Energy loss in optical systems, such as lasers, is a chief
hindrance to their performance and efficiency and it occurs on an ongoing,
frustrating basis.
To help laser systems overcome loss, operators often pump
the system with an overabundance of photons, or light packets, to achieve
optical gain. But now, scientists from the School of Engineering & Applied
Science at Washington University in St. Louis have shown a new way to reverse
or eliminate such loss by, ironically, adding loss to a laser system to
actually reap energy gains. In other words, they’ve invented a way to win by
losing.