Nature magazine has published results of the Gravity Pioneer project where, for the first time, an object buried below ground has been identified using quantum technology as a sensor. In real-world conditions, the project detected a tunnel beneath the Birmingham University campus, illustrating how effective the technique could be for identifying obstacles on tunnelling projects.
The Gravity Pioneer project, led by environmental, engineering and technical services business RSK and by funded by InnovateUK under the Industry Strategy Challenge Fund, won the international race to take the technology outside when it became the first quantum gravity gradiometer proven to work outside laboratory conditions.
RSK director of geosciences and engineering George Tuckwell said there were existing machines that could see below the ground surface for construction and scientific projects but they had limitations.
“Current microgravity technology is limited by a range of environmental factors, particularly vibration, and can miss devastating underground events like sinkholes. Currently three out of every five holes drilled for roadworks are in the wrong place,” he said.
“Quantum sensors – which detect variations in microgravity by using quantum physics principles based on manipulating nature at the sub-molecular level – are still in their infancy as a way of looking under the ground. But these new results prove quantum sensors work; in time they will be able to see much more clearly than any existing technology. It’s massively exciting because we still know so little about what is under the ground.”
Tuckwell said the commercial implications of significantly improved underground mapping were huge, particularly for the construction industry where it could reduce costs and delays to construction, rail and road projects.
“The quantum technology, which could ultimately be placed on a satellite to map the Earth from space, also offers improved prediction of natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, and allows for underwater and subterranean exploration, including the discovery of natural resources and archaeological mysteries,” he said.
Professor Kai Bongs, head of cold atom physics at the University of Birmingham and principal investigator of the UK Quantum National Hub Sensors and Timing, described the findings as an “Edison moment” that would transform society, human understanding and economies.
“With this breakthrough we have the potential to end reliance on poor records and luck as we explore, build and repair. In addition, an underground map of what is currently invisible is now a significant step closer, ending a situation where we know more about Antarctica than what lies a few feet below our streets,” he said.
