British quantum engineers build the worlds first practical quantum accelerometer. With it, you no longer need GPS or any other form of a satellite to navigate properly.
Nowadays, when you hear the word navigation you almost always think of GPS. But it has a big weakness. It requires satellites. Those would be one of the first targets if a war between countries with the power to hit targets in space ever broke. Plus the signals can be blocked or hacked.
That is why scientists from the Imperial College London and experts from the company M Squared developed, build and showcased their mobile and commercially viable quantum accelerometer.
Accelerometers allow detecting changes in the acceleration of an object. If you know its initial position, this then allows you to use it to calculate the objects new position. And obviously, accelerometers aren’t anything new. Even your smartphone will likely have one inside. But they aren’t precise enough and if you tried to navigate using them you would soon find yourself in a different place than you’d expect.
The quantum accelerometer is incredibly precise thanks to the fact that it measures ultra-quick atoms. These atoms are inside of the device in a state that is ruled purely by quantum mechanics. The atoms inside are “falling” and their wave properties are influenced by the acceleration of the device. And the optical system of the accelerometer can measure the changes very precisely.
The measuring system uses a very precisely calibrated laser system. Plus the lasers work as a cooling system for the atoms. And hopefully the system will get smaller and smaller and one day we will get to see it in our pockets as well.
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