Video: 1950s 'maser' technology making a comeback, say researchers

Exploring the galaxy and catching drug cheats in sports are some applications for a magnetic form of laser called a maser, say Imperial researchers.

Masers, which were first developed during the Cold War in the 1950s, amplify weak electromagnetic signals. They were intended for use in radio-astronomy and satellite communication. However, the technology was originally the size of a large fridge and could only operate in a total vacuum or in temperatures at around five kelvin, which is as cold as deep space. Masers also consumed large amounts of energy.

The rapid development of semiconductor amplifiers in the 1960s, combined with the launching of satellites that could transmit signals back to Earth at much higher powers, meant that masers were not widely adopted and research into them rapidly declined.  Since then, masers have only been used on a limited scale by organisations like NASA to amplify extremely weak electromagnetic signals received back from deep space probes. Only such organisations have had the resources to operate and maintain the technology.

However in 2012, Professor Neil Alford and his colleagues from the Department of Materials made a major breakthrough with maser technology. They demonstrated that a maser could work under normal conditions, without the need for vacuum or frigid space-like conditions, and using far less energy.

Since then the team, which also includes Dr Mark Oxborrow and Dr Jonathan Breeze, have been refining the maser, shrinking it from the size of a coke can down to a thimble-sized device, which consumes even less energy than their original design breakthrough.  In the video (above), Dr Oxborrow and Dr Breeze discuss their plans for shrinking the technology even further, which could lead to masers being used in a much wider range of applications – from better medical imaging, to more detailed astronomical observations and improved drug detection in sports.