Phase stabilization technology developed specifically for the project together with advanced
Lead author Benjamin Dix-Matthews, a PhD student at ICRAR and UWA, said his project's method effectively eliminates atmospheric turbulence.
"We can adjust the atmosphericturbulence in 3D, that is, left-right, up-down and, most importantly, along the flight line,” he says. “This allows us to send highly stable laser signals through the atmosphere while maintaining the quality of the original signal.”
ICRAR-UWA Senior Research Fellow Dr Sacha Shedivi noted that the research has interesting practical implications.
"If you have one of these opticalterminals on the ground and another on a satellite in space, you can start learning fundamental physics,” he said. "From testing Einstein's general theory of relativity more precisely than ever before to finding out whether fundamental physical constants change over time."
The technology's precise measurements also have practical applications in geosciences and geophysics.
“For example, this technology can improvesatellite studies of how groundwater levels change over time, or to make it easier to find ore deposits underground,” Dr Shedivi said.
Optical communications can securely transmit data between satellites and the Earth at much higher data rates than current radio communications.
“Our technology can help us increase the speed at which satellites transmit data to the ground by several orders of magnitude,” Dr. Shedivi said.
Phase stabilization technology was originallydesigned to synchronize incoming signals to a square kilometer grating telescope. These multi-billion dollar telescopes are slated to be built in Western Australia and South Africa from 2021.
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