Sensor Breakthrough Paves Way For Groundbreaking Map of World Under Earth Surface (phys.org) 32
An anonymous reader writes: An object hidden below ground has been located using quantum technology -- a long-awaited milestone with profound implications for industry, human knowledge and national security. University of Birmingham researchers from the UK National Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Timing have reported their achievement in Nature. It is the first in the world for a quantum gravity gradiometer outside of laboratory conditions. The quantum gravity gradiometer, which was developed under a contract for the Ministry of Defense and in the UKRI-funded Gravity Pioneer project, was used to find a tunnel buried outdoors in real-world conditions one meter below the ground surface. It wins an international race to take the technology outside. The sensor works by detecting variations in microgravity using the principles of quantum physics, which is based on manipulating nature at the sub-molecular level. The success opens a commercial path to significantly improved mapping of what exists below ground level.
Professor Kai Bongs, head of cold atom physics at the University of Birmingham and principal investigator of the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, said: "This is an 'Edison moment' in sensing that will transform society, human understanding and economies. "With this breakthrough we have the potential to end reliance on poor records and luck as we explore, build and repair. In addition, an underground map of what is currently invisible is now a significant step closer, ending a situation where we know more about Antarctica than what lies a few feet below our streets." [...] This breakthrough will allow future gravity surveys to be cheaper, more reliable and delivered 10 times faster, reducing the time needed for surveys from a month to a few days. It has the potential to open a range of new applications for gravity survey, providing a new lens into the underground.
Professor Kai Bongs, head of cold atom physics at the University of Birmingham and principal investigator of the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, said: "This is an 'Edison moment' in sensing that will transform society, human understanding and economies. "With this breakthrough we have the potential to end reliance on poor records and luck as we explore, build and repair. In addition, an underground map of what is currently invisible is now a significant step closer, ending a situation where we know more about Antarctica than what lies a few feet below our streets." [...] This breakthrough will allow future gravity surveys to be cheaper, more reliable and delivered 10 times faster, reducing the time needed for surveys from a month to a few days. It has the potential to open a range of new applications for gravity survey, providing a new lens into the underground.
Do not wake... (Score:2)
Will be militarized... (Score:3)
Re:Will be militarized... (Score:5, Informative)
Umm... the cat is waaay out of the bag. The time to keep a technology secret is shortly after someone published the first paper that such a technology is possible. After that you hire the scientist, build a team, and develop the technology in-house. Once the technology is proven in a lab, you are already too late to stop it's development by another nation. If it's been publicly demonstrated then you already have people around the world that have been replicating the lab experiment.
MoD Already Funding It (Score:2)
Re: MoD Already Funding It (Score:2)
Well, wait until you see the hidden inner earth, the mines of the kobolds, and the gates to other planes hidden below the streets.
Re: (Score:2)
Then I guess you are missing something. Didn't you watch Jurassic Park?
Oak Island (Score:4, Funny)
Get this to Rick & Marty stat!
Neato but so far irrelevant (Score:3)
You can already use radio waves [blogs.com] or sound waves [scientificamerican.com] to find a tunnel one meter below the ground. In fact it can even be done from space [geoexpro.com].
Wake me up when they detect something using this tech that couldn't already be detected with other tech.
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah, ground-penetrating radar is already being commercialized for vehicular purposes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/g... [forbes.com]
Re: Neato but so far irrelevant (Score:5, Insightful)
It is known that China, Russia, Iran, n.korea, etc have large tunnels and labs underground. Once this is developed further, itwill allow us to find these quickly And learn where, size, distance, etc. China's, n. Korea, and Iran's weapon labs are about to be located. This will allow Israel the ability to shutdown Iran's labs by using ground penetrating bombs on these.
Re: (Score:1)
You should have read first before your kneejerk answer. Right now, this works down to 10m to locate small tunnels . It can go deeper to locate bigger items, such as aquifers, minerals, large tunnels that you drive tanks through, possibly submarines.
Ground penetrating radio can reach depths of 30 meters. You should have known something before you tried to make yourself look smart.
Re: Neato but so far irrelevant (Score:5, Interesting)
When closely spaced they detect shallow targets (5-10 feet). Intermediate-spacing detects targets at medium depths (10-20 feet), and more widely-spaced antennas can detect deep targets (30-50 feet). The data can be exported in several forms including as a spreadsheet, a Googl
try 15 meters with s sensor directly on the ground. [wikipedia.org]
This technology works from space with ability to map 100s, possibly 1000s, or more meters deep, depending on resolution.
from a ship, it might locate large holes in the ocean i.e. submarines.
Quit being so kneejerk, and learn a bit first.
Re: (Score:2)
from a ship, it might locate large holes in the ocean i.e. submarines.
Submarines are neutrally buoyant, so gravitationally they're not "holes in the water" at all. The sensor would not detect any gross difference in gravitational field between a sub and the same volume of sea water.
It could detect PART of the asymmetries of mass distribution within the submarine, but that's a far smaller signal than a sub-sized bubble. Also: The radially-symmetric portion of spherical density variations are gravitational
lots of potential use for lunar and martian ground (Score:3)
Re: lots of potential use for lunar and martian gr (Score:3)
Google Under-the-Street View Cars coming soon (Score:1)
My first question: Once the routes of these new cars is understood, how will folks get themselves in the pictures? Will it just look like vast grave yards under our streets?
Lots of areas. (Score:2)
How about locating holes in water, such as whales, submarines, nuclear powered / tipped torpedos, etc?
These would be great.
Re: (Score:2)
How about locating holes in water, such as whales, submarines, nuclear powered / tipped torpedos, etc?
This works by finding gravitational variations due to differences in density. Neutrally buoyant objects have the same average density as the water they displace, so they have no net difference on a large scale. Further, to the extent their mass is distributed spherically the gravitational effects from radial density variations cancel out outside the spherical shells, and roughly spherically symmetrical di
Enable water, oil and precious metal finds? (Score:2)
Plus caverns and sinkholes
more details? (Score:2)
I searched but didn't find any explanation of how this would work for the non-physics major, can anyone explain more?
I was assuming that it would deal with the gravity strength over a spot but since there can be lots of stuff under the ground it would a mapping of the differences between granite and just plain dirt (if there is such a thing as 'dirt' at lower depths).
448 years to survey US border (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
In theory, more than one such device could exist in the world. I realize that this must sound preposterous, but several types of electronic devices have been manufactured in quantities exceeding one.
Re: (Score:2)
The documentaries on TV have taught me that only one of any high tech device can exist, and when that's destroyed no more can be built. Eg. every Bond film.
This is a "first" how? (Score:2)
I clicked through to the article at the bottom of the first link and it mentioned this tech already being used to find oil and gas.
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-... [phys.org]
I wish they were clearer (in layman terms) what this "breakthrough" did that wasn't possible before. Heck even what does this exactly do? I'm guessing it'll offer a density map, kind of like an ultrasound picture for a baby in a womb...but in this case of the earth itself.
And while I agree it might be useful for mining or archeology, I'm not su
finally we'll be able to find (Score:1)
all those ruins from the previous high-tech civilizations that existed on this planet.
Re: (Score:2)
Are you talking about New York, or the lost city of Atlanta?
Re: (Score:2)