The GPS-Killer? This Quantum Device ‘Feels’ Motion Like a Brain—Down to the Atomic Level todayheadline

Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have built a quantum navigation device that reads acceleration like a fingerprint scanner reads thumbprints.

Using atoms chilled to just billionths of a degree above absolute zero, their new interferometer can simultaneously measure motion in three dimensions—something many experts thought impossible. The breakthrough could revolutionize how submarines, spacecraft, and autonomous vehicles navigate when GPS signals fail or aren’t available.

Unlike traditional accelerometers that track movement along a single axis, this quantum device captures the full picture of motion in our three-dimensional world. The implications stretch far beyond navigation, potentially offering new tools for detecting gravitational waves, testing fundamental physics, and even searching for dark matter.

The Atomic Motion Detector

“Traditional atom interferometers can only measure acceleration in a single dimension, but we live within a three-dimensional world,” explains Kendall Mehling, a graduate student in physics at CU Boulder and co-author of the study published in Science Advances. “To know where I’m going, and to know where I’ve been, I need to track my acceleration in all three dimensions.”

The device works by creating what researchers call a “matter-wave pond” using a Bose-Einstein Condensate—an exotic state of matter that earned CU Boulder physicists Carl Wieman and Eric Cornell a Nobel Prize in 2001. In this quantum realm, individual atoms exist in ghostly superpositions, simultaneously occupying multiple locations.

Here’s where it gets truly remarkable: when the atoms split and recombine, they create complex interference patterns that serve as unique signatures for different types of motion. Think of it as each acceleration vector leaving its own distinctive thumbprint in the quantum world.

Decoding Quantum Fingerprints

What sets this system apart is its sophisticated readout mechanism. Traditional interferometers produce simple oscillating signals, but this quantum device generates what the researchers call a 49-channel output—essentially a 7×7 grid of momentum measurements that creates unique patterns for different acceleration vectors.

“We can decode that fingerprint and extract the acceleration that the atoms experienced,” says Murray Holland, a physics professor and JILA fellow who led the research team.

The team demonstrated two distinct types of measurements: Bloch oscillations that track motion over time, and Michelson interferometry that captures instantaneous acceleration snapshots. In one experiment, they successfully measured applied accelerations of 2g (twice Earth’s gravity) along two axes simultaneously, achieving remarkable accuracy.

Machine Learning Meets Quantum Physics

Building this device required solving an enormously complex engineering puzzle. The team uses six laser beams, each thinner than a human hair, to manipulate tens of thousands of rubidium atoms with extraordinary precision. But here’s the twist—they couldn’t solve this puzzle through traditional trial-and-error methods.

Instead, they turned to artificial intelligence. The researchers trained machine learning algorithms to plan the intricate laser control sequences needed to split and recombine atoms effectively. This computational approach enabled them to discover control protocols that human intuition alone might never have found.

“For what it is, the current experimental device is incredibly compact. Even though we have 18 laser beams passing through the vacuum system that contains our atom cloud, the entire experiment is small enough that we could deploy in the field one day,” notes Catie LeDesma, a postdoctoral researcher on the team.

Beyond Traditional Navigation

The quantum approach offers several advantages over conventional accelerometers. Most importantly, atoms don’t age or degrade like mechanical components do.

“If you leave a classical sensor out in different environments for years, it will age and decay,” Mehling points out. “The springs in your clock will change and warp. Atoms don’t age.”

Currently, the device measures accelerations several thousand times smaller than Earth’s gravity—not yet competitive with existing technologies. But the researchers see enormous potential for improvement. They predict that with longer measurement times and refined engineering, sensitivity could reach technologically relevant levels.

More intriguingly, the system offers unprecedented programmability. Unlike hardware-based sensors that serve single purposes, this quantum device can be reconfigured through software to function as an accelerometer, gyroscope, or gravity gradiometer on demand.

The Bayesian Advantage

Perhaps most significantly, the team developed new data analysis techniques using Bayesian statistics to extract multiple parameters from single measurements. Traditional interferometers require many repeated experiments to build up interference fringes, but this quantum system can determine vector accelerations from individual snapshots.

The researchers demonstrated this capability by measuring both the magnitude and direction of applied forces, showing they could distinguish between accelerations of identical strength but different orientations. This multichannel approach fundamentally changes how quantum sensors can be used.

Future Horizons

NASA has already invested $5.5 million through its Quantum Pathways Institute to advance this technology. The applications could be transformative—from navigation systems that work in GPS-denied environments to scientific instruments capable of detecting the most subtle gravitational effects.

What makes this work particularly exciting is its potential scalability. The current device operates in just 460 microseconds with a spatial footprint of only a few wavelengths. As the team extends measurement times and improves detection efficiency, they expect dramatic sensitivity improvements.

“We’re not exactly sure of all the possible ramifications of this research, because it opens up a door,” Holland reflects.

That door leads to a future where quantum physics doesn’t just help us understand the universe’s fundamental nature—it actively guides us through it, one atomic fingerprint at a time. For technology that seemed impossible just years ago, the quantum navigation revolution may be closer than we think.

Related