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Room-temperature ultraviolet lasing in semiconductor nanowire arrays has been demonstrated. The self-organized, <0001> oriented zinc oxide nanowires grown on sapphire substrates were synthesized with a simple vapor transport and condensation process. These wide band-gap semiconductor nanowires form natural laser cavities with diameters varying from 20 to 150 nanometers and lengths up to 10 micrometers. Under optical excitation, surface-emitting lasing action was observed at 385 nanometers, with an emission linewidth less than 0.3 nanometer. The chemical flexibility and the one-dimensionality of the nanowires make them ideal miniaturized laser light sources. These short-wavelength nanolasers could have myriad applications, including optical computing, information storage, and microanalysis.

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