Physicists have built a 'sound laser' that uses a single artificial atom to produce intense beams of ultrasound.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
Single Artificial Atom SASER
arXiv · 2603.27401
The Takeaway
While regular lasers use light particles (photons), this device amplifies quantum vibrations (phonons) within a crystal. It is the first time a laser-like effect has been achieved in sound using just one atom to drive the process, potentially leading to ultra-precise medical imaging and sensing.
From the abstract
Lasing - an effect of orthodox quantum mechanics - was discovered in 1955 and recognized by the Nobel Prize in 1964 due to its fundamentality. Nowadays, lasers and masers routinely work with electromagnetic waves and consist of a resonator with an active medium - usually a system of atoms with population inversion mechanism. Amazingly, quantum mechanics remains valid even when electromagnetic waves are replaced by vibrations of a crystal lattice, and, therefore, photons by phonons, even though a