Physicists don’t agree on the definition of a quantum sensor, and none of the concepts is entirely new. Still others borrow technologies being developed for quantum computing. Others exploit the trade-offs implicit in the famous Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
Some approaches detect the granularity of the subatomic realm, in which matter and energy come in tiny packets called quanta. But because of the devices’ unparalleled sensitivity, Irwin says, “dark matter is a killer app for quantum sensing.”ĭM Radio is just one of many new efforts to use quantum sensors to hunt the stuff. Some scientists are employing them as microscopes and gravimeters. Quantum sensors are a hot topic, having received $1.275 billion in funding in the 2018 U.S. To make the experiment practical, Irwin’s team plans to transform it into a quantum sensor-one that exploits the strange rules of quantum mechanics. Irwin, a quantum physicist at Stanford University, plans to tune in to that signal in an experiment called Dark Matter Radio (DM Radio).
However, if dark matter consists of certain nearly massless particles, then in the right setting it might generate faint, unquenchable radio waves. For decades, physicists have struggled to figure out what the stuff is, stalking one hypothetical particle after another, only to come up empty.
Kent Irwin has a vision: He aims to build a glorified radio that will reveal the nature of dark matter, the invisible stuff that makes up 85% of all matter. A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 376, Issue 6592.
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