Sunlight-Driven Quantum Magnetometry

Abstract

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.