Sunlight-Driven Quantum Magnetometry

Emerging quantum technologies, such as quantum computations and precise sensing, provide new opportunities in the fields of science and engineering. While energy consumption is a major concern for modern industry and society, it is rarely taken into consideration for quantum technologies. Especially, the potential of quantum technologies directly powered by renewable energy has long been neglected. The initialization, manipulation, and readout of quantum systems generally require high-power-consuming equipment, such as a dilution refrigerator, a microwave-power amplifier, and a high-power laser. Here, we discover a direct utilization path for solar energy to steer the quantum states of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, which is one of the most promising solid-state quantum systems in the past decades. Following this method, we demonstrate sunlight-driven quantum magnetometry. The initialization and readout of this quantum magnetometry are achieved directly by sunlight, and conventional microwave manipulation can be removed by using a microwave-free scheme. By utilizing ambient energy directly, our method brings potential solutions to the energy-consumption issue of quantum technologies. This technique can be further extended to multiple quantum systems, and thus opens the door to environmentally sustainable quantum technologies and self-powered quantum sensing in the future.

新兴量子技术（如量子计算与高精度传感）为科学与工程领域带来了全新发展机遇。尽管能耗已是当代工业与社会的核心关切之一，但量子技术领域却极少对能耗问题加以考量。尤为突出的是，以可再生能源直接供能的量子技术潜力长期遭到忽视。量子系统的初始化、操控与读出环节通常依赖高能耗设备，例如稀释制冷机、微波功率放大器与高功率激光器。本研究发现了一条可直接利用太阳能调控金刚石中带负电氮空位（negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy center）中心量子态的路径，而该金刚石带负电氮空位系统是近数十年来最具应用前景的固态量子系统之一。基于该方法，我们实现了太阳光驱动的量子磁力测量（quantum magnetometry）技术：该系统的初始化与读出环节可直接通过太阳光完成，且通过采用无微波方案，可省去传统的微波操控步骤。通过直接利用环境能源，本方法为量子技术的能耗难题提供了潜在解决方案。该技术可进一步拓展至多种量子系统，从而为未来实现环境可持续的量子技术与自供能量子传感开辟了全新道路。