ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Quantum well laser

Okay my little friend, let me explain quantum well laser to you in simple terms.

Imagine you have a toy car, and you want to make it go faster. What do you do? You add more batteries so it can go faster right?

Now replace the toy car with light. Yes, light can go fast too. And instead of batteries, we will use something called semiconductors. Semiconductors are materials that are in between conductors (things that easily let electricity pass through them) and insulators (things that do not let electricity pass through them easily).

A quantum well laser is like a special kind of light bulb that is made using these semiconductors. It has a tiny layer in the middle called a quantum well, which is so thin that the electrons (tiny particles that carry electricity) can only move in two dimensions, like being stuck in a flat world.

This special layer makes the electrons give off light when they move from one energy level to another. This is like the light bulb turning on when you flip the switch. And since the electrons in a quantum well are trapped or confined, they are forced to release their energy in a very specific way. This makes the light given off by a quantum well laser very bright and of a particular color, like red or blue.

So, in summary, a quantum well laser is a tiny light bulb made of semiconductors that has a special layer called a quantum well which forces the electrons to release their energy in a very specific way, making the light it gives off very bright and of a specific color.