Imperial researchers have come one step closer to finding the ‘holy grail’ in the field of plastic semiconductors by demonstrating a class of material that could make electrically-driven plastic laser diodes a reality.
Conventional electrically-powered laser diodes used in everyday consumer goods like DVD players are currently based on inorganic semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide, gallium nitride and related alloys. The term ‘semiconductor’ describes the material’s ability to pass an electric current, which lies somewhere between that of a metallic conductor and that of an insulator.
In the case of a laser diode, the current comprises positive and negative charges that combine inside the material and produce the initial light required to begin the lasing process. If the initial light can be forced to pass back and forth through the semiconducting material many times, in a way that amplifies its strength on each pass, then after a short time a spectrally narrow, intense and directional laser beam emerges. (link)
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