Nov. 3, 2003 — A team at Lucent Technologies’ Bell Labs has built a photonic crystal-based laser that could be used in powerful, sensitive optical devices and chemical detectors, according to a news release.

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The proof-of-concept device is described as a “laser-on-a-chip,” on which researchers superimposed a hexagonal photonic crystal pattern on the semiconductor layers of the laser. The final laser, 50 microns across, could enable large arrays of devices to be made on a single chip, each with its own design emission properties, the release said.

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The device, described in an article published Friday on the Web by the journal Science, uses the electron beam lithography facility within the lab but operated by the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium. The nonprofit group’s goal is to leverage the center’s 40 years of experience commercializing technology, much of it on the micro- and nanoscale.