A NEW generation of laser has been developed which costs less than £5 to make.

Scientists have created lasers which can be tuned to every colour of the rainbow and could be used for anything from medical treatment to Christmas decorations.

The technology has been developed by physicists at the St Andrews University.

As the compact lasers can be powered by a simple light-emitting diode rather than another laser they can be made at a fraction of the cost of existing technologies.

The breakthrough by Professor Ifor Samuel and Dr Graham Turnbull uses plastic-like semi-conducting materials and has even been used to make a light-emitting sticking plaster for the treatment of skin cancer.

The simple compact lasers could revolutionise point of care diagnosis and treatment.

Professor Samuel said, “We have now developed a low-cost, easy to make plastic laser, which converts the light from an LED—of the kind used in torches and traffic lights—into laser light.

“LEDs can be battery powered and so this hybrid LED-laser approach can make very simple compact emitters.”

Dr Turnbull said that as the lasers were incredibly cheap and disposable they could be used in single-use medical diagnostics or in extreme environments, such as sensing for explosives.

“Conventional visible lasers can cost anything between a few hundred pounds to tens of thousands but our new laser can be created for less than £5.”