New use of inorganic material to receive blue laser light

The innovative material can represent an efficient and durable mechanism of blue laser light emission, a spectral field of interest in diverse applications such as spectroscopy or material processing

[Translation by Dr. Nachmani Moshe]
Scientists have discovered a new use of a laser emitting material based on an inorganic molecule - a complex of boron atoms and hydrogen atoms, without carbon atoms - capable of emitting a laser beam in a solution.

The work, published a long time ago in the scientific journal Nature Communications, demonstrates that the innovative material can represent an efficient and durable mechanism of blue laser light emission, a spectral field of interest in diverse applications such as spectroscopy or material processing, among other possible applications.

The first laser was developed in 1960, and 55 years later it is still a research field for the development and discovery of new materials that emit efficient, tunable and stable blue laser beams, which are cheap and simple to produce. "Today there is a wide variety of commercial materials that almost fully meet these requirements, but there are still a number of limitations. As part of our research, we present a solution that overcomes these limitations," states Inmaculada García-Moreno, a researcher at the National Science Council of Spain (CSIC) at the Institute of Physical Chemistry.

Although they are not new materials, this is the first time that hydrides of the element boron, boranes, Wikipedia), are used to produce laser beams. "As part of our research, we focused on solutions of the compound anti-B18H22, a cluster-like molecule with a structure reminiscent of two halves of a football joined together," says one of the researchers (picture shown below). Of all the laser-emitting materials known to us in the literature, boranes, in terms of their structure and properties, are the most similar to organic dyes, which emit laser rays in an efficient and adjustable manner, whose main disadvantage lies in the fact that they break down over time and require frequent renewal of the material that emits the rays the laser.

The laser-emitting boron material exhibits resistance to degradation over time at a level that is higher than many similar materials available commercially. This high resistance to disintegration means that we have reduced the number of times the liquid medium of the device needs to be replaced, which leads to an advantage in terms of financial cost, reducing the risks of leaks and damage to the environment, all due to the less frequent handling of toxic and/or flammable solvents.

The team of researchers plans to synthesize additional boranes that emit radiation in other wavelengths (colors), which will open the door to their use, for example, in the field of dermatology (creating tattoos, removing scars or acne, and treating skin lesions). "We still have a lot of research to do before these compounds can reach the market shelves, but the scientific relevance of this discovery marks a milestone in the history of the field of lasers, since there are not many opportunities in which a new family of laser-emitting materials is discovered," concludes the lead researcher. "We are very excited about the discovery we made. The borons, thanks to their unique structures and their high photonic stability, present an innovative source for the development of laser technology." Summary of the news article about the study