Researchers succeed in developing contacts that emit laser from the eyeball

byChris Devers

The researchers succeeded in developing a "contact type laser" that can be worn by ordinary people, as if a skill like a super power like a hero could be worn on the eyeball and launch a laser.

Flexible and ultra-lightweight polymer membrane lasers | Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03874-w

These Contacts Let You Shoot Lasers From Your Eyes
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a20670955/scientists-mounted-laser-shooting-contacts-lenses-to-cow-eyeballs/

Laser light that does not exist in the natural world is used for precision instruments and medical devices, but conventional devices emitting laser light require a hard support base and it is considered difficult to mount on soft objects I have done it. So, at the University of St. AndrewsMarte GatherProfessor's research team has started research to develop ultra-thin laser with a thickness of 200 nanometers (about 0.0002 millimeter).

"By developing a film-like ultra-thin laser, you can fix it on a curved object like a sticker, or on a soft and delicate object," said Gather, a research team on a glass substrate With the prepared organic semiconductorDFB resonatorWe have developed ultra-thin laser consisting only of. Ultra thin laser became a film shape by removing the glass substrate after completion, it seems that it was able to be worn on the eyeball of a cattle with the same structure as a human being by affixing it to a contact lens.

The ultra-thin laser was to react to intense light to emit laser light, and the research team irradiated the blue light of a light quantity not harmful to the living body to the laser attached to the cow's eyeball. Then, the laser irradiated "green laser light" in response to that light. Not only the blue light irradiated by the laser but also the green light irradiated from the laser itself were harmless to the human body. It has also been shown that the optical properties of lasers will last for several months.

byGisela Giardino

A picture of the ultra-thin laser mounted on the contact. When you attach it to the eyeball of the cow with a picture of b and irradiate blue light, you can see from the picture of c · d that green light is being emitted. It is also possible to use it by wearing it on the nail like g (Clicking on the image will remove the mosaic of the eyeball).


The ultra-thin laser can change the characteristics of the laser light by changing the material, it can be used as an ID tag for identifying an individual if worn on the eyeball or fingertip, or used as a security tag if it is attached to paper money or the like It seems possible to do. "It is also possible to change the material of the film lasers and change the lattice structure of the laser to create a digital barcode representing patterns of 0 and 1," the research team said, It also shows the possibility of being given information.