OSCAR (Optical Sensors based on CARbon materials)

We are an interdisciplinary team of students and researchers from UHasselt and imo-imomec. Our disciplines vary from engineering to computer sciences, from physics to biomedical sciences, and from bachelors to PhDs. We are developing the next generation of quantum magnetic field sensors based on NV centers in diamond for space applications. While advancing technology motivates us to push forward, our main focus is on personal growth and inspiring the next generations of scientists and engineers to join challenging fields of space and quantum research. This project series started in 2015 with a REXUS/BEXUS stratospheric balloon experiment - OSCAR-BEXUS - a first step taking NV based magnetometers out of the lab, for a viability study, followed by OSCAR-QLITE in 2017/2018. In 2020 OSCAR-QUBE was selected for the ESA Academy “Orbit Your Thesis!” program. That allowed us to test our sensor aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for a length of ten months. Currently, we are developing the next iteration of our sensor OSCAR-QUBE+ to be tested during Ariane 6 maiden flight as a scientific payload for the ESA YPSat mission. On top of that, our OSCAR-PINQ project got selected for the ESA Academy Experiments - Space Rider programme. We gained a lot of experience from all these projects, while optimizing the NV-based quantum sensing technology. That is why we are working hard to further optimize our magnetometers and we are looking for next challenges to test our devices in the space environment.