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To: Z268 who wrote (15820)	8/19/2000 1:04:40 PM
From: dwight martin	Respond to of 21876

AN ELECTRICALLY POWERED, ORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR LASER has been built for the first time by Bell Labs researchers, offering the hope of more versatile, easier-to- make lasers. Bell Labs researchers grew high-purity crystals of tetracene, an organic molecule consisting of four linked rings of carbon. They then sandwiched the crystal above and below with field-effect transistors (FETs). Applying a voltage between the two FETs caused one of them to send electrons into the tetracene, while the other provided positively charged holes. When electrons and holes met, they produced yellow-green light that bounced between a pair of mirrors to produce laser action and an output beam. The high purity of the tetracene provided a low-defect environment for the electrons and holes (so they would produce light rather than heat) and the FETs were able to inject electrons and holes at the sufficiently high rate required for laser action. Technological challenges remain before this laser is mass-produced: manufacturers must learn how to make large quantities of the ultrapure tetracene, and they must learn how to place FETs above and below the organic material. (Schoen et al, Science, 28 July 2000.) From physnews@ajp.org