ARLA/CLUSTER: Universidade de Harvard apresenta o mais pequeno receptor de radio com componentes à escala atômica

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Harvard researchers create smallest radio receiver ever with
atomic-scale components

Things get ever smaller in the world of technology and while some
things can get too small, like say notebooks or smartphones leaving
them hard to use, other things can get so small it’s hard to fathom
the scale. Harvard scientists have created the world’s smallest radio
receiver and this little radio has parts that are built on an atomic
scale. The receiver uses miniscule atomic-scale defects in pink
diamonds.

The researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering
and Applied Sciences made the assembly for the radio receiver out of
building blocks that are the size of two atoms and the construct is
able to withstand extremely harsh environments. The assembly is also
bio-compatible meaning it could be placed inside the human body. The
imperfections in the diamonds that enabled this tiny breakthrough are
called nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers.

The team created the NV centers by replacing one carbon atom in a
scant diamond crystal with a nitrogen atom and then removing a
neighboring nitrogen atom. This created a system that is a nitrogen
atom with a hole next to it. These NV centers can emit single photos
or detect weak magnetic fields. The NV centers also have
photoluminescent properties.

That last bit means that the NV centers can convert information into
light allowing them to be powerful and potential systems for quantum
computing, photonics, and sensing. Building a radio receiver requires
five components including a power source, receiver, transducer,
speaker, and a tuner. The device the scientists have created powers
the electrons in the NV center with green laser light.

When powered the electrons are sensitive to electromagnetic fields
including FM waves. When that audio signal is received it is emitted
as red light that can be interpreted by a common photodiode and
converted into current. That current is then turned to sound by a
speaker or headphones. An electromagnet can then be used to tune the
radio station creating a very robust radio receiver that can operate
at about 660F (315,5556℃).

Fonte: Universidade de Harvard