3D printed surfaces help atoms play ball to improve quantum sensors
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-May-2026 16:15 ET (6-May-2026 20:15 GMT/UTC)
Scientists have created 3D printed surfaces featuring intricate textures that can be used to bounce unwanted gas particles away from quantum sensors, allowing useful particles like atoms to be delivered more efficiently, which could help improve measurement accuracy.
Initially stacked benzene layers increase their fluorescent color change drastically when exposed to pressure, suggesting new ways to create the pressure sensors used in the mechanical and medical industries.
This study introduces a custom-designed NV quantum sensing based microscopy for high-sensitivity microscopic magnetic imaging (MMI) of individual Chang'e-5 lunar regolith grains, achieving the first direct observation of surface magnetic field distributions at the single-particle scale. Overcoming the limitations of traditional orbital magnetometry (kilometer-scale) and macroscopic bulk rock-magnetic measurements (e.g., VSM), our approach realizes the separation and identification of magnetic signals at the micro- to nanoscale. Results indicate that native irons in basalt clasts exhibits weak and directionally uniform magnetism, suggesting it records the lunar paleomagnetic field during magma cooling; in contrast, carriers such as nanophase iron and Fe-Ni alloys in breccia grains, as well as crack-associated magnetic “stripe” features, display distinct magnetic signals reflecting the influence of multiple geological processes, including meteorite impacts and space weathering. Overall, this study advances lunar magnetic detection to the single-particle microscopic level, providing direct evidence for understanding the origin of lunar magnetic anomalies and the magnetic field evolution history, offering a new microscopic perspective for lunar and planetary science.