First phonon (sound) laser created at Max Planck Institute

William Atkins
Tuesday, 08 September 2009 18:40

Science - Energy

The Max Planck/CalTech team was “… able to demonstrate for the first time the effect of coherent phonon generation with a single magnesium ion cooled to a temperature of around 1 milli-Kelvin in an electromagnetic trap. The pump source to this process is blue-detuned laser radiation.”

And, “As the scientists report in Nature Physics (Advance Online Publication 16 August 09, DOI: 10.1038/ NPHYS1367) this device represents a mechanical analogue to an optical laser that allows to investigate the fundamental dynamics of a phonon laser."

"The device in its present form could possibly be used as a sensor for extremely weak forces. The extension of the system to an ion chain or a two-dimensional ion array could perhaps make the breakthrough to possible applications.”

Within the MPI press release, Dr. Maximilian Herrmann, also at the Max Planck Institute and one of the scientists in the development of the phonon laser (saser), states, "An important step in the realization of this kind of phonon laser was the insight that blue-detuned laser light does not merely heat an ion as it is widely believed, but instead, by appropriate choice of frequency and intensity, can stimulate coherent amplification of its motion."

The press release from the Max Planck Institute also states how further development of the saser is possible.

It states, "The device in its present form could possibly be used as a sensor for extremely weak forces. The extension of the system to an ion chain or a two-dimensional ion array could perhaps make the breakthrough to possible applications."

The August 31, 2009 CalTech press release is entitled “Scientists Create Phonon Laser.”