• neptune@dmv.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    8 months ago

    University of Otago physicists have used a small glass bulb containing an atomic vapor to demonstrate a new form of antenna for radio waves. The bulb was “wired up” with laser beams and could therefore be placed far from any receiver electronics.

    Apparently it can cover more frequencies than a typical antenna design. Cool

      • neptune@dmv.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        Really. Wouldn’t broadcasting on all spectrums basically just be noise?

        Edit: the article says “have broad tunability” which I take to mean that no, they just operate on one frequency at a time

        • stifle867@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          8 months ago

          It covers more frequencies as in wavelengths as in the bigger the wavelength the bigger the length of the antenna (to put it simply). In this case they’re saying you wouldn’t need to make it as large as a conventional antenna to receive the same frequencies, or you could make it large and receive more frequencies.

        • ubermeisters@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          8 months ago

          Hmm alright, maybe I misunderstood that part, I was thinking that meant ability to broadcast a gamut of signal.

          • neptune@dmv.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            8 months ago

            I do think it can receive on many frequencies at once. But I think the Fourier transform won’t be able to untangle a signal if that signal is broadcast continuously on all frequencies.