QuSeC-TAQS: Integrated Squeezed-Light Magneto-Optical Sensor

量子传感器有望将精确度和精确度提升到一个新的水平，这是经典传感器无法企及的。它们将能够探测磁场、电场、应变场和引力场的微小变化。为了探测磁场，地球科学、导航、空间探索和生物成像都需要改进的、紧凑的、便携式的高灵敏度和低能耗的磁强计。对于这些应用，实现利用量子力学现象来提高灵敏度和精度的芯片级磁强计可能为研究和尖端技术的新前沿铺平道路。该项目将开发一种新的磁测量方法，将磁光材料与使用量子光源的芯片级集成光子电路相结合。通过在单个半导体光子芯片上结合磁测量和量子纠缠，该团队的目标是展示超过经典极限的灵敏度提高10倍，同时还展示了超低功率要求、便携性和室温操作。这些能力可以为一系列科学应用带来紧凑和精确的传感器，如惯性导航、行星磁层研究和生物医学传感器。该团队将利用与行业、国家实验室和国际合作的协同作用，使学生能够流动，获得现代工具和仪器，以及与K-12学生及其家庭建立联系的外联和教育活动。该项目的学生还将受益于接触国际科学研究。该项目将开发一种基于光子集成磁光干涉仪的新型量子磁强计，其中将通过压缩光注入将超过标准量子极限的灵敏度提高10倍。该团队希望在单片集成的芯片级平台上实现每平方根赫兹毫微特斯拉的分辨率，动态范围大于100分贝。这种灵敏度、动态范围、超低交换和300K操作，通过集成新的磁光材料、集成的光子干涉仪和用于降低噪声的压缩光源，将对精密传感领域产生革命性的影响。在整个项目期间，该团队将开发新的磁光材料，以提高传感器的灵敏度和效率，开发用于注入压缩光的超低损耗非线性光子学平台，并将它们集成在无人机和空间量子增强磁测量中。与研究目标交织在一起的是一种全方位的方法，为从K-12学习者及其家庭到高中、本科生和研究生的多样化和充满活力的量子准备劳动力开发新途径，为量子传感应用开发在线课程，以及国际学生交换计划。这项研究可以为许多有益于社会的应用带来紧凑和精确的量子增强型传感器，从地理定位到导航、太空探索和生物成像。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Quantum sensors promise a new level of accuracy and precision, beyond what is possible classically. They will enable detection of minute variations in magnetic, electric, strain, and gravitational fields. For detecting magnetic fields, improved, compact, portable magnetometers with high sensitivity and low energy consumption are needed for geoscience, navigation, space exploration, and bio-imaging. For these applications, bringing to fruition a chip-scale magnetometer that leverages quantum mechanical phenomena to improve the sensitivity and precision could pave the way for new frontiers in research and cutting-edge technologies. This project will develop a new approach to magnetometry that combines magneto-optical materials with chip-scale integrated photonic circuits using quantum sources of light. By combining magnetometry with quantum entanglement on a single semiconductor photonic chip, this team aims to demonstrate a 10-fold improvement in sensitivity beyond the classical limit, while also demonstrating ultralow power requirements, portability, and room temperature operation. These capabilities could lead to compact and precise sensors for a range of scientific applications such as inertial navigation, studies of planetary magnetospheres, and biomedical sensors. This team will leverage synergies with industry, national labs, and international collaborations to enable student mobility, access to modern tools and instrumentation, and outreach and educational activities that connect with K-12 students and their families. Students in this project will also benefit from exposure to international scientific research.This project will develop a novel quantum magnetometer based on a photonic integrated magneto-optic interferometer where a 10-fold enhancement in the sensitivity beyond the standard quantum limit will be enabled via squeezed light injection. This team expects to achieve a resolution on the scale of femto-Tesla per square root hertz with a dynamic range larger than 100 dB on a monolithically integrated chip-scale platform. This level of sensitivity, dynamic range, ultralow-SWaP, and 300 K operation, enabled by the integration of new magneto-optical materials, an integrated photonic interferometer, and a squeezed light source for noise reduction, would be transformative for the field of precision sensing. Through the duration of the project, this team will develop new magneto-optic materials that improve the sensitivity and efficiency of sensors, develop an ultra-low-loss nonlinear photonics platform for the injection of squeezed light, and integrate them for drone- and space-based quantum-enhanced magnetometry. Interwoven with the research goals is a full-spectrum approach to developing new pathways for a diverse and vibrant quantum-ready workforce that spans K-12 learners and their families to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, the development of online curriculum for quantum sensing applications, and an international student exchange program. This research could lead to compact and precise quantum-enhanced sensors for many applications that benefit society, from geo-positioning to navigation, space exploration, and bio-imaging.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.