Nanocrystals that emit steady light may may open the door to dramatically less expensive and more versatile lasers, brighter LED lighting, and biological markers that track more precisely how a drug interacts with a cell, researchers at the University of Rochester, Kodak, Cornell University, and Naval Research Laboratory have found.

The nanocrystals overcome the problem of sporadic light emission (blinking) from nanocrystals. “Painting” a grid of differently sized nanocrystals onto a flat surface could create computer displays as thin as paper, or a wall that lights a room in any desired color.