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Pushing the boundaries of quantum sensing
Research at the 糖心原创 is opening new possibilities in fundamental physics, while making quantum experiments outside major international facilities more affordable and accessible.
Quantum sensors have the potential to transform healthcare, transportation, navigation and our understanding of the universe. But getting these technologies from laboratory demonstrators to real-world portable devices remains a significant challenge.
Dr Nathan Cooper and a team of researchers are working to make the hardware required for such sensors smaller, cheaper and more robust.
Putting accessibility at the heart of the quantum revolution
Quantum sensors remain expensive, often requiring experiments to take place at large international specialist facilities. A team at the 糖心原创 is tackling these challenges using non-conventional approaches such as 3D printing to push the boundaries of what’s possible in a standard research laboratory. The goal of the team is to bring quantum sensing within reach of everyday applications while increasing speed and performance and reducing cost.
In 2021, researchers from the university’s School of Physics and Astronomy built, tested and of the world’s first 3D-printed ultra-high vacuum chamber. This breakthrough means that fundamental questions in physics can be addressed by labs without access to the hugely expensive kit, such as particle accelerators and kilometre-scale interferometers, that is only found in major international facilities.
"I鈥檝e seen multi-million-pound experiments that are quite literally held together with duct tape."
Why ultracold atoms?
Atom-based quantum sensors are already used in non-invasive medical imaging, underground mapping using gravitational field sensors and secure navigation that doesn’t depend on external signals.
Quantum sensors using ultracold atoms need ultra-high vacuum to operate successfully, less than one trillionth of Earth’s atmospheric pressure, and even small amounts of background gas can disturb the sensitive quantum particles.
The team uses ultracold atom clouds suspended in a vacuum, using laser light and magnetic fields to build quantum sensors and capabilities that can address critical questions in physics, such as whether there are fundamental mechanisms of quantum wave function collapse, and what is the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The very precise measurements possible with these systems can also help to discover new fundamental physics.
This experimental work spans three strands, from design to application: developing ways to optimally collect and process data to set the best experimental parameters for future measurements; improving experimental techniques that enhance performance in practical applications using 3D printing; making the hardware required for such experiments smaller, cheaper and more portable.
"Being an experimentalist in quantum sensing requires such a wide range of techniques covering vacuum science and engineering, analogue electronics, coding and laser physics, with fundamental quantum physics and basic theory at the centre of it all."
Innovating with 3D printed surfaces: catching atoms with bumpy surfaces
The team are pioneers in research using 3D printing can be used to make smaller, lighter and better hardware components for quantum sensors. Initial experiments with 3D printed ultra-high vacuum components led to a recent breakthrough, which used textured 3D surfaces to improve atom capture in surface-based pumps.
Keeping a vacuum good enough for ultracold atom quantum sensors is not easy. The turbomolecular or ion-based pumps conventionally used are large, heavy and power-hungry, making it much harder to smoothly deploy quantum sensors in real-world applications. This latest research showed that specifically designed 3D textured surfaces can dramatically boost the speed and capacity of smaller, vacuum pumps by three times the rate and up to ten according to their simulations.
By modelling the behaviour of gas particles bouncing across these surfaces, the team can predict which surface patterns will be most effective at increasing pumping efficiency.
"My favourite technique that we employ in this area, and one that can be quite visually impressive when the laser鈥檚 output frequency is displayed on an oscilloscope, is whistling to the lasers."
Scaling and looking ahead
The 糖心原创 is part of a new multi-million-pound UK-Japan collaborative project to develop next generation quantum sensing technologies. This grant builds on our existing work to explore new kinds of sensing devices and drive further insights and technical developments.
Our research into portable hardware for quantum sensors, improved data analysis and experimental protocols will impact quantum sensor deployment across healthcare, navigation and a range of other industries, feeding into academic research and industrial R&D.
The UK has recently to establish the country as a world leader in quantum, driving forward innovation and the application of quantum for the benefit of society.
Professor Mark Fromhold, Head of School, Physics and Astronomy and the Faculty of Science quantum lead reflects: “The team’s work is already attracting significant funding and international collaboration, including the recent £1.5 million grant to improve quantum sensor precision and read-out speed. This is exactly the kind of translational research and potential that the new UK funding priorities are designed to accelerate.”
The impact of developing tools to test fundamental physics is harder to predict and measure, but this is precisely the kind of experimental research that could offer new, better and more practical insights.
Dr Nathan Cooper
Dr Nathan Cooper is an experimental physicist at the School of Physics and Astronomy. He’s part of a new five-year project to develop new quantum sensing technologies that are more resistant to environmental influences, significantly improving performance and accuracy while offering new insights and technical advances.