A group of researchers from the University of Cambridge has claimed to have unraveled one of the mysteries of electromagnetism and this could pave way for antenna designs that are small enough it would be possible to integrate them into electronic chip.

The new nano antennas are being called as the last frontier of semiconductor design and would pave way to a massive leap in wireless communications. In a new study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers proposed that electronic waves are also generated from a phenomenon known as symmetry breaking besides from the acceleration of electrons.

The research team likewise said that the discovery could help determine the points where the theories for quantum mechanics and classical electromagnetism overlap. Electron acceleration, caused by radiation and identified over a century ago, has no currently known equivalents in quantum mechanics where the electrons are assumed to jump from higher to lower energy states. Observations of radiation based on the electric field's broken symmetry may offer some association between the two fields.

The purpose of antennas, regardless of their use such as in a mobile phone or a communication tower is to launch energy into free space as radio or electromagnetic waves as well as to collect energy from free space that would be fed into the device. One of the biggest challenges in modern electronics is that antennas are quite big and are incompatible with ultra-small electronic circuits that continue to get smaller.

For the study, the researchers used thin films of piezoelectric materials, an insulator that gets deformed or vibrated once voltage is applied. The research team found that these materials become both an efficient resonator and radiator at certain frequency, which means they can be used as aerials. The researchers found that this could be attributed to symmetry breaking of the electric field linked with electron acceleration.

Once the asymmetric excitation is applied on the thin piezoelectric films, the symmetry of the system breaks, which generates electromagnetic radiation and results in a symmetry breaking of the electric field.

"If you want to use these materials to transmit energy, you have to break the symmetry as well as have accelerating electrons - this is the missing piece of the puzzle of electromagnetic theory," said study researcher Gehan Amaratunga, from Cambridge's Department of Engineering. "These results will aid understanding of how electromagnetism and quantum mechanics cross over and join up. It opens up a whole set of possibilities to explore."

The application of this discovery could impact mobile technology and play a crucial role in the Internet of Things.

Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr