{"id":118124,"date":"2021-01-06T21:22:17","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T05:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/breaking-through-the-resolution-barrier-with-quantum-limited-precision"},"modified":"2021-01-06T21:22:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T05:22:17","slug":"breaking-through-the-resolution-barrier-with-quantum-limited-precision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/breaking-through-the-resolution-barrier-with-quantum-limited-precision","title":{"rendered":"Breaking through the resolution barrier with quantum-limited precision"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/breaking-through-the-resolution-barrier-with-quantum-limited-precision2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Researchers at Paderborn University have developed a new method of distance measurement for systems such as GPS, which achieves more precise results than ever before. Using quantum physics, the team led by Leibniz Prize winner Professor Christine Silberhorn has successfully overcome the so-called resolution limit, which causes the \u2018noise\u2019 we may see in photos, for example. Their findings have just been published in the academic journal <i>Physical Review X Quantum<\/i> (<i>PRX Quantum<\/i>).<\/p>\n<p>Physicist Dr. Benjamin Brecht explains the problem of the resolution limit: \u201cIn laser distance measurements a detector registers two light pulses of different intensities with a <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/time+difference\/\" rel=\"tag\" class=\"\">time difference<\/a>. The more precise the time measurement is, the more accurately the distance can be determined. Providing the time separation between the pulses is greater than the length of the pulses, this works well.\u201d Problems arise, however, as Brecht explains, if the pulses overlap: \u201cThen you can no longer measure the time difference using conventional methods. This is known as the \u2018resolution limit\u2019 and is a well-known effect in photos. Very small structures or textures can no longer be resolved. That\u2019s the same problem\u2014just with position rather than time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A further challenge, according to Brecht, is to determine the different intensities of two light pulses, simultaneously with their time difference and the arrival time. But this is exactly what the researchers have managed to do\u2014\u201d with quantum-limited precision,\u201d adds Brecht. Working with partners from the Czech Republic and Spain, the Paderborn physicists were even able to measure these values when the pulses overlapped by 90 per cent. Brecht says: \u201cThis is far beyond the resolution limit. The precision of the measurement is 10000 times better. Using methods from quantum information theory, we can find new forms of measurement which overcome the limitations of established methods.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at Paderborn University have developed a new method of distance measurement for systems such as GPS, which achieves more precise results than ever before. Using quantum physics, the team led by Leibniz Prize winner Professor Christine Silberhorn has successfully overcome the so-called resolution limit, which causes the \u2018noise\u2019 we may see in photos, for [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quantum-physics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}