Technology is moving at a fast pace. Along with that, many of them are also going for smaller sizes. In the world of electronics, small means having a better chance of being portable. Researchers build recently the world's smallest radio receiver.
The smallest radio receiver is also one of the toughest. It can withstand harsh conditions, which could be useful for exploration in harsh environments. This could be used then for planetary exploration. The researchers who built the smallest radio receiver is led by Marko Loncar, a Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The researchers have used imperfect pink diamonds as part of the smallest radio receiver. The imperfection in these diamonds is called nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers. The research team has made NV centers in diamonds by replacing a carbon atom with a nitrogen atom. The result is that the nitrogen atom would have a hole in it.
In this way, the NV centers could be used to emit single photons are detect very weak magnetic fields. For the research, the electrons in diamond NV centers are powered using green light from a laser. The electrons are said to be sensitive to magnetic fields. A radio wave is a type of electromagnetic field, so when an NV center receives a radio wave it converts it into audio signal. This audio signal then emits light, according to the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences site.
To change radio stations, an electromagnet is used. The electromagnetic field created by it is used to change stations. Since the radio receiver is using pink diamonds, it is a very strong and resilient radio receiver, as Science Daily reports. Loncar has said that the radio receiver can be used in a number of ways, even in the human body.
Technology is becoming more advanced. There are new technology that are coming which would further change the way we live. Researchers build the world's smallest radio receiver, which can help in many ways. Technology can also be a risk, as health wearables can have privacy issues.
