Bio-inspired nanoantennas for light emission
Monday, July 30, 2012 - 09:02
in Physics & Chemistry
Just as radio antennas amplify the signals of our mobile phones and televisions, the same principle can apply to light. For the first time, researchers from CNRS and Aix Marseille Université have succeeded in producing a nanoantenna from short strands of DNA, two gold nanoparticles and a small fluorescent molecule that captures and emits light. This easy-to-handle optical antenna is described in an article published in Nature Communications on 17 July 2012. This work could in the longer term lead to the development of more efficient light-emitting diodes, more compact solar cells or even be used in quantum cryptography.