31 Oct 2025 – Quantum sensing is conquering extreme frontiers. Scientists have built a diamond-based quantum sensor that operates stably at pressures up to 240 GPa – about 2.4 million atmospheres, equivalent to the pressure in Earth’s core. This feat, reported October 30 by a team led by Qingtao Hao and colleagues, shatters previous records (which were on the order of 100-140 GPa) for quantum measurements under compression.
The researchers fabricated improved diamond chips containing nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers – atomic-scale quantum defects that act as sensitive magnetometers. By creating shallow NV centers near the diamond surface and using advanced diamond anvil cells, they could maintain NV quantum coherence even as they squeezed the diamonds to multi-megabar pressures. In one demonstration, the sensor successfully detected the Meissner effect (magnetic expulsion signaling superconductivity) in a sample of titanium at 180 GPa, confirming that the NV centers could observe subtle magnetic phenomena in materials under extreme compression.
This “quantum diamond anvil” technique is a major advance for high-pressure physics. Traditional measurements at such pressures are very challenging, but NV quantum sensors offer a new window. The KIST team’s device achieved reliable quantum magnetometry up to 240 GPa – nearly double the 130 GPa range of previous NV sensors. At these pressures, materials exhibit exotic behaviors; for instance, hydrogen-rich compounds become superconductors and the structures of planetary core minerals can be probed. With NV centers surviving and functioning in this regime, scientists can now study magnetism, superconductivity and phase transitions in situ at pressures previously inaccessible.
The keys to the breakthrough were materials and engineering: the team optimized the creation of shallow NV centers via ion implantation and high-pressure/high-temperature annealing, which increased the NV density and coherence while minimizing strain in the diamond lattice. They also used tiny 50 µm diamond anvil tips and careful pressure distribution to push into the 200+ GPa range without shattering. The only limit was the diamond anvil’s structural integrity – the NV sensors themselves remained functional up to the point where the diamond cell approached its mechanical breaking point.
This work opens up new scientific territory. High-pressure quantum sensing could enable studies of Earth-core conditions in the lab (shedding light on geophysics) and guide the search for room-temperature superconductors by examining materials at extreme compression. The KIST team highlighted applications like observing superconducting transitions at megabar pressures (as done with titanium) and exploring novel phases of matter. More broadly, maintaining quantum coherence under such extremes showcases the robustness of NV center technology. As study co-author Dr. Qingtao Hao noted, the technique provides a powerful tool to “unlock new insights into high-temperature superconductivity, the evolution of Earth’s core, and the behavior of materials under extreme conditions”.
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