New Research May Bring Antennas Onto Chips

[Guest_Jim_*]

There are several antennas in various devices surrounding me at the moment, and while we have understood how many of them work for over a century, some of them have been a puzzle. Specifically those antennas made from insulators, instead of conductors have been a mystery since their discovery. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have found the answer though, and the discovery has great potential both for practical devices and our understanding of physics.

Maxwell's equations explain how accelerating electrons generates electromagnetic radiation, which makes sense in conductors, but in dielectrics that restrict electrons from moving, another explanation is required. To do their work, the Cambridge researchers used thin films made of piezoelectric materials, which will physically deform or vibrate, when exposed to a voltage. At certain frequencies though, they become very efficient resonators and radiators of EM radiation. From this they were able to determine a link to symmetry breaking of the electric field. Accelerating electrons already breaks the symmetry of an electric field, but by applying asymmetric excitation to the thin films, the researchers were able to cause similar breaking, and thus generate EM radiation.

With this understanding, it may be possible to make ultra-small antennas, and potentially integrate them into computer chips. It also may provide a missing link between electromagnetism and quantum mechanics, which would lead to even more possibilities.

Source: University of Cambridge