B Navigation by detecting anomalies in Earth's magnetic field

Buzz Bloom
Gold Member
Messages
2,517
Reaction score
465
Today I came across an article (not from a authoritative journal) about "Quantum Navigation".
It is about a method to do navigation by detecting anomalies in Earth's magnetic field. I tried (and failed) to find a reference which described what this technology has to do with QM. Does anyone know about such a relationship, or is "quantum" just used to name this technology for hyping purposes?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
There are a bunch of quantum technologies that could potentially be used for navigation.
This can be a simple as using e.g. NV-centres to make an extremely sensitive compass.

However, the most interesting technologies for applications are using quantum interference of cold atoms (meaning it is really "quantum").
These can be used for inertial navigation (with a much, much higher precision than say a laser gyro) as well as for gravity sensors.

These technologies have been used in the lab for a number of years; a number of companies and universities around the world are now in the process of commercializing them.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes Buzz Bloom
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
If we release an electron around a positively charged sphere, the initial state of electron is a linear combination of Hydrogen-like states. According to quantum mechanics, evolution of time would not change this initial state because the potential is time independent. However, classically we expect the electron to collide with the sphere. So, it seems that the quantum and classics predict different behaviours!
According to recent podcast between Jacob Barandes and Sean Carroll, Barandes claims that putting a sensitive qubit near one of the slits of a double slit interference experiment is sufficient to break the interference pattern. Here are his words from the official transcript: Is that true? Caveats I see: The qubit is a quantum object, so if the particle was in a superposition of up and down, the qubit can be in a superposition too. Measuring the qubit in an orthogonal direction might...
Back
Top