The SPASER could be coming to a circuit board in your computer in the not too distant future – and possibly herald the way for optical computing. The nano-based SPASER could be utilise for the blazing fast movement of data streams.

Scientists in the field of nano-plasmonics (read tiny-oscillations) discovered that surface nano-Plasmons behave a little bit like light waves and have been working hard to harness and amplify the signal the same way light can be amplified – this isn’t easy as Plasmons have a much shorter wave length than light particles. To get an idea of how surface Plasmons work imagine the dust thrown up on a desert surface as the wind blows – this is similar to a surface Plasmon reaction.

This project has been called Surface Plasmon Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation” – or SPASER for short. To get an idea of how much the SPASER could affect our lives think back to 1960 when Maiman built the first laser – then look around to see how many electronic items are around us that utilise lasers in some form.