Scientists create continuously emitting microlasers with nanoparticle-coated beads
https://phys.org/news/2018-06-scientists-emitting-microlasers-nanoparticle-coated-beads.html
The innovation, discovered by an international team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), opens up the possibility for imaging or controlling biological activity with infrared light, and for the fabrication of light-based computer chips. Their findings are detailed in a report published online June 18 in Nature Nanotechnology.
The unique properties of these lasers, which measure 5 microns (millionths of a meter) across, were discovered by accident as researchers were studying the potential for the polymer (plastic) beads, composed of a translucent substance known as a colloid, to be used in brain imaging.