British developed a new type of maser that can operate at room temperature without an external magnetic field

The world’s first maser has been available for more than 50 years, but it is constrained by its large size, demanding working conditions, and low energy efficiency. Lasers have succeeded in dominating the market. Since the maser requires extremely low pressure, or a freezing temperature of minus 273.15 degrees Celsius, giant magnets are also needed to create a strong magnetic field, which makes it currently only used to enhance the spacecraft's radio signals emitted from distant space.

Can masers broaden their application fields and apply them to areas such as communications and space exploration? This must solve the harsh requirements of the maser for the working environment. Recently, British scientists successfully developed the first maser that can operate at room temperature, which undoubtedly opened the door to widening the application of maser.

Scientists used terphenyls doped with pentacene instead of ruby ​​to excite the pentacene molecules to metastable energy levels. A microwave passes through the crystals to excite the molecules and release the same wavelength of microbeams. The intensity of the emitted signal is almost 100 million times that of existing masers. However, scientists are still considering how to make the maser work continuously and how to increase the microwave frequency range. In addition, scientists are also considering whether they can find other materials that consume less energy and design more portable and miniaturized.

It is reported that the newly developed maser can work at room temperature, and it does not need an external magnetic field, and it can work off the giant magnet. It is expected to be used in medical scanners and chemical sensors that detect explosives remotely, as well as in the development of quantum computers and radio telescopes.