Over the past four decades, the field of astrophysics has enjoyed a pair of massive technological advances. First, we jumped from archaic photographic plates that relied on chemical emulsions to charge couple devices (CCDs). Now, the transition from CCDs to hyperspectral imaging devices that utilise exotic superconducting materials could change how we see the stars forever.
“When we switched from photographic plates to the contained in today’s electronics, per-pixel performance of the detectors went up by a factor of 20,” explained Ben Mazin, assistant professor of physics at UC Santa Barbara. And his new hyperspectral imaging device could provide an even bigger boost to humanity’s deep-peering telescopes.
To read more, click here.