Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2012, detailing a groundbreaking scientific experiment at Fermilab that successfully transmitted a message using neutrinos.
A new communication technology using neutrinos to send a radio message directly through the Earth, or another planet, was shown off for the first time.
Scientists coded a message into a beam of neutrinos, tiny subatomic particles, and sent it through 240 metres of solid rock. The first of its kind transmission simply said, “Neutrino.” It marked the first time a message had ever been encoded in the elusive particles.
Detecting Neutrino Particles
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory is filled with heavy water to help detect neutrino particles. It sits 2,000 metres below the surface in a mine, which is evidence that the equipment required to transmit and receive neutrino messages is incredibly bulky.
There is just one major snag: at present, the only transmitter capable of sending such a beam is a 2.5-mile long particle accelerator. Even the receiver, a huge underground particle detector, weighs several tonnes. But the technology has exciting possibilities for the future.
Communicating Through Solid Matter
Using neutrinos, it would be theoretically possible to communicate between any two points on Earth without using satellites or cables. Neutrino communication systems would be much more complicated than today’s systems, but they could have important strategic uses.
Neutrinos can penetrate almost anything they encounter. If humans wanted to communicate with something in outer space that was on the far side of a moon or a planet, our message could travel straight through without impediment.
“Of course, our current technology takes massive amounts of high-tech equipment to communicate a message using neutrinos, so this isn’t practical now,” said Kevin McFarland, a University of Rochester physics professor who was involved in the experiment. “But the first step toward someday using neutrinos for communication in a practical application is a demonstration using today’s technology.”
The Fermilab Experiment
The team of scientists that demonstrated it was possible performed their test at the Fermi National Accelerator Lab, outside of Chicago. The group submitted its findings to the journal Modern Physics Letters A.
At Fermilab, the researchers had access to two crucial components. The first is one of the world’s most powerful particle accelerators, which creates high-intensity beams of neutrinos by accelerating protons around a 2.5-mile circumference track and then colliding them with a carbon target. The second is a multi-tonne detector called MINERvA, located in a cavern 100 metres underground.
The fact that such a substantial setup is necessary to communicate using neutrinos means that much work will need to be done before the technology can be incorporated into a readily usable form. If this technology could eventually be applied to submarines, for instance, then they could conceivably communicate over long distances through water, which is difficult with present technology, and it could also help us send deep space communications.
