Reflecting all the gathered light in one direction means that the nanoantenna acts kind of like a mirrored magnifying glass, concentrating the light at a particular point. Unlike a magnifying glass, however, it doesn't matter what angle the light enters; it all goes to the same point. Practical uses for the nanoantenna go beyond hiding things. Solar collectors reflect light on a single point, but to work at maximum efficiency they must be mechanically tilted to stay in line with the sun as it moves across the sky. The new nanoantenna would concentrate light on a single point without having to mechanically tilt it, eliminating one of the biggest costs involved in solar panels. "In a lot of solar cells, most of the light passes right though the material," said Halas. With the new 3D nanoantenna, "you could change the direction of the light so it propagates through the active regions of the solar cells to maximize [energy]." Whatever the material is used for, scientists agree that this is the world's first truly 3D nanoantenna. "Until now it has been difficult to build 3D shapes," said Gennady Shvets, a scientist at the University of Texas at Austin who studies metamaterials. "People used lithography to create essentially flat or planar structures, but those have their limitations." Related Links: |
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