Room-temperature ultraviolet nanowire nanolasers

Room-temperature ultraviolet Lasing in semiconductor nanowire arrays has been demonstrated. The self-organized, <0001> oriented zinc oxide nanowires grown on sapphire substrates were synthesized with a simple vapor transport and condensation process. These wide band-gap semiconductor nanowires form natural Laser cavities with diameters varying from 20 to 150 nanometers and Lengths up to 10 micrometers. Under optical excitation, surface-emitting lasing action was observed at 385 nanometers, with an emission Linewidth less than 0.3 nanometer. The chemical flexibility and the one-dimensionality of the nanowires make them ideal miniaturized Laser Light sources. These short-wave-length nanolasers could have myriad applications, including optical computing, information storage, and microanalysis.