Purple Diamond Maser Could One Day Amplify Signals From Deep Space
taylorvich writes:
https://phys.org/news/2024-12-purple-diamond-maser-day-amplify.html
UNSW engineers have developed and built a special maser system that boosts microwave signals-such as those from deep space-but does not need to be super-cooled.
They say that diamonds are a girl's best friend-but that might also soon be true for astronomers and astrophysicists following the new research. The team of quantum experts have developed a device known as a maser which uses a specially created purple diamond to amplify weak microwave signals, such as those which can come from deep space.
Most importantly, their maser works at room temperature, whereas previous such devices needed to be super-cooled, at great expense, down to about minus 269C.
The amplified signals, originally emitted by pulsars, galaxies, or very distant spacecraft, could ultimately be crucial for expanding our understanding of the universe and fundamental physics.
The UNSW research team, led by Associate Professor Jarryd Pla, have published their findings in the journal Physical Review X, describing how a so-called spin system within the diamond can boost weak signals at room temperature.
"The microwaves enter the device and then the spins inside the diamond create copies of them, which in effect amplifies the microwave signals. Ideally, the microwave signals then come out much larger and with very little noise on top," A/Prof. Pla says.
"Currently, electronic amplifiers are being used to detect signals from very distant spacecraft like Voyager 1 which is now more than 15 billion miles away from earth, but still sending out data.
"Those amplifiers are cryogenically cooled to reduce what is known as thermal noise, which is random electrical noise generated by the motion of electrons in the amplifier's components. Otherwise, that noise would just overwhelm the signals being received.
"Our room temperature solid-state maser amplifier avoids all the complication and cost of having to cool everything down to extremely low temperatures and is also much more compact."
In the paper, the researchers show their maser system can boost signals by a factor of up to 1,000.
More information: Tom Day et al, Room-Temperature Solid-State Maser Amplifier, Physical Review X (2024). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.14.041066
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