When astronomers first detected gravitational waves in 2015, it allowed for a new perspective on the Universe. Prior to this, astronomy was reliant on observing light across all its wavelengths. We also use light for communication, primarily through radio waves. Could we utilize gravitational waves for communication? This idea has been explored by scientists in a new study published on the arXiv preprint server, as reported by ScienceAlert.
According to the researchers, the discovery of gravitational waves has enabled a fresh examination of the Universe and specific extreme astrophysical phenomena. On the other hand, these waves could represent a new form of cosmic communication. It’s important to note that gravitational waves are produced by the collisions of black holes and neutron stars, but they are also believed to arise from other extreme events in space. These waves are fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime.
Traditional electromagnetic communication has certain drawbacks. Signals weaken over distance, atmospheric effects can disrupt radio communication, scattering and distorting it. Space weather can also interfere with communication in space.
These issues, as the authors of the study suggest, could be addressed by gravitational wave communication. It is reliable under extreme conditions and loses minimal energy over vast distances. It also overcomes problems that hinder electromagnetic communication. This form of communication could facilitate the transmission of information over enormous distances.
To advance this technology, it is necessary to create artificial gravitational waves in a laboratory setting. However, generating artificial gravitational waves remains one of the significant challenges today.
It is evident that there is no way to recreate an event like a black hole collision in a laboratory. Yet, attempts have already been made. One of the first efforts involved rotating masses. However, the rotational speed required to generate gravitational waves was unattainable, partly because the materials were not strong enough. Other attempts included piezoelectric crystals, superfluid liquids, particle beams, and even powerful lasers. The issue with these attempts is that, although physicists understand the underlying theory, they currently lack the necessary materials. Another challenge is that such gravitational waves are extremely difficult to detect, even if they could be generated due to the small masses involved in their creation. Therefore, more advanced technologies are needed, scientists say.
While gravitational waves avoid some of the issues faced by electromagnetic communication, they still have their own set of challenges. Since gravitational waves can travel long distances, they encounter problems of attenuation, phase distortions, and polarization shifts due to interactions with dense matter, cosmic structures, magnetic fields, and interstellar matter. This can not only degrade the signal quality but also complicate its decoding.
Researchers indicate that to use gravitational waves for communication, it is also essential to determine how to modulate them. Signal modulation is crucial for communication.
In deep space, communication via electromagnetic waves is limited by vast distances and interference from cosmic phenomena. Therefore, gravitational wave communication appears to be a promising solution to these problems. It could maintain consistently high signal quality, which is vital for missions beyond the Solar System, scientists say.