Lasers Refrigerate Water for the First Time

Obviously, using lasers to cool liquids is a new concept suggesting various new applications.

Surprising new research out of the University of Washington has found that lasers can be used not just for burning, but for cooling as well. However, by using an infrared laser and nanocrystal, it surprisingly created the opposite effect, which is a world first. Since then, these devices that emit light through optical amplification have been used to heat, cut, and precisely measure, not to mention capturing the public imagination in science fiction movies.

And it’s the not the first time scientists have theorized about the possibility. Future research in the technology will attempt to use multiple in tandem in order to increase the process’ efficiency.

The theories behind lasers were first concieved by a group of scientists in 1957 – and the first laser was built in 1960. He added that it wasn’t clear if such enterprise could be done, because usually water gets warmer when it illuminated. Perhaps, one day microprocessors will use this invention to cool certain components in computer chips so as to prevent overheating.

Also, it could be used to accurately cool a portion of a cell, as it divides or repairs itself, slowing down the process and allowing scientists to study how it works. Another area of application could be chilling a single neuron within a network, silencing it without causing damage, and allowing researchers to observe how other neurons bypass the chilled neuron and rewire themselves. “Using laser cooling, it may be possible to prepare slow-motion movies of life in action. And the advantage is that you don’t have to cool the entire cell, which could kill it or change its behavior”.

In the present instance, researchers have used an infrared light as the cooling laser since visible light could inflict a damaging “sunburn” to the cells, and they expected the laser to also have biological applications. The light’s photons were absorbed by the crystal and then on release, the photons had a higher energy value in comparison to when they first entered.

Laser refrigeration was done in vacuum states, while it was initially shown back at Los Alamos National Laboratory back in 1995.

Throughout the experiment, the UW team utilized a more economical option to growing laser crystals: a low-cost hydrothermal process that can be made use of to manufacture a laser crystal for laser refrigeration.

The team used an infrared laser to excite electrons in a single microscopic crystal suspended in water.