NASA’s PEACOQ (Performance-Enhanced Array for Counting Optical Quanta) quantum detector is capable of measuring the exact time each photon hits it, within 100 trillionths of a second, and at a rate of 1.5 billion per second. Despite the big numbers, the detector itself is tiny, measuring just 13 microns across, consisting of 32 niobium nitride superconducting nanowires on a silicon chip with connectors that fan out like the plumage of a peacock.
Each one of the superconducting nanowires is 10,000 times thinner than a human hair, but the most impressive part is that the PEACOQ detector must be kept at a cryogenic temperature just one degree above absolute zero, or -458° Fahrenheit (-272° Celsius). This is due to the fact that all the nanowires must remain at this temperature to keep them in a superconducting state, enabling them to turn absorbed photons into electrical pulses to deliver the quantum data.
- LEGO NASA Space Set - This adult LEGO set features the Space Shuttle Discovery and the Hubble Space Telescope from NASA’s 1990 STS-31 mission,...
- Solar System Exploration - Unlock the mysteries of our solar system with this engaging 2,354-piece project, packed with authentic details and...
- Shuttle Features Galore - The space shuttle model has an opening payload bay, retractable landing gear, opening cockpit, moving elevons, space arm,...
Transmitting quantum information over long distances has, so far, been very limited. A new detector technology like the PEACOQ that can measure single photons with a precision of a fraction of a nanosecond enables sending quantum information at higher rates, farther. In the near term, PEACOQ will be used in lab experiments to demonstrate quantum communications at higher rates or over greater distances. In the long term, it could provide an answer to the question of how we transmit quantum data around the world,” said Ioana Craiciu, PEACOQ project team member.
