ScienceDaily (Oct. 19, 2007) — Researchers in California report development of the world's first working radio system that receives radio waves wirelessly and converts them to sound signals through a nano-sized detector made of carbon nanotubes.

The "carbon nanotube radio" device is thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. The development marks an important step in the evolution of nano-electronics and could lead to the production of the world's smallest radio, the scientists say. 

Peter Burke and Chris Rutherglen developed a carbon nanotube "demodulator" that is capable of translating AM radio waves into sound. In a laboratory demonstration, the researchers incorporated the detector into a complete radio system and used it to successfully transmit classical music wirelessly from an iPod to a speaker several feet away from the music player.

Although other researchers have developed nano-sized radio wave detectors in the past, the current study marks the first time that a nano-sized detector has been demonstrated in an actual working radio system, the scientists say. The study demonstrates the feasibility of making other radio components at the nanoscale in the future and may eventually lead to a "truly integrated nanoscale wireless communications system," they say. Such a device could have numerous industrial, commercial, medical and other applications.

 Their findings appeared online October 17 and are scheduled for publication in the Nov. 14 print edition of ACS' Nano Letters.

Related Stories

High-speed Nanotube Transistors Could Lead To Better Cell Phones, Faster Computers (Apr. 28, 2004) — Scientists have demonstrated, for the first time, that transistors made from single-walled carbon nanotubes can operate at extremely fast microwave frequencies, opening up the potential for better ...  > read more

First Fully-functional Radio From A Single Carbon Nanotube Created (Oct. 31, 2007) — Wielding a single carbon nanotube 10,000 times smaller than a human hair, physicists have constructed the smallest radio yet. The nanotube vibrates at radio frequencies to receive the signal, then ...  > read more

New Kind Of Transistor Radios Show Capability Of Nanotube Technology (Feb. 4, 2008) — Carbon nanotubes have a sound future in the electronics industry, say researchers who built the world's first all-nanotube transistor radios to prove it. The nanotube radios, in which nanotube ...  > read more

Honey, I Shrunk The Carbon Nanotubes! (Nov. 15, 2006) — Why would anyone want to shrink carbon nanotubes (CNTs), those cylinders of pure carbon with properties ideal for a new generation of sensors, transistors, super-strong fabrics, and nanoscale ...  > read more

Search ScienceDaily

Seeing Through Walls