Plastic laser

The plastic laser has come one step closer, with researchers in the US and Japan developing a new way to make luminescent semiconducting polymers emit and confine polarized light. The results could lead to brighter polarized sources for products with LED-type displays, such as portable computers and mobile phones.The scientists achieved this alignment by encapsulating the polymer chains on the nanoscale in an ordered nanoporous silica film. The holes are so small that the polymer chains have no space to coil up, explained Tolbert. They must lie straight so that they all end up pointing in the same direction.
Lining up the chains in this way also means that all of the chains can take part in lasing. This is because the way the polymer fills the pores helps confine light in the material, enhancing lasing by producing a so-called graded-index waveguide.