Abstract:
Nanoparticle light amplifiers that work at the near-infrared wavelengths of telecommunications technologies have been produced by US researchers. Victor Klimov and co-workers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico show that 'optical gain' - the boosting of a light signal - can be achieved by lead selenide (PbSe) nanocrystals around the 1.5-µm wavelength band used in today's fibre-optic networks.