Scientists invented the world’s first atomic television; watch video

An unprecedented way to capture video streams has recently been developed by a research team at the US National Standards Institute (NIST). nickname “atomic television”The mechanism is the size of a dining table and uses lasers and atomic clouds to capture signals at standard 480i resolution (480 horizontal lines).

The vehicle that enables the operation of the new technology that also transmits video signals, a Rydberg atom acceptor, a quantum radio frequency (RF) electric field sensor that has been studied for years to capture radio signals. “Basically we encode a video game into a signal and perceive it with atoms. The output is fed directly to the TV,” explains electrical engineer Chris Holloway.

In practice, the “magic” works in a glass vessel with gaseous rubidium atoms that grow after being bombarded with bicolor laser beams. These so-called “Rydberg atoms”, the size of a grain of sandIt has a high energy level that causes electrons to orbit further away from the nucleus.

How do scientists transmit and receive video signals between atoms?

The process begins with the preparation of the atomic cloud using a radio signal used as a reference point to evaluate its effect on the energy changes in Rydberg atoms. Next, the researchers add a video feed to modulate the original signal and transmit it via a horn antenna.

Scientists extract and decode the video signal by analyzing one of the laser beams passing through the atoms. to screen compatible format.

This requires the team to get the size of the beams just right, because as they change, the same thing repeats as the laser light interacts with the atoms. affecting video stream bandwidth.

ARTICLE AVS Quantum Science – DOI: 10.1116/5.098057;