Chapter 1539 Periodic Optical Lattice

This is indeed beyond the scope of conventional submarine reconnaissance.

But Chang Haonan still felt that it was not that complicated.

"Weren't they able to salvage the boat along with the people?" he asked doubtfully. "Could it be possible that all the officers on the boat kept their mouths shut?"

70 years ago, there might have been quite a few such diehards.

But this is 2011, and most of the people in the Self-Defense Forces are just ordinary people, otherwise they would not have surrendered so easily.

"We have had cross-talks with several key officers, including the captain," Zheng Liangqun replied. "It is basically certain that they were unaware of these additional exploration projects. They just started the equipment and recorded data according to the preset procedures. Before departure, their superiors only said that this was an underwater topographic mapping mission."

Chang Haonan's expression became strange: "Didn't you find any relevant detection equipment?"

Zheng Liangqun shook his head. "The bow and port side of the Canglong are almost completely destroyed. We can't see much at once. Besides... the Japanese side means that they are willing to compromise on the free trade agreement and reach an agreement as soon as possible. This concession is too fast and too big. After all, our focus is still on the sonar and command system. We don't have time to dismantle too much equipment on the boat."

This is quite normal.

Many devices are inconspicuous and have similar principles. If only the wreckage is left, they may not have specific directionality.

"In short, what the superiors want," Zheng Liangqun pointed at the hard drive, "is to make a few copies of this data and send them to a group of reliable scientists, including you. There is no specific goal, but we just hope to use your extensive knowledge to see if we can decipher any valuable information from these fragments. This is like a last-ditch effort."

Chang Haonan's curiosity was finally aroused.

A highly confidential detection mission that a submarine captain was unaware of.

Covering gravity, magnetic fields, and particle flux, this does sound like some cutting-edge, even sci-fi exploration.

He stopped refusing and nodded, saying, "I understand. I'll give it a try." He then stood up and connected the hard drive to another physically isolated encrypted computer on his desk.

The screen soon displayed densely packed, complexly structured folders and data files named with long strings of numbers and letters.

As Zheng Liangqun said, this is the result after preliminary sorting, and the original data is even more disorganized.

Chang Haonan quickly browsed through the file list and the preview of some data.

His fingers tapped quickly on the keyboard, calling up several data files and opening them to view the internal structure.

Zheng Liangqun and the clerk looked at him with bated breath.

"Look here, and here, there is an obvious contradiction between the unit markings of these data, their numerical ranges, and the calling logic of the subsequent calculation modules..."

A few minutes later, Chang Haonan pointed to a few lines of data on the screen and said to Zheng Liangqun:

"For example, the magnetic field gradient value is marked in nT/m, but the numerical value and the coefficients involved in subsequent calculations are more like mG (milli-Gauss)."

He called up another file:

"Looking at the particle flux data again, the file header defines a field called 'Flux_Density', but the unit column is empty. The algorithm for processing this field obviously requires a time integration to obtain a meaningful physical quantity..."

"..."

Zheng Liangqun was recording quickly in a small notebook at first, but soon he couldn't keep up.

"Wait a minute, Flux...what?"

Chang Haonan waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to remember these:

"My point is that the programmer seems to have deliberately concealed some key information, leaving it for manual completion or interpretation later. This shows that the confidentiality of this data is extremely high, so high that even some technicians responsible for writing the underlying data recording program may not know the true meaning and complete context of this data."

He found another file containing a snippet of the program script and highlighted two entries, "Tokyo_Constant_A" and "Fusion_Threshold_B":

"If I must say, the way some scripts refer to physical constants, as well as the style of some unique encryption verification algorithms, are very similar to the habits of the Tokyo High Energy Particle Fusion Research Institute... Of course, this cannot be used as conclusive evidence. Considering my previous speculation, it is entirely possible that the programmers deliberately used a sleight of hand, or that some of the staff simply have relevant educational backgrounds."

But Zheng Liangqun still took note carefully:

"Tokyo High Energy Particle Fusion Research Institute... This information is very important."

Then he raised his head again: "So... can you tell what they are researching?"

Chang Haonan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his brows:

"You're putting me in a difficult position... I'm not a god. How can I infer the direction of a research project based on these scattered, incomplete, and possibly deliberately obfuscated data?"

