Skyler Ware is a freelance science journalist covering chemistry, biology, paleontology and Earth science. She was a 2023 AAAS Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellow at Science News. Her work has also appeared in Science News Explores, ZME Science and Chembites, among others. Skyler has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech.
Researchers have taken a crucial step toward making a handheld"quantum compass" that could one day help people navigate without the Global Positioning System .
Like light, electrons sometimes behave as waves. Atom interferometry takes advantage of this property to precisely measure acceleration, rotation and angular velocity. Those variables could help quantum compass users measure and track their own position without using GPS, which relies on continuously transmitting signals between devices and satellites.
Normally, the six atom interferometers required to make a quantum compass would fill a small house. But the scientists made part of the system smaller by taking advantage of photonic integrated circuits — an existing miniature laser technology — to build tiny modulators that can tune the beam's frequency for different functions.
RELATED STORIES—Quantum data beamed alongside 'classical data' in the same fiber-optic connection for the 1st time "We have drastically improved the performance compared to what's out there," Kodigala said in the statement.
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