Nano-antennas are so small that they operate at the same frequencies as light waves, enabling information to be transmitted by optical-frequency radios that can transmit data up to a million times faster that radios today. Look for use of nanoantennas to speed up on-chip communications within five years. R.C.J.
The fact that radio waves behave like light--exhibiting optical properties like reflection, refraction, diffraction and interference--was demonstrated back in 1887 in Karlsruhe, Germany, by Heinrich Hertz (after whom Hz was named). Since then radios have gone to higher and higher frequencies, enabling more and more data to be communicated, but making the antennas for transmission and reception smaller and smaller. Now researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have come full circle, demonstrating nano-antennas so small that they operate at the same frequencies as light waves, enabling information to be transmitted by optical-frequency radios that can transmit data up to a million times faster that radios today.
Text: http://www.smartertechnology.com/c/a/Technology-For-Change/NanoAntennas-Transmit-Receive-Light-as-Radio-Waves/
