Researchers from the Princeton University in New Jersey have developed a device that can be a huge step for technology. According to reports, the researchers have created the smallest laser that could be powered by single electrons.

An associate physics professor at the university and lead author of the study, Jason Petta, said that the device equal to size of a rice grain is named ‘maser’. The device is small microwave laser that shows how moving electrons and light interact with each other, Petta added.

According to the researcher, the device uses about one-billionth the electric current that is needed to power a hair-dryer.

Jacob Taylor, assistant professor at Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland-National Institute of Standards and Technology, said, “I consider this to be a really important result for our long-term goal, which is entanglement between quantum bits in semiconductor-based devices”.

According to the researchers, they conducted the study to know more about how to utilize double quantum dots as the basic units of information. Physics graduate Yinyu Liu said that getting the double quantum dots to ‘communicate with each other’ was the main objective. As per Liu, a double quantum dot is able to transfer only one electron at a time.

He said it is like a series of humans crossing a wide stream by jumping onto a rock which can hold only one person at a time. It is like the people are asked to cross the stream at a time. The double quantum dots are zero-dimensional when electrons are concerned.

According to reports, the study could be helpful in the future development of light sources. As per the university, the study provided promising viewpoint for quantum computing. The study, Semiconductor double quantum dot micromaser, has been published in the Science journal.