Lasers and the Universe

October 29, 2004-- Laserod delivers system to Princeton University for machining silicon detectors to be used in a telescope looking at remnants of the Big Bang. These detectors comprise the focal plane of the Atacama Cosmic Telescope (ACT) slated to go up in Chile’s Atacama Desert in the year 2006.

ACT’s main function is to map out Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB), which is a homogenous field of radiation suffusing the universe at a temperature of 2.7 degrees Kelvin. Tiny fluctuations in the CMB, called anisotropies, trace the beginnings of galaxies and are even colder, namely at a small fraction of a degree Kelvin.

The sensitivity of ACT to the CMB is unprecedented, due to new detector technology. The detector hardware is microfabricated on a silicon substrate and cut by a laser dicer with a precision unobtainable from a conventional dicing saw. There is speculation as to whether the laser dicer can be used in fabrication of the lenses, which are also made of silicon. Another perk of the laser is that the cleanliness of laser removal also safeguards the fragility of the part.

The specificity of the ACT parts allows for a clearer resolution picture of the anisotropies in the CMB, which will thus provide us with better knowledge of galaxy formation and structure and how the universe has evolved since the Big Bang.

Learn more about CMB and how it supports BIG BANG and DARK ENERGY theories.

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