Physicists have created a new type of radar that could help improve underground imaging, using a cloud of atoms in a glass cell to detect reflected radio waves. The radar is a type of quantum sensor, an emerging technology that uses the quantum-mechanical properties of objects as measurement devices. It’s still a prototype, but its intended use is to image buried objects in situations such as constructing underground utilities, drilling wells for natural gas, and excavating archaeological sites.
Like conventional radar, the device sends out radio waves, which reflect off nearby objects. Measuring the time it takes the reflected waves to return makes it possible to determine where an object is. In conventional radar, the reflected waves are detected using a large antenna, among other receiver components. But in this new device, the reflected waves are registered by detecting the interactions between the returning waves and the atom cloud.
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