The team of NTU professors successfully developed the "artifact" to detect the smog

Nanjing's colleges and universities have rich resources for science and education, talents are gathered, and scientific research results are endless. In order to build Nanjing into a national first-class, internationally influential and innovative city, on July 11, Nanjing signed an agreement with 20 universities in Nanjing, such as Nanjing University and Southeast University, to promote in-depth cooperation in scientific and technological innovation. In the new semester, Nanjing Daily launched the “High School's Sun” treasure, which made the research “Baby” in “Baoshan” debut, with a view to attract the attention of all districts, relevant departments and enterprises, and to achieve the scientific and technological achievements of universities in Nanjing. Rooting and flowering results.

"God's Eye" can chase space junk to catch early cancer cells

Satellites and debris in thousands of kilometers or even tens of thousands of kilometers of space can be measured to the nearest centimeter. The Academician Wu Peiheng of Nanjing University has achieved the latest research results in photoelectron detection. In July this year, the results were published in the academic journal Optics Letters.

Photons are the smallest quantum of energy of light. A candle can release more than 100 billion photons in one second, and the light from a candle 10,000 kilometers away can be seen by a single photon detector. Single photon detectors have always been the focus of competition and competition in the world.

"At present, the more advanced photon detectors in the world can detect photons in the visible or near-infrared bands, and the superconducting detectors can theoretically detect photons in all optical bands," said the researchers.

For example, there are many flying fragments in space that will faintly reflect light, and the farther away they are, the weaker the light can be transmitted. These detectors can be captured on the ground using their detectors, reducing the risk of spacecraft and satellites colliding with debris.

The research team introduced that last year they cooperated with the Yunnan Observatory and the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Communication Technology to successfully apply superconducting single-photon detectors to the astronomical optical telescope system, measuring in centimeters at Earth's orbits of tens of thousands of kilometers. Accuracy, tracking and detection of multiple satellite targets. Experimental results show that the system can track and measure all satellites from near-Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit. In other words, the centimeter-sized screws in space can be seen clearly.

"Detectors can also be used in medical diagnosis and non-destructive testing of integrated circuits." He introduced that this detector can detect photons emitted by individual molecules of cancer cells; it can be found out which of the hundreds of millions of components of integrated circuit chips are broken. It can greatly improve the performance of the current photoelectric system, and has broad application prospects in civil fields such as national security and biomedical.

New detectors accurately predict smog

The visibility of the atmosphere is closely related to the composition and quantity of particulate matter such as atmospheric aerosol particles in the air, and is also closely related to the size and fluidity of the airflow. The existing optical monitoring instruments on the market have the drawback that the influence of the particles and the airflow on the visibility cannot be considered at the same time, so that the measured values ​​have large errors. A new type of instrument developed by Professor Han Yong from the School of Atmospheric Sciences of Nanjing University can effectively avoid the defects of previous instruments and more accurately measure the visibility of the atmosphere and the influence of turbulence on atmospheric visibility.

In the hazy weather, the visibility of the air is very poor, but with the strong winds, the visibility can be increased rapidly. This is our universal feeling. “Particles and turbulence are wrapped together, particles will drag the turbulence, and turbulence will promote the particles. The interaction between the two has always existed.” Han Yong introduced that they designed the detector through The new method can take into account the interaction between particulate matter and turbulence in the measurement, and the measured visibility is at least three to 40% higher than the current numerical accuracy.

"This has a better hint for the take-off and landing of aircraft, the navigation of ships, the driving of cars on highways, and the warning and forecast of haze weather." Han Yong said that for agrometeorology and smart agriculture, instruments are also unique. The role, "for example, can better monitor how the pollen spreads, how the farmer needs to intervene, etc."

According to reports, the current research team has made the prototype have entered the pilot test, and has passed the mid-term evaluation of the “Key R&D Plan (Industry Prospect and Common Key Technologies)” of the Science and Technology Department of Jiangsu Province. “If it is successful, it will soon be given. Customer trials can be officially sold after 1 year."

Editor's comment: The two probes developed by Nanda's team are "artifacts", one is the single-photon detector with the best comprehensive performance, and the other is a new type of detector that can accurately predict smog. The development of equipment for national meteorological and resource environment monitoring, Air navigation safety, atmospheric radiation climate effects research, pollution monitoring and weather forecasting have important scientific significance.

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