Stefan Mileschin

The Italian Brit who is famous for inventing the radio when he didn’t might have come up with a real idea after all and could be the brains behind a new form of wireless chip antenna.

Cambridge engineer Gehan Amaratunga, was looking at Guglielmo Marconi’s British patent application from 1900, known as 7777 , and he spotted a little noticed detail.

A transmitter was linked to an antenna connected to a coil, which had one end dangling while the RF signal was fed to the middle of the coil.

This idea is pretty crazy, but the asymmetric coupling between the spark generator and the antenna allowed the transformation of the RF electric signal into electromagnetic radiation.

The researchers realized that it was this asymmetry, or “broken symmetry,” a concept borrowed from quantum theory, that explained the generation of electromagnetic waves in Marconi’s transmitter.

The UK team thought that symmetry breaking explained why dielectric matter can transmits electromagnetic waves.

Dhiraj Sinha said that until now this was not well understood. “Dielectric antennas are already in use, but they are too bulky for on-chip use. Instead of the dielectric materials in use today.

http://www.techeye.net/chips/marconi...eful-after-all