Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Ever imagined if we could find the presence of minerals inside the core of earth with one ‘click’. Sounds imaginary? But RRCAT has made it real and has developed a cold atoms based quantum sensor (Gravimeter) for precision measurement of earth’s gravitational acceleration which will help in detection of minerals and ore exploration and many more uses.
A gravimeter is a device that is helpful in detection of underground tunnels, minerals, ore exploration and other such things without going through the need of drilling. Dr Satyam Ram Mishra of Laser Physics Application Division of RRCAT on Thursday informed about this innovation on the third day of the DAE Conclave 2024 where around 250 delegates and scientists from institutions across the nations were present.
‘The development of advanced technologies exploiting fundamentals of quantum physics is nowadays a cutting–edge frontier activity across the world. The development of cold atoms-based quantum sensors in progress at RRCAT is an example of this cutting–edge frontier activity,’ he said. A gravimeter such as this has applications in exploration of mineral and oil fields, in geodesy and geophysics, in detection of underground structures, and in monitoring seismic activity.
Indore: Congress ignored tribal icons like Tantya Bhil and glorified only Nehru-Gandhi family, says Chief Minister Chouhan
This device will be helpful for studying about the variation between the tectonic plates and to perform research on the earth and its core for better understanding. The gravitational force inside the earth varies according to the types of minerals present there and would be measured by the gravimeter which would help in identifying the minerals present.
In addition to the gravimeter, the development of other sensors, such as cold atoms-based ultra-high vacuum (UHV) sensor and cold atoms-based micro-wave field sensor were also presented during the conference. Along with the development of cold atoms-based quantum sensors, it is also planned to expand the activity to optically trap atoms for their use as quantum qubits.
Similarly, Tapas Ganguli (On behalf of the Indus machine and beamline teams) of RRCAT gave a presentation on Science with Synchrotron facility. “Indus-1 and Indus-2 are the only two synchrotron radiation sources in India today, which are indigenously developed and are operating in a round-the-clock mode as a national facility since 2010. Indus-1 is a 450 MeV, 125 mA machine and Indus-2 is a 2.5 GeV, 200 mA machine. There are 19 operational beamlines on Indus-2 and 7 on Indus-1. Indus-2 machine is operated for more than 5500 hours annually and Indus-1 is operated for more than 6500 hours annually,” he said.
More than 1,000 user experiments are carried out annually on Indus beamlines. Over the years, scientists/researchers/students from more than 140 universities, national institutes and research labs from all over the country, have been regularly carrying out experiments at Indus beamlines. More recently, researchers from the R&D sector of Indian industry have also been regularly coming to carry out experiments at Indus beamlines.