Number 243 (Story #3), October 5, 1995 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein A PHOTONIC WIRE LASER , devised by a Northwestern-UC San Diego-Cornell collaboration, consists of a tiny ring-shaped optical fiber (where the laser light is generated) coupled to a U- shaped fiber for carrying the light away. With a cross section of only 0.19 x 0.4 microns and an active laser volume of only 0.27 cubic microns (making this essentially the smallest laser ever realized) the ring is a one-dimensional waveguide which because of its small dimension makes more efficient use of the stimulated emission than many other lasers. The researchers expect that their device will help them to build other novel photonic nanostructures. (J.P. Zhang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 2 Oct.)