Chinese researchers create laser that can write in the air

Chinese researchers have recently demonstrated an extremely powerful laser that can generate Chinese characters in the air, reports South China Morning Post (SCMP).

According to the researchers who developed the new device, the new tool can draw patterns anywhere by using extremely brief laser pulses to convert the electrons on air molecules into light and produce an eerie image that appears to be floating in midair.

According to SCMP, the Hongtuo Joint Laboratory of Ultra-Fast Laser in Wuhan's optics valley hosted a demonstration earlier this week where researchers created characters that could be seen from any angle and were tactile enough to be "touched" by researchers.

High-intensity laser pulses are focused in the air to create plasma, or ionized gas, which emits energy in the form of light. The team claimed to have precisely positioned the pixel dots and formed the characters in the air using a 3D scanner, but they provided no further explanation. The brief pulses have a duration of only femtoseconds, or one millionth of one billionth of a second, or one quadrillionth of a second.