NEWS - Researchers invent antenna for light
 

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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



For some reason - it reminds me of Isaac Asimov's fictional 'anopticon' -
although the technology is different.




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"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

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

On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 14:03:43 -0400, Phil Hobbs
wrote:
There's a current DARPA BAA on just this topic

Hi Phil,

I must've missed that (probably because they don't offer BAAs to SBA
set-asides).

Do you have a link to this BAA?

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

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"k4wge"
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

Googled your proposed connection:
"An ommatidium contains a cluster of *photoreceptor* cells..."

I believe that you've missed the point. It's the difference between optics
and EM (*), or between nerves and conductors, or between biology and
physics.

(* Yes, I know, I know...)




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On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 20:26:33 -0300, "Dogs - nothing but dogs!!"
wrote:
I believe that you've missed the point. It's the difference between optics
and EM (*), or between nerves and conductors, or between biology and
physics.

Hi OM,

What's the difference in Truro?

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Richard Clark wrote:
On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 14:03:43 -0400, Phil Hobbs
wrote:

There's a current DARPA BAA on just this topic


Hi Phil,

I must've missed that (probably because they don't offer BAAs to SBA
set-asides).

Do you have a link to this BAA?

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Sorry, it's a bit older than I thought:
http://www.darpa.mil/baa/baa04-01.htm

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

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"Richard Clark"
What's the difference...

I believe that insect eyes have little connection to the recent news about
carbon nanotubes being arranged into 'antennas for light'. I think that the
differences are quite clear.

The news is not BIG NEWS - quite the opposite... ;-)

...in Truro?

Truro? Puhleeze....couldn't stand it. Way too much traffic congestion for
such a small town.





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

"Phil Hobbs"
Sorry, it's a bit older than I thought:
http://www.darpa.mil/baa/baa04-01.htm

I know it's natural to poo-poo all things new, but this NG takes the cake
sometimes.

CNN, "Until now, no one had been able to make a device small enough to act
as an antenna for [visible] light." ['visible' light is from the CNN
article's lead paragraph]. Seems pretty clear that the news is the size.
Other than scale, they've simply made some good ole' fashioned vertical
monopoles.

That DARPA link (above) leads to 'blah, blah, blah' about millimetre wave
and IR - not visible light. And they're looking for someone to invent same -
it wasn't exactly a purchase order for an off-the-shelf product. And
(apparently worth repeating) it wasn't for visible light scale.

If anyone can provide any 'old' news for actual 'EM' antennas for ~visible~
light, please post the link and be sure to alert Boston College(*) and CNN
and DARPA. Insect eyes don't count (not even close) - not EM technology.

(* OMG - Let's quickly put any obvious fractal derivatives into the public
domain here and now.)




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On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 20:07:19 -0400, Phil Hobbs
wrote:

Richard Clark wrote:
On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 14:03:43 -0400, Phil Hobbs
wrote:

There's a current DARPA BAA on just this topic


Hi Phil,

I must've missed that (probably because they don't offer BAAs to SBA
set-asides).

Do you have a link to this BAA?

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

Sorry, it's a bit older than I thought:
http://www.darpa.mil/baa/baa04-01.htm

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

Hi Phil,

Thanx. It looks like I was on the mark about lack of SBA set-asides,
but I have an appointment with the UW Nanotech group this week and it
will be a useful discussion point.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC