- A team of scientists has integrated an ultrassensive sensor called “Photon photon detector with a single nanowire”, or SNSPD, in a Lidar system with incredible results.
- Capable of capturing detailed 3D images at a complete kilometer, this system could have a huge impact on mapping, military and space applications.
- One kilometer is not, however, the system limit and scientists hope to test the distances up to 10 kilometers in the near future.
Light detection and going (Lidar) – First developed by the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1961 – is a technology that you may not think often, but many scientists and engineers find it impossible to live. By pulling laser pulses to measure the distance with immense precision, technology has changed the game for robotics, autonomous vehicles, the cartography of the ocean’s seabed and much more.
However, like all technologies, there is always room for improvement. And a new study – led by Heriot -Watt University in Edinburgh and including scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA, MIT and the University of Glasgow – advises the creation of a lidar superconductor system capable To capture with precision capturing with precision capturing with precision capturing with precision capturing with precision with precision with precision capturing with precision capturing with precision with precision with precision with precision with precision with precision with precision with capturing with precision capturing with precision with precision with precision with precision capturing capturing With precision capturing with precision capturing with precision capturing with precision capturing with precision capturing with precision capturing with precision capture with precision with precision with precision with precision capturing capturing 3D Data up to an astonishing kilometer, with a millimeter -scale resolution.
This breakthrough was only possible because of an ultra-sensitive sensor called unique photon detector of nanofil superconductive (SNSPD). Co-developed by NASA and put it, this system can follow a unique photon to a precision of only 13 picoseconds (13 billion billion one second), which is 10 times better than any synchronization of the system that currently exists. Study results were published in the journal Optica.
“Timing is really phenomenal,” said Aongus McCarthy, principal author of the study of Heriot-Watt University, In a press statement. “This allows us to measure the in -depth variations very, very precisely – on a ladder of millimeters – which means that we can distinguish closely separate surfaces for a very long time distances. “”
Results of the SNSPD LIDAR system compatible from a distance of 325 meters.
The team tested the system using three distances: 45 meters, 325 meters and a kilometer. The image above, which captured the Face contours George Taylor’s research co-author was captured at the distance of 325 meters and successfully recorded depths in a millimeter. This type of super -regard means that possible applications for this technology – especially in the army – are obvious.
“The excellent depth resolution of the system means that it would be particularly well suited to imaging objects behind the size, such as the foliage or the camouflage net, a scenario that would be difficult for a digital camera,” said McCarthy in a press release. “For example, he could distinguish an object located a few centimeters behind a camouflage The net while systems with lower resolution could not distinguish the object. »»
The secret superpower of this system is that it can be used during the day with extreme precision. Normally, dispersing the light of the sun Can interfere with the measurements, but as SNSPD uses wavelengths at 1550 nanometers, it avoids the “obscuring of size and atmospheric” while being a “safe” wavelength, according to the researchers.
The average infrared wavelength also refers to the initial idea behind the creation of the SNSPD. This is a powerful detector to explore exoplanetsAnd medium infrared wavelengths have a relative lack of highly efficient sensors like these, Claims nasa. This makes SNSPDS an attractive technological candidate for the proposed Mir Exoplanet Climate Explorer (Mirecle) and the large interferometer for exoplanet missions (LIFE).
However, as The dozens of scientific breakthroughs from NASA This ultimately has an impact on our daily life, including memory foam in your pillow – SNSPD can also extremely improve Lidar systems for more terrestrial purposes. And the team wants to try the system at even more distances.
“Could we recognize a type of vehicle 10 kilometers away, whether it is a car or a van or a reservoir? “McCarthy said in a press release.” These types of distances would be of real interest. “
One of the major disadvantages of the system is that it is not exactly … slender. The word “superconductor” in SNSPD is essentially reflected in “ultracold temperatures”, so the system must be in a “cryocooler refrigerator” both at 1 Kelvin, or -272 degrees Celsius. It’s vital because the superconductor Nanofire contains a continuous current, without any electrical resistance, until a photon landed on the detector. This type of flow without resistance requires incredibly low temperatures, or the whole ceases to function properly.
Thus, although it is not such an omnipresent NASA invention As a memory foam, he nevertheless demonstrates that we are only starting to understand the true power and usefulness of the Lidar.
Darren lives in Portland, has a cat and writes / modifies science fiction and the functioning of our world. You can find your previous things in Gizmodo and paste if you look strong enough.