Advances in lasers get to the long and short of it

Since lasers were first developed, the demand for more adaptable lasers has only increased. Chiral nematic liquid crystals (CLCs) are an emerging class of lasing devices that are poised to shape how lasers are used in the future because of their low thresholds, ease of fabrication, and ability to be tuned across wider swaths of the electromagnetic spectrum. New work on how to select band-edge modes in these devices, which determine the lasing energy, may shine light on how lasers of the future w...