Quantum diamond sensors / Sensori di diamante quantistico
Quantum diamond sensors / Sensori di diamante quantistico Segnalato dal Dott. Giuseppe Cotellessa / Reported by Dr. Giuseppe Cotellessa Microwaves brighten the light emitted by nanodiamonds attached to a virus. / Le microonde illuminano la luce emessa dai nanodiamanti attaccati a un virus. Credit: Rosanna Wan Synthetic versions of the super-hard gem stone are driving the development of a class of device with applications in biomedicine and beyond. All atoms have properties governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, but those properties are fragile. Particles don’t usually hold their quantum state long enough to be measured, unless they are in a vacuum or at ultra-cold temperatures. But a diamond, one of the hardest substances in nature, stands up to observation a little more robustly. The stiffness of its crystals can protect quantum states for milliseconds, even at room temperature — plenty of time to do something useful. Over the past 15 years, engineers have become adept at