Laserlike effect in powders and the possibility of its use for information processing

With the goal to establish the mechanisms of the effect we investigated spatial characteristics of the spot of laserlike radiation from the powders and the degree of coherence (DC) of this radiation. It was shown that minimum spot dimensions are 20-30micrometers (particle dimensions approximately 4-20micrometers ). The spot can change its form from one generation shot to another, as a result of particles displacement under the action of pumping pulses. The DC was evaluated using the contrast of speckle-structure. It appears that the DC is considerable lower than usual lasers with mirrors, although it has noticeable value. In some cases DC is near to its value to a dye laser. The possibility of using the laserlike effect in powders for creation of cathode screens with narrow band (approximately 0.1 nm) and short (approximately 1 ns) luminescence is discussed. Preliminary experiments were performed. As a more distant perspective, the possibility of using this effect for creation of optical memory cells is also discussed.