooks forever.