When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Laser beams powered by the sunlight are one small-scale gradation closer to becoming a realism after researchers received funding to develop the pioneering technology . These laser could finally help power lunar foundation and missions to Mars , and put up to sustainable energy solutions on Earth , scientist say .
In June , the international team of researchers announced it had received a some € 4 million ( $ 1.2 million ) Duncan James Corrow Grant from the European Innovation Council and Innovate UK to develop solar - powered optical maser technology inspired by photosynthetic bacteria .
" In my group , we spend a mass of time intend about artificial light harvest home and what we can con from nature,“Erik Gauger , a quantum theorist at Heriot - Watt University in Scotland who is postulate in the collaboration , tell Live Science in an interview . " If it ’s possible in nature , we should be able to utilize alike effects in artificial systems . "
Sunlight - power optical maser are n’t a new concept — the first one wasdemonstrated in 1963 , just three years after the first laser was built . But regular sunlight is too diluted to power a optical maser effectively . Solar - powered optical maser typically require complex , heavy - duty optics to escalate sunlight at least a thousand - flock . The weight of these components have in mind it ’s take exception to send them to place .
Related:‘It receive us to reconsider our whimsy of shadow ' : Laser beams can really cast their own shadow , scientists discover
To get the best these challenges , Gauger and his colleagues will turn to bacterium that live in darkness deeply in the sea . These bacterium have exceedingly sensitive light - harvest structures that can beak up nearly every photon they encounter . These structures start the bacterium to photosynthesize even in very low - Inner Light conditions . By extracting these light-colored - harvest home structures and replicating them in the lab , the squad hop to boil down ambient sunlight enough to power a optical maser , Gauger said .
Powering lunar bases and interplanetary missions
He and his fellow described how such a organization might work in a 2021paper . In the proposed organisation , the structure capture incoming sunlight , then funnel the visible light into a solid cloth , such as a crystal . The electrons in the atoms of that material steep energy from the visible light and then issue that extra vim as laser light .
With the fresh Ulysses Grant , the team plans to acquire new optical maser - emit material that can interface with the bacteria ’s photosynthetic structures .
— World ’s most sinewy X - ray optical maser sic for monumental acclivity that will help us good sympathise the atomic public
— DARPA ’s military - ground level ' quantum optical maser ' will practice embroiled photon to outshine conventional optical maser beams — scientist uncover the secret to building Star Wars - dash laser arm — but do n’t worry , we wo n’t have a Death Star anytime soon
Once the laser system of rules is online , it could help power satellites , lunar bases and even mission to Mars , according to astatement . Because laser shaft remain narrow and tightly focalize over long distance , they can channelize push to far-off systems . For example , a solar laser work up on a space station could power that station or station baron to a nearby artificial satellite , or even to Earth . At the receiving site , the energy from the laser luminousness could then be converted into heat or electrical energy .
The solar - powered lasers could also support a teddy toward renewable energy on Earth , Gauger suppose .
" They could , for exercise , help you break water , repulse chemistry , synthesize fertiliser , and help with processes which require a significant fraction of the vitality we presently produce , include from fossil sources , " Gauger say . " They ’re not give way to work out all our problems directly , but they might play a small part in the challenge we confront to move to clear , sustainable energies . "
The team design to develop a prototype laser within the next three years .
