Egyptian Pyramids may help solar research

The Great Pyramid of Giza – the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex near El Giza, in Egypt – has the ability, under resonance conditions, to concentrate electromagnetic energy in its internal chambers, and under the base, where an unfinished chamber is also located.

This discovery, which was made by a team of scientists from Russia’s ITMO University and Germany’s Laser Zentrum Hannover, may help, among other things, create highly efficient solar cells.

In their paper, published in the Journal of Applied Physics, the scientists analyzed the distribution of electromagnetic fields within the pyramid, studying the interactions between radio waves with a length ranging from 200 to 600 meters.

This analysis allowed them to define a model of the electromagnetic response of the pyramid, and to calculate the extinction cross section, while also enabling the research team to assess the electromagnetic fields distribution inside the pyramid.

In order to implement this analysis, the researchers applied a method that is traditionally used in physics to study the interaction between a complex object and electromagnetic field.

“The object scattering the field is replaced by a set of simpler sources of radiation: multipoles. The collection of multipoles radiation coincides with the field scattering by an entire object. Therefore, knowing the type of each multipole, it is possible to predict and explain the distribution and configuration of the scattered fields in the whole system,” they asserted in the paper.

The scientists, however, admitted that, due to lack of information on the physical properties of the pyramid, they had to resort to assumptions. “For example, we assumed that there are no unknown cavities inside, and the building material with the properties of an ordinary limestone is evenly distributed in and out of the pyramid,” research coordinator, Andrey Evlyukhin further explained.

The results of the study will be now used to obtain nanoscale nanoparticles with potential applications for nanosensors and more efficient solar cells.