A sonic boom in the world of lasers

PA163/09 It was an idea born out of curiosity in the physics lab, but now a new type of 'laser' for generating ultra-high frequency sound waves instead of light has taken a major step towards becoming a unique and highly useful 21st century technology. Scientists at The University of Nottingham, in collaboration with colleagues in the Ukraine, have produced a new type of acoustic laser device called a Saser. It's a sonic equivalent to the laser and produces an intense beam of uniform sound waves on a nano scale. The new device could have significant and useful applications in the worlds of computing, imaging, and even anti-terrorist security screening. Where a 'laser',(Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation), uses packets of electromagnetic vibrations called 'photons', the 'Saser' uses sound waves composed of sonic vibrations called 'phonons'. In a laser, the photon beam is produced by stimulating electrons with an external power source so they release energy when they collide with other photons in a highly reflective optical cavity. This produces a coherent and controllable shining beam of laser light in which all the photons have the same frequency and rate of oscillation.