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A new way to find underground water and magma has been discovered.
Astrophysicists have long used gravitational lensing to study distant stars, galaxies, and clusters of matter. Light from a distant object doesn't always travel straight to Earth: near massive bodies, its trajectory is altered by gravity. In general relativity, this bending is explained not by the mass of the photon, but by the curvature of spacetime. The measurable effect itself is important for science: light can be used to detect gravitational changes.
Physicist Enban Lee of the University of Wollongong proposed using this principle not only in astrophysics but also in applied measurements on Earth. He created a fiber-optic laser system compact and robust enough to be mounted on an aircraft and, potentially, even on a submarine. According to his design, such a device could assist in aerial surveys, subsurface mapping, environmental monitoring, and underwater navigation.
The technology is based on a simple idea: very slight changes in gravity can reveal processes hidden underground or around the device. These variations can be used to search for groundwater, estimate rock density, detect voids, monitor magma accumulation beneath volcanoes, and anticipate signs of future activity. Lee also envisions applications in geological resource exploration, climate monitoring, and natural hazard assessment, using principles similar to sonar or radar, but relying on light and gravity.
Gravimetry has long been essential for defense projects, mining, and geophysics. Mechanical sensors help locate dense rocks, hidden water pockets, and underground caves, but such devices do not tolerate vibration and movement well. This problem is especially noticeable for aircraft, ships, and underwater vehicles: a weak useful signal is easily lost in shaking and stray vibrations.
Lee calls his approach gravity mapping. The work has been published in Scientific Reports in an early, unedited version while it undergoes editorial review. The author sees the main advantages of the new design as mobility and sensitivity: the device doesn't require massive mechanics and measures tiny delays in laser light , rather than the displacement of a weight or pendulum .
The installation's size seems modest for such a task: about one meter tall. Inside are two spools of fiber optic cable. If each spool were unwound, the fiber would extend over 10 kilometers. A laser sends two beams of light along separate spiral channels, after which the system compares the difference in travel time for each path.
The difference is extremely small: the delays are measured in picoseconds, or trillionths of a second. These deviations become the data points for mapping the gravitational influence of light. In laboratory tests, Lee tested the device using a 72-kilogram steel cylinder mounted on wheels. When the massive object was brought close to the coils, the setup recorded a change in the time delay between the two beams.
The University of Wollongong cautiously describes the development as an early prototype. Field testing of the technology is still a long way off: researchers need to better understand the additional interactions of light with gravitational fields and make the system robust enough for real-world conditions. The laboratory environment was very different from that of an airplane or submarine. Experiments were conducted in an air-conditioned optical room and a vibration-free building to eliminate unnecessary factors during calibration.
Lee himself admits that the sources of fluctuations in time-delay signals need further study. This stage is critical for the future sensor: without a precise understanding of noise, it will be impossible to separate the weak gravitational influence from temperature changes, mechanical stress in the fiber, and other interference.
The work also raises a broader physical question. Lee connects the results to a discussion of how photons interact with Earth's gravitational field and whether this can influence the propagation of light in a measuring system. In 1905, Albert Einstein formulated the principle that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant, regardless of the observer's motion. The new experiment doesn't invalidate this principle, but it does demonstrate that high-precision fiber optic installations can subtly detect the influence of gravity on the path and propagation time of a light signal.
While Lee's device isn't ready to replace existing gravimeters, the prototype shows a potential direction for more compact sensors. If engineers can expand the system from the confines of a quiet laboratory to aircraft, ships, or submersibles, gravity mapping will gain a new tool: a laser sensor that detects hidden processes through barely perceptible delays in light.
Astrophysicists have long used gravitational lensing to study distant stars, galaxies, and clusters of matter. Light from a distant object doesn't always travel straight to Earth: near massive bodies, its trajectory is altered by gravity. In general relativity, this bending is explained not by the mass of the photon, but by the curvature of spacetime. The measurable effect itself is important for science: light can be used to detect gravitational changes.
Physicist Enban Lee of the University of Wollongong proposed using this principle not only in astrophysics but also in applied measurements on Earth. He created a fiber-optic laser system compact and robust enough to be mounted on an aircraft and, potentially, even on a submarine. According to his design, such a device could assist in aerial surveys, subsurface mapping, environmental monitoring, and underwater navigation.
The technology is based on a simple idea: very slight changes in gravity can reveal processes hidden underground or around the device. These variations can be used to search for groundwater, estimate rock density, detect voids, monitor magma accumulation beneath volcanoes, and anticipate signs of future activity. Lee also envisions applications in geological resource exploration, climate monitoring, and natural hazard assessment, using principles similar to sonar or radar, but relying on light and gravity.
Gravimetry has long been essential for defense projects, mining, and geophysics. Mechanical sensors help locate dense rocks, hidden water pockets, and underground caves, but such devices do not tolerate vibration and movement well. This problem is especially noticeable for aircraft, ships, and underwater vehicles: a weak useful signal is easily lost in shaking and stray vibrations.
Lee calls his approach gravity mapping. The work has been published in Scientific Reports in an early, unedited version while it undergoes editorial review. The author sees the main advantages of the new design as mobility and sensitivity: the device doesn't require massive mechanics and measures tiny delays in laser light , rather than the displacement of a weight or pendulum .
The installation's size seems modest for such a task: about one meter tall. Inside are two spools of fiber optic cable. If each spool were unwound, the fiber would extend over 10 kilometers. A laser sends two beams of light along separate spiral channels, after which the system compares the difference in travel time for each path.
The difference is extremely small: the delays are measured in picoseconds, or trillionths of a second. These deviations become the data points for mapping the gravitational influence of light. In laboratory tests, Lee tested the device using a 72-kilogram steel cylinder mounted on wheels. When the massive object was brought close to the coils, the setup recorded a change in the time delay between the two beams.
The University of Wollongong cautiously describes the development as an early prototype. Field testing of the technology is still a long way off: researchers need to better understand the additional interactions of light with gravitational fields and make the system robust enough for real-world conditions. The laboratory environment was very different from that of an airplane or submarine. Experiments were conducted in an air-conditioned optical room and a vibration-free building to eliminate unnecessary factors during calibration.
Lee himself admits that the sources of fluctuations in time-delay signals need further study. This stage is critical for the future sensor: without a precise understanding of noise, it will be impossible to separate the weak gravitational influence from temperature changes, mechanical stress in the fiber, and other interference.
The work also raises a broader physical question. Lee connects the results to a discussion of how photons interact with Earth's gravitational field and whether this can influence the propagation of light in a measuring system. In 1905, Albert Einstein formulated the principle that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant, regardless of the observer's motion. The new experiment doesn't invalidate this principle, but it does demonstrate that high-precision fiber optic installations can subtly detect the influence of gravity on the path and propagation time of a light signal.
While Lee's device isn't ready to replace existing gravimeters, the prototype shows a potential direction for more compact sensors. If engineers can expand the system from the confines of a quiet laboratory to aircraft, ships, or submersibles, gravity mapping will gain a new tool: a laser sensor that detects hidden processes through barely perceptible delays in light.
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