He spread his hands and said half-jokingly: "Gravity anomalies, magnetic field distortion, muon flux... this range is too broad. At the smallest level, it may be detecting some special seabed minerals. At the largest level... studying the Big Bang, searching for antimatter, or conducting quantum entanglement experiments... There is too little information and too many possibilities."

Zheng Liangqun naturally didn't take the exaggerated content seriously. He was just trying his luck and didn't have to get any results:

"I'll leave this hard drive here for now. If you get a flash of inspiration or discover any new clues during your research, you can always check it out."

Chang Haonan originally thought that it was a bit of an overreaction, but considering the sensitivity of its source and the potential huge unknown value, he nodded in agreement.

Just then, there was a sudden knock on the office door.

"Come in."

Chang Haonan signaled to a guard standing at the door to open the locked door.

Li Yabo, wearing a blue lab coat, appeared at the door with a document in his hand.

Seeing that there were guests in the office, especially Zheng Liangqun with Venus on his shoulder, he immediately stopped at the door, looking a little reserved.

"Academician Chang, you are busy, I will not bother you any more." Zheng Liangqun had already finished his business, and took the opportunity to say goodbye. "Regarding the optimization of the underwater monitoring network algorithm, I will ask the comrades from the Ocean University of Technology to contact you as soon as possible."

He stretched out his hand, shook hands with Chang Haonan again, and left with the guards and staff.

After seeing off Zheng Liangqun and his party, Chang Haonan motioned for Li Yabo to come in:

"Yabo, what's going on?"

Li Yabo walked in and handed the report to Chang Haonan:

"Teacher, the research on negative refractive index metal matrix composite materials... has encountered some bottlenecks."

He spoke quickly and placed the report in front of Chang Haonan:

"We followed your previous ideas and successfully observed obvious negative refractive index windows in several indium-based and gallium-based alloy films through a specific chemical synthesis route and subsequent strong magnetic field polarization treatment. The repeatability is also much better than the previous solution using composite metamaterials (micro-nanostructure assembly)."

Chang Haonan compared several key data and found that it is indeed more advantageous than the currently popular composite metamaterials.

“But the problem is also prominent.”

Li Yabo turned to the back of the report and pointed to a series of data charts:

"The negative refractive index effect is extremely unstable and extremely sensitive to ambient temperature, humidity and electromagnetic interference. It will disappear or weaken significantly if it deviates slightly from the optimal condition window... or even just after a few seconds... In addition, it is the same problem as the beginning. The actual light transmittance of the material is very poor, almost opaque, and it is difficult to find any real application scenarios."

Chang Haonan took the report and read through it quickly and attentively.

The experimental data is detailed and the problem analysis is in place. Li Yabo's work is quite solid.

He paid particular attention to the part about the characterization of the material structure, which contained high-resolution electron microscope photos showing the microscopic optical lattices with specific periodic arrangements formed inside the material after special treatment and magnetization.

These lattices are the key to the phenomenon of negative refraction.

Looking at those lattice structures that were clearly visible under the electron microscope but whose arrangement was still "mechanical" and imperfect, Chang Haonan's mind suddenly seemed to be struck by lightning.

He raised his head suddenly and pointed his finger at the electron microscope photo in the report: "These artificially induced periodic lattices are essentially 'mimicking' the structure of photonic crystals! We are still using the idea of ​​'engineering' to try to 'build' a perfect optical structure in the microscopic world."

Li Yabo was stunned and didn't fully understand what the teacher meant.

Chang Haonan took a deep breath and said, "We have been pursuing the perfection of the material structure, trying every possible way to reduce defects and improve the regularity of the lattice arrangement... It's like trying to build a flawless miniature castle with sand on the beach. You can imagine how difficult it is. A breeze can destroy it."

In essence, Li Yabo's current operations are still moving along the line of metamaterials.

But no matter how sophisticated artificial composite materials are, they can never match the spontaneous behavior of particles.

Just like protons, neutrons and electrons make up atoms, and atoms make up molecules.

If we can simulate the propagation of light particles one by one, we are likely to obtain a result that is extremely stable.

But before that, he still had some details to confirm in person.

"Let's go!" Chang Haonan grabbed the report on the table and waved his hand. His face showed the long-lost excitement that belonged to an explorer. "Let's go to the material characterization laboratory first!"