Sound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation "acoustic laser" or "sound laser". SASERs could have wide applications. Apart from facilitating the investigation of terahertz-frequency ultrasound, the SASER is also likely to find uses in optoelectronics (electronic devices that detect and control light—as a method of transmitting a signal from an end to the other of, for instance, fiber optics), as a method of signal modulation and/or transmission. Such devices could be high precision measurement instruments and they could lead to high energy focused sound. Using SASERs to manipulate electrons inside semiconductors could theoretically result in terahertz-frequency computer processors, much faster than the current chips. This concept can
Sound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation tend to emit phonons randomly. Researchers have overcome the problem of terahertz frequencies by following various approaches. Scientists in Caltech have overcome this problem by assembling a pair of microscopic cavities that only permit specific frequencies of phonons to be emitted. This system can be also tuned to emit phonons of different frequencies by changing the relative separation of the microcavities. On the other hand, the group from the University of Nottingham took a different approach. They have built their device out of electrons moving through a series of structures known as quantum wells. Briefly, as an electron hops from