[Moon-net] New radio waves

[Leif Asbrink]

Hi All,

Recently there have been articles about a new possibillity
to transmit much more information within a limited frequency
range. Also new revolutionary prospects for radio astronomy
are supposed to develop thanks to this new theoretical work.

Today I found a link to the original work. The whole article
can be downloaded from here:
http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1208

I can not say I understand anything of it, but I get a feeling
of "The Emperors new clothes" (HC Anderssen.)

The fundamental thing seems to be that the polarisation is
different in different directions. (As a practical man I only 
think about antennas that I can see from one direction
only. Otherwise I would be in the near-field....)

The thing that makes me a little upset is this: "An interesting 
property of the rays is that their energy does not follow a 
straight line like an ordinary ray. They follow a cork-screw 
like movement around the symmetry axes of the ray". This 
sentence is my translation into english of an article in
swedish in the journal "Fysikaktuellt" from the Swedish 
Physicists Organization. (The article is written by
K Palmer and J Sjoholm, two of the authors of the full
paper, so it is not just a misunderstanding by a journalist.)

Electromagnetic energy not following a straight line in
free space??? 

Could there be a way of reducing path loss;-)
(The free space attenuation formula is based on the idea of 
rays propagating on straight lines so the energy becomes 
spread over a N*N times large area when the distance is N 
times larger. A cork-screw would have a constant diameter 
and no path loss:-)

The sensational new discoveries have caused articles in other
swedish journals that are intended for the general public.
I just wonder if all of it is an internal swedish affair or
if it has been observed internationally. After all it is
published in Physical Review Letters 99, 087701 (2007)

73 and a happy new year

  Leif / SM5BSZ