“A new type of amplifier for boosting electrical signals that can be used for everything from studying stars, galaxies, and black holes to exploring the quantum world and developing quantum computers has been developed by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).* “This amplifier will redefine what it is possible to measure,” says Jonas Zmuidzinas, Caltech’s Merle Kingsley Professor of Physics, the chief technologist at JPL, and a member of the research team. An amplifier is a device that increases the strength of a weak signal.
“Amplifiers play a basic role in a wide range of scientific measurements and in electronics in general,” says Peter Day, a visiting associate in physics at Caltech and a principal scientist at JPL. “For many tasks, current amplifiers are good enough. But for the most demanding applications, the shortcomings of the available technologies limit us.” ”
