Associated Press Reports On The SNL EFRC

Oct 26, 2009 :: Sandia wants to improve the world's lighting by the Associated Press highlights the work of the Sandia National Laboratories EFRC for Solid State Lighting Science directed by Jerry Simmons. The story was picked up by over 100 news agencies including ABC News, Forbes, and The New York Times.

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A metallic line atop a medium biased at the edge of chaos can provide effective negative resistance for time-varying signals, outputting a larger signal compared to its input. The energy for amplification comes from the static bias applied to the medium.

The “Edge of Chaos” Amplifies Signals Without Transistors

Emulating the edge of chaos of axons enables a metal wire to overcome its resistance without cooling, thereby amplifying signals flowing inside of it.

Infrared laser light (red beam) illuminates the surface of ZrSiSe and mixes with electron oscillations enabled by an atomic force microscope (silver cone), propagating light as ray-like structures that guide the light through the interior (blue zig-zag).

What If Metals Could Conduct Light?

In the unusual world of quantum materials, metals can guide light in their interiors instead of merely reflecting it.