Swarming Proxima Centauri: Optical Communication Over Interstellar Distances · HackerPapers discussions

Swarming Proxima Centauri: Optical Communication Over Interstellar Distances — mentioned by mchouza

Mon, 20 May 2024 20:06:36 GMT

They don't, see https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.07061 . The basic idea is to use "picosecond-level" synchronization to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. They mention that a truly phase-coherent swarm would perform much better but they consider that a longer term prospect (section 2.1.4).

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Swarming Proxima Centauri: Optical Communication Over Interstellar Distances — mentioned by mlyle

Sun, 19 May 2024 16:26:57 GMT

They don't need to keep exact position; they just need to know their relative distance offsets from Earth to synchronize pulses. They can do some work to keep station; the idea is that by adjusting attitude, they can adjust the magnitude and direction of their drag vector. https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.07061 It's absolutely infeasible with current technology, but it doesn't look like it's total unobtanium.

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Swarming Proxima Centauri: Optical Communication Over Interstellar Distances — mentioned by kragen

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:34:37 GMT

most laser systems get close to diffraction-limited divergence, which is governed by the size of your optics. vacuum vs. air affects it, but the effect is so small that you need sensitive instruments to detect the effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_beam#Beam_waist the divergence angle is inversely proportional to your aperture diameter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airy_disk in theory by putting a bunch of laser emitters in solar orbit and operating them as a phased array you can make an aperture the size of the solar system. 1.22λ/d at, say, 400nm and 2 astronomical units of…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.