Oct 6 2016
A conceptually designed sensor could detect low-intensity light via a "squeezed" quantum state, that is, a minimum uncertainty state, offering a potential pathway to build a better infrared detector for both research and industrial applications. (CREDIT: Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
A team of researchers have conceptually developed a sensor after spending time exploring a few exotic quantum states.
This new sensor design includes unmatched sensitivity. In a research paper published in Physical Review A, Ali Passian of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and George Siopsis of the University of Tennessee illustrate a photon-sensing plan for a detector that would act in a similar manner as a tiny trampoline. A suspended micro-bridge shape forms the basis of this concept. Other shapes can also be considered.
Photons hitting its surface would cause a tiny displacement that can be detected because of the quantum mechanical effect of squeezing, allowing us to minimize the movement of the sensor prior to arrival of the photons.
Ali Passian, ORNL
This method decreases the innate constraint caused by all objects with a motion even in their lowest energy state. The subsequent step will be confirmation by performing a series of laboratory experiments.