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Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have built the world's smallest and best acoustic amplifier. And they did it using a concept that was all but abandoned for almost 50 years. According to a paper published May 13 in Nature Communications, the device is more than 10 times more effective than the earlier versions. The design and future research directions hold promise for smaller wireless technology. Modern cell phones are packed with radios to send and receive phone calls, text messages and high-speed data.
Scientists tried making acoustic radio-frequency amplifiers decades ago, but the last major academic papers from these efforts were published in the 1970s.
The new and improved amplifier is more than 10 times as effective as the versions built in the '70s in a few ways. It can boost signal strength by a factor of 100 in 0.008 inch (0.2 millimeter) with only 36 volts of electricity and 20 milliwatts of power.
[...] So how long until these petite radio parts are inside your phone? Probably not for a while, Eichenfield said. Converting mass-produced, commercial products like cell phones to all acousto-electric technology would require a massive overhaul of the manufacturing infrastructure, he said. But for small productions of specialized devices, the technology holds more immediate promise.
The Sandia team is now exploring whether they can adapt their technology to improve all-optical signal processing, too. They are also interested in finding out if the technology can help isolate and manipulate single quanta of sound, called phonons, which would potentially make it useful for controlling and making measurements in some quantum computers.
[Source]: Sandia Labs
Journal Reference:
Lisa Hackett, Michael Miller, Felicia Brimigion,
et al. Towards single-chip radiofrequency signal processing via acoustoelectric
electron–phonon interactions [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22935-1)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 04 2021, @01:21PM (4 children)
OK, I know it's Friday and I'm tired, but there are so many groups of words that I cannot make sense of... I have to wonder if it's just me:
- "acoustic radio-frequency": Which is it? Are we talking about moving air or electrons?
- From TFA "the wavelengths of sound at these frequencies are so small". If we're talking about sound (*low* frequencies of 20-20 kHz), then isn't the wavelength huge, even if in a solid material?
- "Boosting a signal by a factor of 100 with the old devices required 0.4 inch [...] more than 500 milliwatts of power" and "The new and improved amplifier [...] 0.008 inch [...] 20 milliwatts of power". So, for the same amplification efficiency, the new amplifier has higher heat loss, and that's "more than 10 times as effective"?
Maybe there is some amazing breakthrough there, but TFA doesn't make it easy to get.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Friday June 04 2021, @02:08PM (3 children)
I'm guessing, too, but I'd guess that 'acoustic' means that the signals are being processed in the form of mechanical motion (which doesn't have to be at what human ears regard as audio frequencies) rather than fluctuating electric currents or EM waves.
Just imagine the HMV logo re-imagined as an electron microscope image of a cute tardigrade with it's antennae/cillae/whatever cocked towards a tiny wind-up gramophone with a horn and diaphragm mechanism and hearing his master's voice sped up a few million times. It's probably nothing whatsoever like that, but it's a great way to pass the time. :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 04 2021, @04:04PM (2 children)
Once I worked out that this wasn't more audiophile porn, then I realized the same thing as your guess. Signal processing done as mechanical vibration (in a very small mechanical oscillator).
Anyone know if VLM's comments above make sense? He rants and raves off-topic so often, that it's hard for me to know what to think when he writes something that looks sensible(grin)?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 04 2021, @05:12PM
Almost makes sense, yeah.
Piezoelectric acoustic components are actually pretty common - especially in cell phones. They're called SAW or BAW filters, which stands for surface or bulk acoustic wave (depending on if the wave travels along the surface of the material or through the middle of it). The incoming signal (which is moving electrons, not air molecules) gets put into the input end of the piezoelectric chip, then comes out the other end as an (again electronic) filtered signal. This allows a nice bandpass filter to be constructed, effective in radio frequencies, without the need for space-and-power-consuming networks of capacitors and resistors. By varying the properties of the chip, the filter can be adjusted. The drawback is that the filter's properties are baked in at manufacturing time, and it has an attenuating effect on the signal due to the dual conversion. Overall it works well as long as someone makes a filter in the frequency you need.
But those are filters, not amplifiers. So, different tech.
(Score: 3, Informative) by epitaxial on Friday June 04 2021, @08:14PM
Reading VLM's comments was refreshing. Nice to see someone with knowledge of a subject instead of simply dismissing the story.