Low-energy laser makes leap toward practicality

A low-energy alternative to traditional lasers is finally available in plug-in form, a crucial step toward developing a practical alternative to the comparatively inefficient devices in use today. These so-called polariton lasers could soon find a niche in telecommunications and medical applications.

“This is a really important result,” says Alexey Kavokin, a physicist at Saint Petersburg State University in Russia, who wasn’t involved in the research.