Even if the researchers succeed in that task, the resulting device would be considered an
optically pumped laser, which works only when an external light source stimulates it.
Gould, retired and living in Kinsale, Va., also recently won a 10-year court battle to uphold his patent for an
optically pumped laser amplifier (SN: 3/20/82, p.199).
Optically pumped lasers have been achieved from various ZnO micro/nanostructures, such as thin films [1], powders [2], microtubes [3], nano/microwires [4-6], nanobelts [7], nanonails [8], microspheres [9], and nano/microdisks [10,11] by single-photon absorption in which ZnO serves as both active gain medium and optical resonant cavity.