BEIJING: University of Washington scientists say they’ve found a way to refrigerate liquid water using infrared laser.
Since the invention of lasers more than 50 years ago, they’ve almost if not always given off heat. We also see lasers in science fiction movies and television series as weapons that can melt metals or a whole building, or destroy a spacecraft larger than a city in outer space.
Now, scientists in the real world say there’s a way to use lasers to cool things down.
A new UW study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week revealed that a team of UW researchers has used an infrared laser to cool liquid water by about 36 degrees Fahrenheit (or about 20 degrees Celsius) — and they say it’s a “major breakthrough” in the field. Imagine in the not so distant future, we’ll see our fridge with cool lasers, or buildings with safe lasers that can lower the room temperature.
Senior author Peter Pauzauskie says in the science fiction world, like in the Star Wars franchise, lasers “heat things up.” Pauzauskie a UW assistant professor of materials science and engineering, says their research is the first to show a laser beam that will refrigerate liquids including water under everyday conditions.
Dr. Pauzauskie and his team chose infrared light for their cooling laser invention with “biological applications” in mind (and not for the development of future freeze guns). They demonstrated that the infrared laser could refrigerate saline solution and cell culture media that are commonly used in genetic and molecular studies.
