k4wge wrote:
"Antennas for Light" wrote in message ...

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Researchers ... have invented an antenna that
captures visible light in much the same way that radio antennas capture
radio waves. ...tiny carbon nanotubes...

snip

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/sci...eut/index.html



This antenna was invented much earlier, actually, as the compound eye
of insects and other arthropods.

http://biodidac.bio.uottawa.ca/thumb...&File_type=GIF

Oh, honestly. Real antennas have been used at optical frequencies for a
decade. There's a current DARPA BAA on just this topic--for uncooled
infrared imagers. My day job involves trying to use this effect for optical
interconnection in servers and routers.

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs