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Researchers from the University of Washington have discovered a method to keep things cold with lasers, despite their reputations for heating up or cutting things, according to a Christian Science Monitor report.
The study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, details the first succcessful method of using a laser beam to refrigerate liquids such as water outside of a vacuum. It’s quite an advance since lasers were discovered and first built back in 1960, and it shows the versatility of lasers could be more than we previously thought.
Dr. Peter Pauzauskie, who works as an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the university, said in a statement that it was somewhat doubtful at first whether it could be done, since illuminating anything via laser tends to warm things up rather than cool it down. But in this case, they were able to blast a crystal suspended in water with a high-heat laser, causing the crystal to glow and simultaneously pulling heat from the crystal and the surrounding water.
Scientists had attempted cooling with lasers before, and had successfully done so back in 1995, but in that case it had to be done in a vacuum and therefore wouldn’t be as practical. This successful experiment marks a big step forward.
More development will be needed as the current process is energy intensive, but it’s a step in the right direction. If scientists are able to refine the method, they could use the cooling technique to isolate molecules for biological research, among a number of uses in the lab.