Remaining extremely precise, even in bad weather and over great distances. While this challenge is impossible for current lasers, it seems within reach of the quantum laser. And this is thanks to quantum entanglement, a phenomenon whose demonstration earned the Frenchman Alain Aspect the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics.
US military interested
“When two photons are bound together, they still experience the effects of the atmosphere, but they can shield each other so that some phase information can still be preserved,” says Jung-Tsung Shen, a professor of electrical and systems engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, whose research aims to develop a prototype quantum laser. Because of its precision and power, such a laser could greatly improve the capabilities of the U.S. military’s satellite communications, targeting, and navigation (lidar) tools.
Enough to push DARPA, the American Defense Innovation Agency, to invest 930,000 euros in the university’s research. In 2020, the Chan Zuckerberg philanthropic foundation – founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan – had already granted them more than 1.8 million euros. Because the quantum laser could also revolutionize medical imaging by obtaining precise and real-time results of organs inside the body. #
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
