Scanning lasers -- from barcode scanners at the supermarket to cameras on newer smartphones -- are an indispensable part of our daily lives, relying on lasers and detectors for pinpoint precision.
Distance and object recognition using LiDAR -- a portmanteau of light and radar -- is becoming increasingly common: reflected laser beams record the surrounding environment, providing crucial data for autonomous cars, agricultural machines, and factory robots.
当前的技术从移动镜子上弹出激光横梁，这是一种机械方法，导致扫描速度和不准确性较慢，更不用说设备具有激光器和镜子的设备的较大物理尺寸和复杂性。
出版自然通讯，京都大学工程研究生院的一个研究团队描述了一种利用“光子晶体”的新光束扫描设备，从而消除了运动部件的需求。
研究人员没有在有序的阵列中排列晶体的晶格点，而是发现改变晶格点的形状和位置会导致激光束以独特的方向发射。
“What results is a lattice of photonic crystals that looks like a slab of Swiss cheese, where each crystal is calculated to emit the beam in a specific direction,"explains Susumu Noda, who led the team.
“通过消除机械镜，我们制造了更快，更可靠的横梁扫描装置。”
Photonic crystal lasers are a type of 'semiconductor laser' whose lattice points can be regarded as nanoscale antennae, which can be arranged to cause a laser beam to be emitted perpendicularly from the surface. But initially the beam would only go in a single direction on a two-dimensional plane; the team needed more area to be covered.
Semiconductors eBook
Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year.
