Optical SETI with MAGIC

Abstract

For almost half a century (since the 1960’s) we have been looking for extraterrestial signals originated by extraterrestrial intelligent life in the radiofrequency (RF) range. However the development of the laser has made us aware that pulsed narrow beams may be ideal carriers for interstellar communications. Those features of the optical transmissions and the amazing improvement of the laser technology and power in the last years (it has practically doubled capability every two years) suggests that if some intelligent extraterrestrial life is trying to communicate with us, they probably do it in the optical range instead of the RF. In this sense, the MAGIC Telescope may be the best tool at the moment for the detection of these pulsed signals in the optical range, due to its large reflective surface (234m ²) and sensitivity to pulses as short as 1ns.