Physicists from Harvard Medical School have created the world’s first living laser, using a cell.
Writing in the journal Nature Photonics, Malte Gather and Seok-Hyun Andy Yun report that they created the laser using fluorescent proteins. The glowing substance is produced by marine animals like the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, which uses it to generate a bright green glow. “We are familiar with lasers like laser pointers and bar-code readers, and so far these lasers have all been of man-made material,” said Dr. Yun.
Dr. Gather and Dr. Yun genetically programmed cells to produce green fluorescent proteins. They then placed such a cell in a cavity with two tiny, parallel mirrors spaced seven ten-thousandths of an inch apart, large enough to hold exactly one cell. Using a microscope, they exposed the cell to pulses of blue light.
When exposed to the pulses, the fluorescent proteins in the cells started to emit green fluorescent light. The light bounced back and forth between the mirrors, amplifying to generate a bright, unidirectional laser light.
Lasers, until now thought of only as inanimate objects, are useful in medicine, telecommunication and data storage. The new finding may one day lead to more efficient and reliable laser technology using biological materials.
The cells used in the study were not damaged in the lasing action and, if damaged, have the potential to regenerate themselves, Dr. Gather said.
“Lasers have a tendency to burn out,” he said. “Normally there is very little you can do apart from replacing the whole device.”