Project to be co-funded by DSO National Laboratories and led by Rainer Dumke at NTU
A new effort to develop quantum sensors launches this month with the first award under the second phase of the Quantum Engineering Programme (QEP2.0).
The project “Quantum Assisted Navigation and Magnetic Sensing” will be led by Rainer Dumke, Associate Professor at the Nanyang Technological University and Principal Investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore, working along with seven co-investigators from NTU, NUS and Yale-NUS. DSO National Laboratories is co-funding the project.
The team will develop inertial sensors that are based on measurements of the quantum states of ultracold atoms, a magnetic sensor relying on NV-centres in diamond, and low-noise, high-stability lasers that can be integrated into these devices. There will be opportunity for five students to work on these projects towards earning a PhD.
Interest in inertial sensors is driven by applications in navigation: precise measurement of acceleration and rotation could support navigation in areas where the Global Positioning System (GPS) is unavailable or unreliable. The team aims to beat the performance of today’s military-grade systems, which are showing errors of ~100m per hour, which is 1-2 orders of magnitude larger than GPS. Magnetic sensing is useful for environmental monitoring, and the team will explore their technology’s ability to detect moving objects.
Assoc Prof Dumke submitted the proposal to an early deadline under a call for proposals for Quantum Sensors for Environment and Navigation. The call was developed in consultation with end-users of sensing technologies. More news on projects submitted under this call and to other QEP2.0 calls is coming soon.
Image: Assoc Prof Rainer Dumke (right) is pictured at the controls of a prototype atomic gravimeter with PhD student Oon Fong En. This picture was taken before COVID-19. Credit: CQT