LED-pumped room-temperature solid-state maser

Abstract

Room-temperature MASERs (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) are coherent sources that exploit stimulated emission to amplify electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies. Here we demonstrate a light-emittting diode (LED)-pumped maser using pentacene-doped para-terphenyl as the gain medium. The LED light is brightness enhanced and guided using a Cerium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet luminescent crystal that uses light recycling for enhanced luminance and increased power levels. We observe stable maser emission at 1.45 GHz using LED pumping with a duration of 200 µs and a microwave output power of up to 0.014 mW. This new maser is cost-effective, safe, outperforms non-laser pumped masers in output power, and environmentally friendly, ensuring various potential uses, including more sensitive magnetic resonance body scanners, quantum optical coherence tomography, advanced quantum computer components, portable atomic clocks, and improved radio astronomy devices for deep space exploration.