Meet LANER: the "Network" Laser

It seemed like a simple idea: shine a laser through a complex network of optical fibers and see what pathway(s) the beam of light preferred. But once he got started, Giovanni Giacomelli realized that his project had opened the way to something much bigger--something that would eventually lead him to revisit the handful of laser designs currently in existence.You see, a laser is much more than a glorified flashlight. Where an incandescent bulb or LED emits a range of light wavelengths in all dire...