Powerful laser miniaturized from tabletop to microchip

Researchers have successfully miniaturized a powerful laser from a tabletop size to a microchip. This advancement is crucial as lasers play a vital role in scientific and medical settings worldwide. The new material platform allows for standard lasers to be integrated onto a microchip, offering a solution to the challenge of incorporating lasers into various technologies. The sapphire-based platform developed by Yang et al. enables the creation of devices that are less than 0.15 square millimeters in size, consume minimal power, and still produce high-performance laser light. This innovation opens up possibilities for integrating photonics technologies into smaller and more cost-effective devices, potentially revolutionizing fields such as fiber-optic communication. The research was published in the journal Nature, showcasing the potential for significant advancements in the field of optics and photonics.