May 6, 2003 — IBM created what it’s calling the first and smallest single-molecule light, according to a company news release.

Researchers created light in a carbon nanotube by simultaneously injecting positive and negative charges into it. When the charges meet in the middle, they neutralize each other and generate infrared light — widely used in optical communications. IBM said the research expands its knowledge and boosts its interest in developing nanotubes for nanoscale electronic and light-based devices in the years ahead.

The work, reported in Tuesday’s issue of the journal Science, builds on a series of discoveries by the team led by Phaedon Avouris, IBM’s manager of nanoscale science. Within the past two years, the researchers have demonstrated the world’s first logic-performing computer circuit from a nanotube, created the most powerful nanotube transistors available and devised a new technique of producing arrays of nanotube transistors.