FemtoSenseLabs, a West Lafayette, Indiana–based startup developing practical, low-cost quantum sensors for use in microscopy, medical imaging, navigation, and more has joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) as a corporate partner.
Quantum sensors — the form of quantum technology widely believed to be the closest to achieving widespread commercial deployment — use the principles of quantum mechanics to detect and measure even the smallest changes in an environment with unprecedented accuracy. FemtoSenseLabs, one of more than two dozen quantum technology companies growing in the Quantum Prairie, aims to build quantum sensing platforms that are accessible to users and companies of all sizes. The company uses solid-state defects, such as those found in diamonds, as a platform for quantum sensing by engineering tiny defects in the crystal lattice to act as ultra-sensitive, room-temperature sensors for magnetic fields, electric fields, and temperature.
“Joining the Chicago Quantum Exchange is a tremendous opportunity for FemtoSenseLabs,” said Founder and President Dr. Farid Kalhor. “The CQE is growing a strong network and infrastructure across Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, and the region's emerging strength in quantum materials — particularly the diamond supply chain taking shape there — aligns closely with our work on quantum sensing platforms and will help accelerate our path toward practical, low-cost quantum sensors. We hope to contribute by extending the region's materials capabilities into real-world sensing applications and by helping grow the next generation of quantum talent. We look forward to being part of the CQE community.”
FemtoSenseLabs received Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards in both 2024 and 2025 to overcome some of the main roadblocks in developing practical quantum sensors based on crystal defects. Their work has the potential to enable devices that are more compact and efficient, and work in the ambient conditions. The company was also one of the winners of Stage 1 of the National Institutes of Health Quantum Sensing Challenge last year.
“Quantum sensing offers transformative potential from early-disease detection to GPS-free navigation, and FemtoSenseLabs’ work is moving the sector closer to achieving that broad, real-world impact,” said David Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor of Quantum Engineering and Physics at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, the founding director of the CQE, and a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. “We are excited to collaborate as we drive advances across research, workforce development, and economic innovation in the Illinois-Wisconsin-Indiana region.”
The Chicago Quantum Exchange is a Midwest-based consortium of universities, national labs, and nearly 70 industry, nonprofit, and international partners that is building a full-spectrum discovery-to-deployment quantum ecosystem that advances quantum research, workforce development, and economic innovation, paving the way for at-scale quantum technologies that improve everyday life.