MIT researchers build first germanium laser

Boston - MIT CAMBRIDGE, Mass. MIT researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can emit wavelengths of light useful for optical communications. It?s also the first germanium laser to operate at room temperature. Unlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips. So the result could prove an important step toward computers that move data ? and maybe even perform calculations ? using light instead of electricity. More fundamentally, the researchers have shown that, contrary to prior belief, a class of materials called indirect-band-gap semiconductors can yield practical lasers. ?The laser is just totally new physics,? says Lionel Kimerling, the Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, whose Electronic Materials Research Group developed the germanium laser.