Researchers at Purdue University are developing a new class of miniature resonators – vibrating mechanical devices used to filter electronic signals that could find use in mobile phones and sensor applications.
Resonators vibrate in specific patterns, meaning they are able to cancel out signals of certain frequencies and let others through, allowing handheld devices to operate with minimum interference and maximum transmission efficiency.
As well as being used in handsets, these resonators – which the team has arranged in rings and other non-traditional coupling arrangements - could be used for advanced chemical and biological sensors or even as memory storage.
"The potential computer memory application is the most long-term and challenging," commented Purdue University's Jeffrey Rhoads.
"We are talking about the possibility of creating complex behaviours out of relatively simple substructures."
Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz are currently developing a bottle microresonator capable of storing small amounts of light.