Technology
The physics, made
manufacturable.
A nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond is an atom-scale magnetometer that works in ambient conditions. SpectralFlow turns that physics into a product through three proprietary bricks.
The NV-diamond principle
An atomic compass inside a crystal.
A nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre is a single atomic defect in the diamond lattice: a nitrogen atom beside a missing carbon. Its electronic spin responds to magnetic fields and can be initialised and read out optically, turning a beam of light into a precise magnetic measurement.
Because the host is diamond, this quantum sensor survives where others cannot: at room temperature, under vibration and radiation, with no shielding and no cooling. That ruggedness is what moves quantum sensing out of the lab and into the field.
Three proprietary bricks
From simulation to sensor head.
Each brick is independently defensible, and together they form a vertically integrated design-to-device pipeline.
SF-QSim · the engine
Design the sensor in software
A first-principles physics engine that predicts coherence and magnetic sensitivity across independent decoherence channels, from cryogenic to well above room temperature. It is the design layer that lets a lean team explore the parameter space before committing to the cleanroom.
Open SpectralFlow Studio →SF-CORE · the process
Turn physics into a manufacturable part
We are developing a proprietary fabrication and integration process that engineers the diamond, the nitrogen-vacancy density and the optical readout into a repeatable, chip-scale sensing core: the bridge from a quantum effect to an industrial component.
SF-100 · the sensor family
A sensor head designed for the vehicle, not the lab
Diamond, integrated optics and adaptive firmware packaged into a rugged, low-power sensor family, with on-board rejection of the host platform's own magnetic interference so the measurement stays true under way. We follow the “NVIDIA model”: sell the design, firmware and calibration; outsource the fab.
The digital twin
The sensor flies before it exists
An end-to-end navigation digital twin: synthetic magnetic terrain, a vehicle with its own interference, the full sensor model and the navigation filter. Every figure is honestly labelled model-derived; hardware milestones will be judged against the twin's own predictions. The public layer, The Instrument, runs live in your browser; deeper expert sessions are granted on request.
Fly the Instrument →How it compares
Lab-grade sensitivity, field-grade ruggedness.
The leading magnetometry approaches trade ruggedness for sensitivity. NV-diamond is the one designed to leave the lab.
| NV-diamond | SQUID | Cold-atom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating conditions | Room temperature | Cryogenic (liquid helium) | Vacuum + laser cooling |
| Size, weight & power | Chip-scale, low power | Bulky + cooling plant | Bench-scale apparatus |
| Vibration & shock | Solid-state, robust | Shielding-sensitive | Vibration-sensitive |
| Emission | Passive, no RF | Passive | Active (laser) |
| Field readiness | Field-ready | Fixed installations | Mostly laboratory |
Qualitative positioning across magnetometry approaches.
Why room-temperature matters
The constraints competitors live with, removed.
No cryogenics
SQUIDs need liquid-helium cooling and magnetic shielding. Diamond needs neither, collapsing size, weight, power and cost.
No fragility
Cold-atom interferometers are exquisite but delicate. Solid-state diamond holds coherence under shock, motion and launch loads.
No emission
The sensor reads the ambient field passively. It radiates nothing, so it cannot be detected, jammed or spoofed.