Speaker
Prof.
Raymond Chiao
(UC Merced, USA)
Description
Pairs of Planck-mass--scale drops of superfluid helium coated
by electrons, when levitated in the presence of strong magnetic fields and
at low temperatures, can be efficient quantum transducers between
electromagnetic (EM) and gravitational (GR) radiation. A Hertz-like
experiment, in which EM waves (microwaves) are converted at the source
into GR waves, and then back-converted at the receiver from GR waves back
into EM waves, is being performed at UC Merced. This would open up
observations of the gravity-wave analog of the CMB from the extremely
early Big Bang, and also communications directly through the interior of
the Earth.
