A senior at Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland made a groundbreaking discovery while experimenting with peacock feathers. Anthony Fiorito, a senior engineering physics major, was able to create laser light from peacock feathers by adding highlighter dye. He says they tried many methods to find out how to make the peacock feathers emit lasers, but using a pink dye that is found in highlighters was the only one that worked.
“By soaking and staining the feathers multiple times and really getting the dye in there and then exciting it with an outside source, we were able to get that fluorescent dye to do more than just fluorescence, but actually emit laser light out of the peacock feathers,” said Fiorito.
Fiorito says this discovery could impact the scientific community, possibly by reducing the cost of making optical equipment…