Adelaide team harnesses laser speckle for record atomic resolution
An international team led by the University of Adelaide has developed a shoebox-sized device that measures light wavelength with a resolution of six femtometers.
New device achieves extreme precision
Researchers used an integrating sphere to create a color detection device capable of measuring light composition. This setup causes light to bounce around inside a hollow cavity many times before exiting. The generated speckle pattern displayed extreme sensitivity to even tiny shifts in wavelength. Gabriel Britto Monteiro noted this is like measuring Mount Everest height while detecting a single hair strand on top.
Rubidium hyperfine structure measured first
The team applied the spectrometer to measure the hyperfine structure of rubidium for the first time directly. According to lead author Britto Monteiro, rubidium supports technologies like atomic clocks, quantum sensors, and quantum processors. This marks a shift from laboratory curiosity to a practical precision measurement platform for future quantum technologies. The paper published in Nature Communications details this breakthrough achieved by an international collaboration.
Future steps involve frequency combs
A key next step is combining speckle spectroscopy with optical frequency combs to see tiny details with absolute precision. Such a pairing may help scientists grasp complicated gases and distinguish between two substances that appear alike. The technology offers potential benefits for environmental sensing of pollutants and cancer diagnosis as well. Publication details are available via the University of Adelaide press release.
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