Catenaa, Friday, October 31, 2025-Physicists at Washington University in St. Louis have developed quantum sensors capable of measuring materials under pressures exceeding 30,000 times Earth’s atmosphere, a breakthrough that could transform high-pressure physics and quantum technology.
The sensors, made from ultrathin sheets of crystallized boron nitride, detect magnetic fields, stress, and temperature by monitoring the spin of electrons trapped in atomic vacancies.
These sheets are less than 100 nanometers thick, allowing unprecedented proximity to the materials being studied. Previous diamond-based sensors were limited by their three-dimensional structure, making precise measurements more difficult.
To create extreme-pressure conditions, researchers used “diamond anvils”, two flat diamond surfaces just 400 micrometers wide, to compress samples. Tests showed the sensors can detect subtle shifts in a two-dimensional magnet’s magnetic field.
Future experiments will include high-pressure rocks, mimicking conditions in Earth’s core, and materials relevant to superconductivity research.
The development opens possibilities for studying earthquakes, planetary science, and controversial room-temperature superconductors, enabling precise data collection under previously inaccessible conditions. Co-author Chong Zu highlighted that the sensors’ two-dimensional design provides near-atomic proximity to samples, improving measurement sensitivity.
The research, published in Nature Communications, involved graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and assistant professors at WashU.
Funding came from the National Science Foundation’s Research Traineeship program, which supported collaborative work at Harvard University.
