Semi-OT: flat speakers ~20 nm thick

[GDG]

A recent article in Nano Letters (L. Xiao et al., Nano Lett (2008) ) describes how the authors discovered that a thin film of carbon nanotubes produces sound. The film is very thin (several 10s of nanometers thick, i.e., less than a millionth of a meter thick), flexible, stretchable, and transparent. To make a speaker, just attach electrodes to each end! They obtained sound pressure levels comparable to commercial, conventional speakers (about 95 dB from ~3 W input power).

Strangely, the film itself does not vibrate. The authors believe that the sound is generated by directly heating the air. They also speculate that the film will be useful for making microspeakers, applying it to clothing, etc.

Enjoy!

Grant

[LFO]

Simply amazing. I can easily see dozens of practical applications right off the bat. Wouldn't it be amazing if they could also reproduce high quality audio through such thin film? No more huge monitors taking up space and heating up the room!

Just the fact that someone thought through heating air to produce sound instead of vibrating material is amazing to me. Talk about a paradigm shift!

Thanks for sharing!

-Kevin

[Raymond62]

........

Strangely, the film itself does not vibrate. The authors believe that the sound is generated by directly heating the air. They also speculate that the film will be useful for making microspeakers, applying it to clothing, etc.

Enjoy!

Grant

So, in the future we can wear our ARIA player instead of installing it.
Should we iron it after washing?

Raymond

[GDG]

Simply amazing. I can easily see dozens of practical applications right off the bat. Wouldn't it be amazing if they could also reproduce high quality audio through such thin film? No more huge monitors taking up space and heating up the room!

Just the fact that someone thought through heating air to produce sound instead of vibrating material is amazing to me. Talk about a paradigm shift!

Thanks for sharing!

-Kevin

Apparently, the films are fairly high quality/low distortion over most of the audible range (they start to distort in the low frequency range, alas).

[Craig F]

Imagine if they can put this into a projector screen for home theater. The center speaker could be truly center.

[GDG]

Imagine if they can put this into a projector screen for home theater. The center speaker could be truly center.

One of their demonstrations involved mounting the film over an iPod screen...