Quebec-based startup SBQuantum reaches orbit with diamond-based quantum sensors

Open this photo in gallery:

A Canadian company’s quest to map Earth’s magnetic field using quantum sensors made of diamond has taken a big step forward with the first placement of its technology into space.

On Monday, SBQuantum, a startup based in Sherbrooke, announced the launch of Diamond Polaris 1, a small satellite that will test the company’s novel approach to magnetic detection.

The satellite was carried into orbit on a SpaceX rocket that lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Los Angeles at 4:02 a.m. local time.

“It’s really exciting,” David Roy-Guay, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, said shortly after watching a livestream of the launch with about 30 of his staff. “Even though it’s early in the morning, everybody is cheering.”

Canada had – and lost – its lead in AI. Can it avoid making the same mistake in the next emerging global technology race?

The launch is part of a larger initiative called the MagQuest Challenge, sponsored by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which operates under the U.S. Department of Defence.

SBQuantum was one of three finalists chosen to test their magnetic sensing technology in space. Now in its final phase, the goal of the six-year global competition is to explore new approaches to maintaining a reference known as the World Magnetic Model.

The model provides a global standard for Earth’s magnetic field as an aid to navigation, but it must be continually updated because the field shifts and changes over time.

Open this photo in gallery:

Currently, tracking of the magnetic field is accomplished by a group of three European satellites dubbed Swarm that were launched in 2013.

SBQuantum, in partnership with aerospace company Spire Global Inc., successfully passed earlier hurdles in the MagQuest Challenge to earn a trip to space for its diamond-based magnetometers. Detectors built by two other finalists, one based in Colorado and one in Britain, were launched by the same rocket aboard separate satellites.

In a statement, Mike Paniccia, who is program manager for the World Magnetic Model, said, “This launch is the moment where all of that ingenuity meets the ultimate test.”

The technology developed by SBQuantum makes use of tiny impurities deliberately engineered into synthetic diamond crystals. Pure diamond is composed entirely of carbon atoms in a repeating three-dimensional lattice. A flaw is created wherever a carbon atom is replaced with an atom of nitrogen. Electrons associated with the atoms around the flaw move in a telltale pattern that is highly sensitive to an external magnetic field. This pattern can be checked with a laser beam.

The result is a compact device for measuring a magnetic field that is more accurate and also is smaller and easier to fly in space than current technologies.

“This is especially important if you want to build something like a world magnetic map for navigation,” Mr. Roy-Guay said.

Open this photo in gallery:

SBQuantum was founded in 2017 and has been developing its technology for a range of potential applications including navigation, mining and maritime surveillance.

The company has also worked with universities and the National Research Council Canada as part of a federal program aimed at fostering the growing field of quantum sensors.

Khabat Heshami, a physicist and research officer who is leading the NRC’s part of the collaboration, said SBQuantum’s magnetometer is a good example of the kinds of possibilities that are emerging from the effort to leverage quantum effects for new uses.

“It’s quite exciting to just play with these ideas and then see if it leads to an application, and potentially an improvement in the sensitivity of these devices,” he said.

Mr. Roy-Guay said seeing whether SBQuantum’s magnetometers are performing as expected in space would take a few more days.

The performance of hardware built by all three finalists in the challenge is set to be evaluated by an expert panel later this year.