OSCAR aims to develop portable NV diamond-based quantum magnetometers for space applications. Our team of interdisciplinary students of science and engineering from Hasselt University and IUMAT is tackling the challenges of integration, miniaturization, optimization, and calibration of this novel technology. 

OSCAR is always looking for motivated students who are willing to learn more by doing. Some roles and typical tasks associated with it.

• Electronics: Design, simulation, assembly and manufacture, soldering, testing
• Mechanical: CAD, 3D drawing, FEM analysis, 3d printing prototyping, assembly
• Software: Software design, Embedded programming, C/C++, FreeRTOS, Python 
• Science: Experimental, Optics design, magnetism, quantum
• Analysis and testing - Environmental and functional testing, reliability testing, concept testing, mission analysis
• Outreach: come up with and prepare social media posts, help spread the project to a wider audience, internal and external media

Doesn't fit your profile, but still interested in being part of the team? Feel free to reach out, so we can explore the possibilities. You don't need specific experience.

Just send an e-mail to oscarlab@uhasselt.be with your motivation and we will be in contact as soon as possible about further steps.

We start with a tiny lab-grown diamond that has a lot of NV-defects. We shine green laser light onto the diamond and the NV centres absorb this light and emit red light in response. At the same time, we apply microwaves to manipulate the electrons at the NV centres. The brightness of the red light depends on the quantum state of those electrons. When the microwave frequency matches their natural resonance frequency, the emitted red light becomes slightly dimmer. And then finally, if there is a magnetic field present, this shifts this resonance frequency. By measuring how far it shifts, we can determine the strength and the direction of the magnetic field.

A simple way to imagine it is that every NV centre is a tiny compass that we cannot see directly. Instead, we use green light and microwaves to ask the compass which way it is pointing, and it answers by changing the amount of red light it produces.

A single diamond can contain many NV centres, so we measure their combined response to detect very small magnetic fields. OSCAR turns this principle into a complete miniaturized instrument containing the diamond, laser, microwave electronics, light detector and control software.

Diamonds can be used as extremely sensitive sensors. They consist of carbon atoms arranged in a crystal structure. By introducing a tiny imperfection into that structure, for example in our case a nitrogen atom beside an empty position, we create what is called a nitrogen-vacancy centre or NV-centre. Electrons trapped in this defect behave like microscopic compass needles and respond to magnetic fields. Diamond is also mechanically and chemically stable and can withstand demanding conditions such as the space environment.

Magnetic-field measurements are important for studying Earth and other planets, monitoring space weather and understanding how spacecraft interact with their environment. They may also contribute to new navigation methods that do not depend entirely on satellite-navigation signals such as GPS, especially beyond Earth, where GPS is unavailable.

However, a promising laboratory experiment is not automatically a practical space instrument. We therefore develop the complete system, including the diamond, optics, microwave electronics, control software and mechanical structures, and test whether it can survive launch and operate reliably in space.

OSCAR also has an important educational purpose. Our students from different disciplines work together on real space hardware and experience the entire process, from the first scientific idea to building, testing and flying an instrument. In this way, the project develops both new technology and the next generation of scientists, engineers, and managers.

We study diamond quantum sensors in space because magnetic fields play an important role throughout the space environment. By measuring them from a spacecraft, we can investigate phenomena that cannot be observed properly from the ground. Around Earth, the magnetic field is stronger and there is less noise created by our civilization like cars and electricity cables everywhere. Magnetic-field measurements help us understand the planet’s protective magnetic shield, what it consists of, and how it interacts with charged particles from the Sun. This is important for studying space weather, which can affect satellites, radio communication and navigation systems. Similar instruments could eventually help explore the magnetic environments of the Moon, Mars and other planetary bodies. Additionally, did you know that even the ocean has an influence on the magnetic field? And that If your sensor is sensitive enough, you can detect it!

Magnetic fields could also support new forms of spacecraft navigation. A spacecraft may be able to compare its measurements with known magnetic-field maps to help determine where it is. This could complement conventional navigation systems and make spacecraft more autonomous, particularly far from Earth, where GPS is unavailable, but also on-Earth, in a long tunnel for example.

Spacecraft also have very limited room, electrical power and mass. Diamond sensors are therefore interesting because they could be made compact.

A magnetic field is an invisible force around a magnet, an electrical current or a planet such as Earth. It can push or pull on magnetic objects and guide a compass needle. We cannot see magnetic fields directly, just as we cannot see the wind. But we can see what the wind does to trees or flags. In the same way, we detect a magnetic field by measuring what it does to our diamond inside our sensors.

The instrument first records signals such as microwave frequency and the brightness of red light emitted by the diamond. Because we know how our sensor responds to magnetic fields through calibration, we convert these signals into magnetic-field strength and direction. Each measurement can also be linked to a time and, during a mission, to the spacecraft’s position.

Through data analysis, we can also compare these patterns with mathematical models which allows an invisible magnetic field to become observable knowledge. For example, the data can show how Earth’s magnetic shield responds to solar activity, reveal magnetic features in a planet’s crust, help us understand its interior or potentially support navigation using known magnetic-field maps.

So, we do not “photograph” the magnetic fields, we measure their effect on the diamond and that translates the response into numbers, graphs and maps that help us understand what is happening in space.

Some of the most direct benefits on Earth already come from space. Better space-weather monitoring can help protect satellites and services we use every day, including navigation, communication, aviation and electrical infrastructure.

The technology developed for spacecraft can also be useful on the ground. A compact magnetic-field sensor could contribute to navigation in places where satellite signals are unavailable, unreliable or deliberately disrupted. Possible applications include aircraft, ships, vehicles and underground environments.

Finally, OSCAR has an educational benefit. Students from different disciplines learn to design, build, test and operate real space hardware. The project therefore develops not only new sensing technology, but also jump-start young professionals who can apply that knowledge to challenges both in space and on Earth.