{"id":3084,"date":"2023-03-16T13:18:35","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T18:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.csr.utexas.edu\/?p=3084"},"modified":"2023-03-17T09:37:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T14:37:34","slug":"quantum-sensing-era-begins-at-csr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/quantum-sensing-era-begins-at-csr\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum Sensing Era Begins at CSR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas Engineers are leading a multi-university research team, funded by NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate<\/a>, that will build technology and tools to improve measurement of\u00a0important climate factors\u00a0by observing atoms in outer space.<\/p>\n

They will\u00a0focus\u00a0on the concept of quantum sensing, which\u00a0involves\u00a0observing how atoms react to small changes in their environment,\u00a0and using that to infer the time-variations in the gravity field of the Earth.\u00a0This will enable scientists to improve how accurately several important climate processes can be measured, such as the sea level rise, the rate of ice melt, the changes in land water resources and ocean heat storage changes.<\/p>\n

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<\/center>Animation shows parts per billion variations in gradients of gravity that contain new information about the mass changes caused by climate processes at all scales. Animation Credit: UT Center for Space Research<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

“There have been tremendous advances in quantum methods recently, mostly in the context of computing,” said Srinivas Bettadpur, leader of the new project and professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin<\/a>.\u00a0“We want to use quantum sensing technology in space\u00a0\u2013 where you can watch the entirety of the planet \u2013\u00a0to solve next-generation problems\u00a0by\u00a0observing, interpreting\u00a0and understanding\u00a0climate processes.”<\/p>\n

The new Quantum Pathways Institute includes researchers from UT Austin<\/a>, University of Colorado Boulder<\/a>, University of California Santa Barbara<\/a>,\u00a0California Institute of Technology<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the U.S.\u00a0National Institute for Standards and Technology<\/a>. The researchers received up to $15 million in funding from NASA over five years for the institute.<\/p>\n

This will be the first effort to establish what is known as \u201cQuantum 2.0.\u201d That is advancing beyond the quantum principles known in physics and translating them into usable device concepts.<\/p>\n

\"CU
CU Boulder team members Murray Holland (far left) and Dana Anderson (far right) flank graduate student team members at CU Boulder. Photo credit: JILA\/CU Boulder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The researchers will specifically look at changes in gravitational forces and what that means for climate. As climate shifts\u00a0\u2013\u00a0with ice caps melting and sea levels and temperatures changing\u00a0\u2013\u00a0that changes gravitational forces around the earth and in outer space. Atoms orbiting the earth react to those gravitational changes. By measuring those reactions, the researchers can\u00a0give better readings of changes in climate processes.<\/p>\n

The challenge for the team is two-fold. Parts of these sensing technologies exist today, but a lot of what they are building is new.\u00a0Add to that\u00a0the\u00a0challenge of sending these instruments into orbit.<\/p>\n

“You can’t have manual maintenance in space\u00a0\u2013\u00a0once you send\u00a0something\u00a0out, it’s out of reach; you cannot see it,” said\u00a0Bettadpur. “You have to put in a great deal of work to make sure the instrument will fly and the technology will function for several years, at least, to enable the discoveries.”<\/p>\n

To build this technology from the ground up, and make it space ready, requires a large and diverse team of researchers. Bettadpur is an expert in orbital mechanics,\u00a0gravity fields and space mission design.<\/p>\n

Seth Bank and Dan Wasserman, professors in the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UT Austin<\/a>, will work with Daniel Blumenthal from UC Santa Barbara to develop the photonic, or light-based, integrated circuits for compact chips to measure\u00a0small variations in Earth\u2019s gravity from space.\u00a0Ufuk Topcu, associate professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and the Oden Institute for computational engineering and sciences<\/a>, will apply his expertise in modeling complex systems to develop models for quantum sensing systems that can be used to improve their reliability and autonomous operation\u00a0\u2013\u00a0both of which are key for space applications where device maintenance is not an option.<\/p>\n

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PIC illustration with a silicon nitride stress-optic microresonator modulator for optical control applications. Image credit: Dan Blumenthal, UCSB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other team members\u00a0\u2013 and their areas of expertise \u2013\u00a0on the project include:<\/p>\n