Quantum Sensing of the Geomagnetic Space Weather Environment

地磁空间天气环境的量子传感

• 批准号: EP/X036405/1
• 负责人: Ciaran Beggan
• 金额: $ 17.99万
• 依托单位: British Geological Survey
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FX036405%2F1
• 关键词: Quantum; Sensing; Geomagnetic; Space; Weather

On 13 March 1989, the largest magnetic storm of the last century caused widespread effects on power systems around the world including a blackout of the Hydro-Québec system in Canada. In the space of 93 seconds, its power grid collapsed leaving residents without electricity for 9 hours. In the UK, two large power transformers were severely damaged and required expensive repairs. In the intervening 30 years, society has become much more reliant on continuous power supply, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), broadband internet, mobile phone communication and other services which can be badly affected by so-called space weather, specifically the effects generated by rapid variations of the magnetic field on the order of seconds to minutes. It is anticipated that a more severe event than the March 1989 storm in the contemporary UK could cause economic damage on the order of billions of pounds per day. Measuring changes of the geomagnetic during a storm is of critical national importance and can help understand the hazards posed from space weather. While present day scientific-level instruments that measure the magnetic field (called fluxgate magnetometers) at UK geomagnetic observatories are very sensitive, they are not quite sufficient for the task of making absolute rapid, high-accuracy and noise-free measurements of the magnetic field. We wish to build and deploy a new type of sensor known as an optically pumped magnetometer. This uses cutting-edge quantum technology, developed in the last decade, to measure the vibrations of Caesium (Cs) atoms inside a glass cell which are able to detect small changes of the Earth's magnetic field. As a bonus, the new magnetometers reduce the size, weight and power requirements of a sensor while increasing its accuracy over 100-fold compared to current instrumentation. To test the new optically pumped magnetometer we will run it in parallel with the scientific instruments at the Eskdalemuir geomagnetic observatory in the Scottish borders for six months. This location has had a world-leading observatory in operation since 1904 and is one of the magnetically cleanest sites in the UK. Once the performance has been assessed a further five OPM sensors will be built, integrated into a bespoke communications and power supply and deployed to remote sites across the UK to augment the BGS space weather monitoring network. In conjunction with the existing geomagnetic instruments, we will achieve a world first with the densest national network of magnetometers. This will surpass the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) recommendation of no more than 200 km between magnetic stations.The project will bring together the technical skills of the University of Strathclyde's Physics Department to build the sensor, along with RAL Space's electronic system experience to optimise its performance. The British Geological Survey Geomagnetism team have ample experience in deploying and running long term installations and validating the accuracy of magnetic instruments. This is a cross-disciplinary project with the potential to bring technical, scientific, social and economic benefit in the form of a new high accuracy magnetometer than the can be deployed across the UK (and the world) in order to study the effects of hazardous space weather.

1989年3月13日，上个世纪最大的磁暴对世界各地的电力系统造成广泛影响，包括加拿大魁北克水电系统停电。在93秒的时间里，其电网崩溃，导致居民断电9小时。在英国，两个大型电力变压器严重受损，需要昂贵的维修。在此后的30年里，社会变得更加依赖持续供电、全球导航卫星系统、宽带互联网、移动的电话通信和其他服务，而这些服务可能受到所谓的空间天气的严重影响，特别是磁场在几秒到几分钟之间的快速变化所产生的影响。据预测，比1989年3月的风暴在当代英国更严重的事件可能会造成每天数十亿英镑的经济损失。测量风暴期间的地磁变化对国家至关重要，有助于了解空间天气造成的危害。虽然目前英国地磁观测站测量磁场的科学级仪器（称为磁通门磁力计）非常灵敏，但它们不足以完成对磁场进行绝对快速，高精度和无噪声测量的任务。我们希望建立和部署一种新型的传感器称为光泵磁力计。它使用了过去十年开发的尖端量子技术来测量玻璃细胞内铯（Cs）原子的振动，从而能够检测到地球磁场的微小变化。另外，与当前仪器相比，新型磁力计降低了传感器的尺寸、重量和功耗要求，同时将其准确度提高了100倍以上。为了测试新的光泵磁力计，我们将在苏格兰边境的Eskdalemuir地磁观测站与科学仪器并行运行六个月。自1904年以来，这个地方一直有一个世界领先的天文台在运作，是英国磁最干净的地方之一。一旦性能得到评估，将建造另外五个OPM传感器，将其集成到定制的通信和电源中，并部署到英国各地的偏远地点，以增强BGS空间天气监测网络。结合现有的地磁仪器，我们将实现丹麦国家磁强计网络的世界第一。这将超过世界气象组织（WMO）关于磁站之间不超过200公里的建议。该项目将汇集斯特拉斯克莱德大学物理系的技术技能来构建传感器，沿着RAL Space的电子系统经验以优化其性能。英国地质调查局地磁团队在部署和运行长期安装以及验证磁性仪器的准确性方面拥有丰富的经验。这是一个跨学科的项目，有可能带来技术，科学，社会和经济效益，其形式是一种新的高精度磁力计，可以在英国（和世界）部署，以研究危险空间天气的影响。