Charge your ipod through wireless soon

Slashdot It! A Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher has explained how the batteries of portable electronic devices could be wirelessly -- and safely -- recharged. Such a technological feat could be accomplished by matching the source and receiver in frequency, similar to radio, MIT Assistant Professor Marin Soljacic said at a physics conference in San Francisco this week. The method could enable efficient power transfer over short distances. About the technology

The MIT team investigated how energy can be transferred efficiently from one long-lifetime resonant electromagnetic state to another through the use of long-tailed, nonradiative modes, Soljacic reported.

Tuning the drain and the source of energy to the same long-lifetime frequency should enable very efficient energy exchange with negligible interaction with other off-resonant objects, he explained.

Real-world intricacies make the model more complex, he noted, but researchers were still able to use detailed theoretical and numerical analyses of real-world situations, along with realistic material parameters, to establish that the nonradiative scheme could be practical for middle-range wireless energy transfers.

"The emerging vast acceptance of autonomous electronic devices which are currently being powered by on-site conversion of chemical energy, justifies revisiting the old dream of the pioneers of electrical applications : transporting electrical energy wirelessly," reads an abstract on Soljacic's talk.