Research Team Reviews Review Lithium Niobate’s Capabilities And Potential Applications

They say the artificial crystal offers the platform of choice for these technologies due to its superior performance and recent advances in manufacturing capabilities.

RMIT University’s Distinguished Professor Arnan Mitchell and University of Adelaide’s Dr Andy Boes led this team of global experts to review lithium niobate’s capabilities and potential applications in the journal Science.

The international team, including scientists from Peking University in China and Harvard University in the United States, is working with industry to make navigation systems that are planned to help rovers drive on the Moon later this decade.

As it is impossible to use global positioning system (GPS) technology on the Moon, navigation systems in lunar rovers will need to use an alternative system, which is where the team’s innovation comes in.

By detecting tiny changes in laser light, the lithium-niobate chip can be used to measure movement without needing external signals, according to Mitchell.

“This is not science fiction – this artificial crystal is being used to develop a range of exciting applications. And competition to harness the potential of this versatile technology is heating up,” said Mitchell, Director of the Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre.

He said while the lunar navigation device was in the early stages of development, the lithium niobate chip technology was “mature enough to be used in space applications”.

“Our lithium niobate chip technology is also flexible enough to be rapidly adapted to almost any application that uses light,” Mitchell said.

“We are focused on navigation now, but the same technology could also be used for linking internet on the Moon to the internet on Earth.”