Quantum Electronic Techniques in Astrophysics: Present Developments and Future Prospects

Abstract

The rapid development of quantum electronic devices in the past decade has extended many conventional radio frequency techniques through the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum into the visible spectral region. Subsequent development has led to many new devices and techniques which have no radio frequency counterparts. Quantum optics has also stimulated interest in the development of even better conventional optical parts and materials for use in quantum electronic devices. Much of the astronomical data which we have today has been obtained with optical telescopes; therefore, the new advances in optical techniques and quantum electronics will result in new astronomical data of higher quality than has been possible with the conventional astronomical equipment of the previous decades. Some of this improvement in astronomical observations will come from laser servocontrol mechanisms, improved diffraction gratings, optical coatings, interference filters, and data processing. However, quantum electronics offers the potential for applying new optical and infrared detectors to astronomical problems. Optical heterodyne receivers, photon upconverters, and spatial interferometers are a few of the exciting new types of instrumentation which quantum electronios has made available to astronomers.