Researcher Dustin Carr at Sandia Labs has developed a new motion detector 1,000 times more sensitive than present-day technology. Although Carr predicts it won’t appear in devices for another 3-5 years, expect to find it in cars, seismometers sensitive enough to measure the motion of the earth even when there isn’t an earthquake, airplanes, and a variety of military equipment.
It appears to be made out of two nano-scale diffraction gratings, one of which is fixed while the other is free to bounce back and forth on springs. The gratings are kind of like tiny, fine-toothed combs, and create a distinctive light pattern when a laser’s light passes through them. The tiniest movement of the spring-mounted grating will change the brightness of the light pattern enough to detect movement.
They say that technology is a double-edged sword and I think this example’s no different. I mean, how will Mr. Phelps evade detection now on his impossible missions? At least James Bond’s next car will handle more precisely than ever. Too bad he’ll just blow it up before the end of the movie.
Device allows naked eye to see motion of 10 nanometers [Sandia via ScienceBlog]
