Researchers have developed an ultrathin and flexible membrane, less than a thousandth of a millimeter thick, that can be placed onto a contact lens, enabling the wearer to essentially shoot lasers from their eyes.
The membrane, which was developed by scientists from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, is made from an organic semiconducting polymer—a broad class of materials that consist of many repeated chains of molecular units. It emits very low-powered laser light when illuminated by another laser.
Each membrane is able to produce a unique “barcode”—a well-defined series of laser beams in the form of sharp lines. This could have applications in identification technology as a kind of wearable security tag, according to the researchers.
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