Search For Aliens Gets A ‘Lighthouse Theory’ With Photonics Advances

Can you imagine if we sent a signal to space that could be seen by the entire universe, and similarly if an alien civilization does the same and we can see it? As per recent reports, it seems such a technology now actually exists that can help us detect another civilization in the universe.

According to a new work by Philip Lubin, a physics professor at UC Santa Barbara who also leads the UCSB Experimental Cosmology Group, the research and advances in directed energy systems can be applied to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). "If even one other civilization existed in our galaxy and had a similar or more advanced level of directed energy technology, we could detect 'them' anywhere in our galaxy with a very modest detection approach," Philip Lubin said. "We propose a search strategy which will observe nearly 100 billion planets; allowing us to test our hypothesis that other similarly or more advanced civilizations with this same broadcast capability exist".

The core of Lubin's recent work to develop laser powered and miniscule interstellar spacecraft lies in directed energy technology, which is similar to using the water force from a garden hose to push forward a ball. According to the professor, directed energy technology can be used to push and maneuver a spacecraft in the same way, and it could also be applied to send a targeted signal to other planetary systems for SETI. The process could therefore act like a sort of beacon in a lighthouse, and the universe could have many such lighthouses too.

Incidentally, NASA has funded Lubin's work since 2015 and it is also the technology behind the Breakthrough Starshot, a $100 initiative by billionaire Yuri Milner. According to Lubin, the main work of the SETI community has been to run searches through radio waves, something akin to what Jodie Foster receives via an enormous and powerful radio telescope in the movie Contact. However, with the developed photonics approach by UCSB, making such a contact with alien life would be much simpler. Lubin feels that with the ongoing photonics revolution, that allows such specific type of information transmission through high intensity of near infrared or visible light, humans have no need for a massive telescope to begin these searches.