The compact system, built at the University of Wollongong, uses two fiber optic coils totaling over 10 kilometers to measure picosecond delays in laser beams influenced by Earth's gravity.
This breakthrough enables highly sensitive detection of subsurface changes, such as groundwater shifts and magma accumulation, and may challenge Einstein’s 1905 assumption about the constancy of light speed.
Li’s light-based sensor offers improved stability and compactness over mechanical systems, with potential applications in mapping, mining, defense, and navigation, and opens new avenues for studying light-gravity interactions.
How can a sensor on a moving jet measure gravity more precisely than stationary lab equipment?
Are subtle vibrations, not gravity, the real source of this sensor's groundbreaking measurements?
Can light's speed truly change in a gravity field, and could this new sensor prove it?
Will light-based sensors win the race against new quantum devices to map Earth's gravity?
Could a new 'light-bending' sensor make stealth submarines obsolete by detecting their gravitational wake?
Beyond finding minerals, could this sensor predict volcanic eruptions or locate hidden water sources?