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The optical rectenna, you could think of it
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as like a radio antenna, only for the sun.
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It's working off of very similar principles,
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where we instead have very tiny antenna
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that match the size of the energy coming
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from the sun or visible light.
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And when that energy is coupled into the antenna,
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then another device is used to extract the energy
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and turn it into electricity.
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So making a rectenna is actually a pretty simple process,
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which was part of the beauty of the discovery.
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You basically take any type of conductive substrate,
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and we can grow these carbon nanotubes
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like a carpet-- vertical off the substrate.
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We grow our nanotube.
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We can formally coat them with something
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that is an electrical insulator, then
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we deposit another layer of metal on top
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to create a so-called metal insulator or metal diode
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structure.
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And so that diode structure is important,
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because it's the fastest diode in the world.
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And it's the only diode that's fast enough to open and close
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the gate at the speed of solar energy oscillating
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in an antenna.
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What gets me excited today is that we've done it.
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That we've actually achieved the goal that
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was six years in the making.
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But that's enough to get me out of bed every day,
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because I think if we achieve that goal,
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we're going to make solar cells that
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are twice as efficient of what we have today.
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And that, to me, is an opportunity
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to change the world in a very big way.
