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Quantum sensors will start a revolution — if we deploy them right

From underground exploration to brain science and air-traffic control, the sensing potential of quantum devices is enormous. But they must first get out of the laboratory.
  1. Kai Bongs

    1. Kai Bongs is director of the Institute of Quantum Technologies at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Ulm, Germany, a professor at the University of Ulm, Germany, and at the University of Birmingham, UK.

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  2. Simon Bennett

    1. Simon Bennett is director of the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, University of Birmingham, UK.

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  3. Anke Lohmann

    1. Anke Lohmann is founder of Anchored In, London, and chair of the quantum Business Innovation and Growth group at the Institute of Physics, London.

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Atoms in a glass vapor cell are excited with laser beams to Rydberg states.

A quantum sensor developed by the US Army in 2020 can detect communications signals over the entire radio-frequency spectrum. Credit: United States Army

Quantum sensors exploit the fundamental properties of atoms and light to make measurements of the world. The quantum states of particles are extremely sensitive to the environment, which is a virtue for sensing, if problematic for making a quantum computer. Quantum sensors that use particles as probes can quantify acceleration, magnetic fields, rotation, gravity and the passage of time more precisely than can classical devices that are engineered or based on chemical or electrical signals. They can be used to make atomic clocks that are smaller and more accurate, cameras that can see through fog and around corners, and devices for mapping structures underground, among many other potential applications. They stand to transform a multitude of sectors, from energy, land use and transport to health care, finance and security. But their commercial promise needs to be appreciated more.

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Nature 617, 672-675 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01663-0

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Competing Interests

K.B. is co-inventor of US Patent 11,269,111, which relates to the gravity gradiometer mentioned in the article. He is also a shareholder in Delta-G, a spin-off company from the University of Birmingham exploiting this patent, and is on the advisory board for Quantum Exponential, an investment fund aimed at companies focused on quantum sensing.

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