AI Unveils 21 New Materials for Organic Solid State Lasers

Researchers from six teams in five labs have made a groundbreaking advancement in material discovery by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence. By utilizing AI technology, the time required to identify new materials for solid state lasers has been drastically reduced from years to just a few months.

Organic solid state lasers (OSLs) have emerged as a promising technology with a wide range of applications, thanks to their flexibility, color tunability, and efficiency. However, the complexity of creating these materials has posed a significant challenge. With over 150,000 potential experiments needed to uncover successful new materials, the task seemed insurmountable.

The significance of this technological breakthrough extends to optical links for chiplets and various other photonic applications. In the past, only a limited number of new OSL materials were tested over the course of several decades. However, researchers from the Acceleration Consortium at the University of Toronto have revolutionized the process.

The team leveraged self-driving lab (SDL) technology, powered by AI and robotic synthesis, to expedite the identification and testing of over 1000 potential OSL materials. This innovative approach led to the discovery of at least 21 top-performing OSL gain candidates within a remarkably short timeframe.

Collaborating labs in Glasgow, Illinois, Toronto, Vancouver, and Fukuoka played a pivotal role in this groundbreaking research. Through a decentralized workflow managed by a cloud-based platform, each lab contributed its unique expertise and resources. This not only enhanced efficiency but also facilitated the rapid replication of experimental findings, propelling the development of next-generation solid state lasers.

Dr. Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the Acceleration Consortium, emphasized the transformative nature of this research, stating, “What this shows is that a closed-loop approach can be delocalized, researchers can go all the way down from the molecular state down to devices and you can accelerate the discovery of materials that are very early in the process of commercialization.”

The team's comprehensive experiment spanned from molecule to device, with the final devices manufactured in Japan, scaled up in Vancouver, and then transferred back to Japan for characterization. This seamless collaboration across borders highlights the global impact of AI-driven material discovery in the realm of solid state lasers.