Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      MultiChoice is working on a wholesale overhaul of DStv

      10 July 2025

      Spam call epidemic: operators say their hands are tied

      10 July 2025

      Britehouse unit breaks free from NTT Data

      10 July 2025

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025

      Grammarly acquires e-mail start-up Superhuman

      1 July 2025

      Apple considers ditching its own AI in Siri overhaul

      1 July 2025
    • In-depth

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on the latest and greatest cloud technologies

      27 June 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on data governance in hybrid cloud environments

      27 June 2025
    • Opinion

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » CSIR shows off ‘world first’ digital laser

    CSIR shows off ‘world first’ digital laser

    By Craig Wilson17 September 2013
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    Andrew Forbes
    Andrew Forbes

    The CSIR’s National Laser Centre has created what it calls the world’s first digital laser. South African scientists working at the centre have created a means of controlling a laser beam’s shape digitally and they claim the implications for health care, manufacturing, communications and other industries could be enormous.

    Laser devices traditionally consist of mirrors, light and a casing containing a material such as crystal or glass. The material changes the frequency of the light to create a laser beam.

    In conventional lasers, the shape of the beam is either left uncontrolled or is forced into a specific shape using costly optics. For example, surgical lasers are used for precision cutting.

    The digital laser uses a “spatial light modulator” — it has a liquid crystal display (LCD) that can be “digitally addressed” with grayscale images that alter the beam.

    Andrew Forbes, who leads the project at the NLC, says the digital laser uses the LCD as one of its mirrors and this is fitted at one end of the laser cavity. Because the LCD serves as a mirror, changing the image it displays changes the shape of the laser beam that is emitted.

    This allows for digital control of the beam in real time, prompting the name “digital laser”. According to Forbes, this could have huge implications for many of the industries in which laser technology plays a role.

    “Virtually any laser mode can be created with the digital laser,” Forbes says. “We can use one laser and a single beam shape to create multiple shapes of lights and resultant images. Previously, you would need a separate laser for each shape.”

    Forbes says that now all it costs is a student’s time. “And students are very cheap,” he quips.

    Fittingly, the project came about because of the work of a student, Sandile Ngcobo, a PhD candidate from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s school of physics and research scientist at the CSIR. Ngcobo, along with Forbes, Liesl Burger and Igor Litvin published a paper detailing their work published in January.

    As for the possible uses of the digital laser, Forbes says he and his team don’t yet know what it might be applied to. “However, we think it’s a disruptive technology.”

    He sees possible applications in devices, health, communication and manufacturing. “To date, drilling different patterns means directing the round laser beam around a pattern, but now you could turn the beam into the pattern.”

    Derek Hanekom
    Derek Hanekom

    The laser could also find use in communication. “People are talking about using the shapes of light to increase the bandwidth of communications,” Forbes says. “The digital laser might be one of the solutions to packing data into patterns of light and passing it down fibre optics.”

    The CSIR owns the intellectual property that accompanies the digital laser and is trying to decide whether to spin it off into a standalone company or roll it into another, related technology.

    “We have spoken to prospective investors, but it’s still very early days,” Forbes says.

    Work on the digital laser grew out of a CSIR research project from three years ago, according to Forbes. “That’s the nature of science — you invest for a short time but may only see the outcome years later.”

    Science & technology minister Derek Hanekom says he is “always careful about using the word ‘breakthrough’”, but that in this instance it is appropriate. “When we talk about an advance in laser technology, we’re talking about a technology that has a vast range of possible applications.”  — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media



    Andrew Forbes CSIR Derek Hanekom National Laser Centre
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleTencent now a $100bn company
    Next Article Controversy over new SABC board

    Related Posts

    The Starlink seduction

    1 July 2025

    Eskom added no new plant in 2024 yet lights mostly stayed on

    17 March 2025

    South Africa is falling behind in weather forecasting technology

    13 December 2024
    Company News

    AI in project management: a new era of efficiency and transformation

    10 July 2025

    Samsung unfolds the future with thinnest, lightest Galaxy Z Fold yet

    9 July 2025

    Huawei supercharges South African SMEs with over 20 new eKit products

    9 July 2025
    Opinion

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.