A new laser system shrinks a room-sized quantum gravity sensor down to a shoebox, using solid-state technology at a fraction of the usual cost. Current quantum gravity sensors—which measure tiny variations in gravity to map underground structures, pipelines, or tunnels—rely on lasers that are either too bulky and expensive for commercial use (solid-state lasers) or too weak for high-precision work (cheaper DFB lasers). This project bridges that gap by engineering a diode-pumped solid-state laser that matches the performance of top-end research lasers but costs closer to a budget alternative. The team, including Heriot-Watt and Glasgow universities, will package the laser into a plug-and-play module for sensor manufacturers, removing the need for them to build complex laser systems from scratch. If successful, the technology could make quantum gravity gradiometers practical for real-world navigation and surveying—for example, guiding autonomous vehicles or aircraft without GPS, or detecting hidden infrastructure without digging. The project is applied engineering, not fundamental science: it takes an existing laboratory capability and turns it into a product that industry can actually buy and integrate.
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_The NX Micro COTS laser system for quantum gravity gradiometry_ project brings together a team of academic and industry experts to enhance existing technical capabilities within quantum technologies and accelerate the commercialisation process of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) sensors. The key deliverable of this project is a state-of-the-art laser system to control the quantum state of a sample of atoms within a quantum gravity sensor. The laser system is based on solid-state laser technology, which shows critical advantages compared to other laser sources. Current solid-state quantum lasers are large and expensive, and whilst they provide a good solution for research purposes, they promise limited scalability and hence are hard to justify in integration and product development projects. Other technologies, such as distributed feedback (DFB) lasers provide a more economical option but they lack the superior performance of a solid-state platform. Our proposal brings diode-pumped solid-state technology much closer to the price point of a DFB laser, while also providing all the advantages existing solid-state lasers offer. Furthermore, we work with Heriot Watt University and Glasgow University to integrate these lasers into a packaged, system-level solution, providing a turn-key product to existing quantum sensor manufacturers, saving costs, space and complexity in their development process. The proposed solution is unique in terms of its functionality and the overall system costs a fraction of existing products. We will validate and test our system in collaboration with Delta g.
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