German Researchers Design Technique that May Enhance Resolution in Gravitational Wave Detectors

(AZOQuantum.com) Quantum sensors can realize sensitivities that are unachievable according to the laws of conventional physics that dictate daily life. Those levels of sensitivity can only be achieved if one goes into the world of quantum mechanics with its attractive properties — such as the occurrence of superposition, where objects can be in two places at the same time and where an atom can have two varying levels of energy at once.
Both producing and regulating such non-classical states is very complicated. Owing to the high level of sensitivity required, these measurements are susceptible to external interference.
Fabian Wolf is part of a team of scientists from Leibniz University Hannover, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig, and the National Institute of Optics in Florence. The team recently presented a technique based on a non-classical state altered to two measurement parameters at the same time. The measurement theory, which scientists showed for the first time, could also enhance the resolution in optical interferometers such as gravitational wave detectors — thus providing more detailed insights into the dawn of the universe.
The research originated from the joint research center “DQ-mat — Designed Quantum States of Matter”, which is sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG).