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Lasers may have been the sci-fi weapon of choice to burn or blow things up &#8212 but that could change.

A team of University of Washington scientists have invented a method to use the beams in a cool new way &#8212 in fact, to cool things down. It could open up a wide range of new scientific and commercial applications.

The breakthrough took 3 ½ years of research, conducted by Materials Science Professor Peter Pauzauskie and his team. Scientists have tried to do accomplish the laser-cool feat for 20 years.

Pauzauskie’s team invented a unique micro-crystal, put it in water, and shined an infrared laser light at it.

“The glow from the crystal carries away more energy than it absorbs. And that effect, sort of a cooling glow, can refrigerate the particle in the water, but also it can refrigerate the water around the particle,” Pauzauskie said.

It works a lot like a refrigerator. Researchers ended up cooling that small amount of water by about 36 degrees.

Pauzauskie says a cooling laser could have a big impact in areas such as the defense industry or information technology. There are also biomedical research applications. Scientists could use that laser refrigeration to slow down molecules or even cells &#8212 without damaging or killing them &#8212 to study how they react in different situations or how they replicate.

“We’d really like to try to begin to make slow-motion movies of either enzymes or molecular motor proteins,” Pauzauskie said. “Or cells in the midst of cell division or repair to learn more about how these amazing phenomena occur and how cells function.”

Right now, the team can only target one very small crystal at a time, and cool a small amount of liquid. In the future, Pauzauskie says, more research and more powerful lasers could make the process more efficient and open up greater possibilities and real-world applications.