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SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE INDICATES THAT THE UNIVERSE BEGAN WITH THE BIG BANG MORE THAN 13 BILLION YEARS AGO,
BUT LESS IS KNOWN ABOUT HOW IT TURNED INTO THE UNIVERSE WE SEE TODAY.
SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT A TINY FRACTION OF A SECOND AFTER THE BIG BANG, A SUDDEN GROWTH SPURT KNOWN AS COSMIC INFLATION OCCURRED,
BUT HOW CAN SCIENCE PROVE INFLATION REALLY HAPPENED?
RESEARCHERS AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, OR NIST, HAVE DEVELOPED NOVEL SENSORS
THAT CAN DETECT THE MICROWAVE RADIATION LEFT OVER FROM THE EARLIEST MOMENTS OF THE UNIVERSE'S HISTORY.
THIS MICROWAVE RADIATION MAY CONTAIN A KEY FINGERPRINT OF COSMIC INFLATION.
One of the exciting new projects we are working on is a fundamental science program and that is
to actually develop the very sensitive measurement technology to try to measure the gravitational waves that were emitted right
after the Big Bang-in the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second.
THE NIST DETECTOR RECORDS THE FAINT SIGNALS LEFT OVER FROM THE BIG BANG, KNOWN AS THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND.
THE TECHNIQUE WILL MEASURE THE POLARIZATION OF THE BACKGROUND MICROWAVES-THE PATTERNS
AND DIRECTIONS IN THE MICROWAVES' ELECTRIC FIELDS.
The inflation theory predicts that the early universe was awash in gravitational waves that would leave a unique signature
on the polarization of the cosmic microwave background.
WHEN THIS COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND RADIATION REACHES THE EARTH, A GROUNDBREAKING ARRAY OF DETECTORS WILL CAPTURE IT
WITH UNPRECEDENTED DETAIL, BEHAVING SOMETHING LIKE THE PIXELS IN AN ADVANCED DIGITAL CAMERA.
If we can measure not only the temperature of the universe after the Big Bang but also the polarization
which is the direction the light is wiggling, then we can kind of do an inversion and actually map those gravity waves.
THE NEW TECHNOLOGY IS MADE OF MANY MICRO-SENSORS COMBINED WITH OPTICAL SYSTEMS TO COLLECT AND FOCUS THE RADIATION.
IT WILL SEARCH FOR A TELLTALE PATTERN OF POLARIZATION ON THE SKY, KNOWN AS B-MODE POLARIZATION.
By being able to measure B-mode polarization that would be the unique signature of gravity waves in the early universe.
THE KEY GOAL IS TO MAKE THE DETECTOR SENSITIVE ENOUGH TO RECORD THIS POLARIZATION.
To do that we have to have very fancy superconducting antenna structures
and use some fancy signal processing on the wafer-a lot of new things there.
TO DO SO, THE SCIENTISTS ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF AN UNUSUAL EFFECT OF ELECTRCITY.
THE NIST SENSORS OPERATE IN THE STATE BETWEEN NORMAL ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERCONDUCTIVITY.
THE FLOW OF ELECTRIC CURRENT WITHOUT RESISTANCE.
INCOMING MICROWAVES HEAT UP THE DETECTOR AND DISRUPT THE CURRENT FLOW IN THIS UNUSUAL STATE.
You go from absolutely having no resistance at all to having some ordinary resistance.
And that, it turns out, makes a very, very sensitive thermometer.
And we can measure almost any signal if we just turn it into a heat that applies
to that superconducting material-a transition-edge sensor-right on that very sharp transition
between the superconducting state and the normal state that we're used to.
DEPLOYING THESE SENSORS ON TELESCOPES AND OTHER COSMOLOGICAL INSTRUMENTS COULD HELP ASTRONOMERS CONFIRM
OR RULE OUT INFLATIONARY THEORIES.
BUT THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY ALSO MIGHT HELP VERIFY THAT NATIONS ARE COMPLYING WITH NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATIES,
AS WELL AS PROVIDE THE ABILITY TO DETECT HIGH FREQUENCY TERAHERTZ WAVES, WHICH ARE VALUABLE IN MEDICAL IMAGING.
THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY WILL HELP US DEAL WITH MODERN CHALLENGES AND LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW OUR UNIVERSE BEGAN.