Dr. Gabriel Puebla-Hellmann was honored for his contribution to precise position and direction determination using quantum technology. At the heart of his solution are Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) centers – atom-sized, highly sensitive magnetic field sensors. "Because of their size, many NVs can exist in a small volume, creating a very sensitive magnetic field sensor on the sub-100 nanometer scale that determines both the value and direction of the field," says Puebla-Hellmann. " This sensor is special because it remains precise across more than six orders of magnitude, thus offering a much higher resolution for the same testing volume than other technologies."
Our approach is particularly relevant for industrial metrology. For example, when manufacturing high-precision components, the dimensions have to be verified post-production. Our approach helps to make this step more precise – and potentially faster, too.