Researchers at MIT have developed a room temperature quantum sensor that can measure multiple parameters at once.
A new solid-state quantum sensor developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can measure multiple parameters at once. The approach could help us improve our understanding of atoms and electrons inside materials and living systems.
Quantum sensors can measure properties of system components at levels that conventional sensors simply cannot. They achieve this by measuring tiny quantum signals, which can reveal the inner workings of cells as well as the outer depths of the universe. What makes them even more impressive is their ability to work at room temperature. Unlike other quantum applications that operate near absolute zero, quantum sensors can operate at room temperature, making them highly practical.
However, these sensors have faced a severe limitation to date – the ability to measure only one parameter at a time. Researchers at MIT have now developed a way of making multiple measurements at once.
How do quantum sensors work? Quantum sensors work by exploiting quantum properties like entanglement, spin states and superposition to measure parameters like electric field, gravity, acceleration, magnetic fields etc. inside a system. One such sensor uses the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamonds to measure. In this setup, nitrogen is introduced as a defect in the diamond crystal lattice, where a neighboring lattice site is missing. The defect allows the optical readout of an electron spin, which in turn is sensitive to changes in magnetic fields or temperature. This facilitates high-resolution measurements. However, the change in spin resonance can be caused by multiple factors, making it difficult to measure them simultaneously.
“If you can only measure one quantity at a time, you have to repeat experiments to measure quantities one by one,” explained Takuya Isogawa, a graduate student in nuclear science at MIT. “That takes more time, which means less sensitivity. It also makes experiments more susceptible to errors.”
What did MIT researchers do? In their setup, the MIT researchers measured the NV center’s fluorescence using a laser and its electron spin using a microwave antenna. Additionally, they used a radio-frequency field to measure the nitrogen atom’s spin, thereby increasing the number of available qubits for measurements. Using a technique called Bell-state measurement, the two qubits allowed simultaneous measurements of three parameters. The system is reliable since the spins of the sensor qubit and its auxiliary qubit are entangled. The MIT researchers measured amplitude, detuning, and phase of a microwave magnetic field at once but are confident that the system could be used to measure electric fields, temperature, pressure, and strain as well.
“NV center sensors have extremely high spatial resolution and versatility. It can measure a lot of different physical quantities,” added Isogawa in the press release. “What makes the NV center quantum sensors so special is that they can operate at room temperature. It’s very suitable for biological measurements or condensed matter physics experiments.”
The researchers acknowledged that these measurements lacked high precision, something they plan to address in their future work. Additionally, they hope to use their quantum sensors to characterize heterogeneous materials. The research findings were published in the journal PRX Quantum.
MIT NV Center Quantum Sensing Quantum Sensor Qubit Room Temperature Sensor
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