DARK ICE: Quantum way of navigation.

By-Vibha Dinesh Sharma.

The day was May 15, 2018. 24 ships began receiving bogus locations from their navigation systems.
A particular ship was in water near the Kerch Bridge, but if its GPS was to be believed- the ship was
actually 65 kilometers away, on land, at the Anapa Airport.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) was believed to be hacked. This alleged Russian attack on the
satellite navigation systems isn’t the first one, and has been a frequent gimmick of its electronic
warfare strategy. Such attacks are orchestrated to deceive ships and airplanes by providing them
with false information regarding their locations.

Such incidents expose the vulnerabilities of using satellite navigation, especially for the military
purposes. So now, science is in the quest for a relatively safer way to navigate, and it may have
found its solution in the ‘Dark Ice’.

DARK ICE is the name given to the prototype of a Quantum magnetometer developed by Lockheed
Martin. This technology aims to exploit the earth’s magnetic properties to find our way in the blues.
Dark Ice can be termed as the technologically-evolved successor to our good old compass.

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What is Dark Ice measuring?

Exploiting Earth’s Magnetic Anomalies-

Earth is a magnet, and like all magnets it generates a magnetic field. Magnetic field is the area where
the earth’s magnetic force can be felt. This magnetic field is specifically termed as the
magnetosphere.

The magnitude of earth’s magnetic field is a function of latitude. The magnetic field is saturated near
the poles; hence its magnitude is maximum at these locations and as we travel towards the equator
this magnitude diminishes. However, many more factors contribute to the magnitude of magnetic
field at any given location on the earth’s surface.

Making of a Magnetic Anomaly-

Oceans are mystic ecosystems. They sit on an oceanic crust, which has magnetic properties.

The mid-oceanic ridge system is a massive underwater mountain chain. It occurs along the divergent
plate boundaries. This is the place where ‘new’ ocean floor is made.

Lava erupts at the mid-oceanic ridge and it eventually cools down, becoming hard rock. This volcanic
rock contains magnetite and other magnetic materials. Due to these magnetic characteristics, one of
the two things may happen at the location of rock formation-

The location may have a positive magnetic anomaly (or deviation) if the polarity of the rock’s
magnetic field aligns with the polarity of earth’s magnetic field, and the resultant magnetic field is
stronger than the earth’s original magnetic field. It resembles the phenomena of constructive
interference of earth’s and rock’s magnetic field; hence the resultant amplitude of the magnetic field
is increased.

The location may also have a negative anomaly if the rock has reversed polarity and the resultant
magnetic field is weaker than the earth’s magnetic field.
Thus, rock formation on the sea floor changes the magnitude of magnetic field, giving a new
dimension to earth’s magnetic properties in the form of magnetic anomalies.

The scientists have recorded these magnetic anomalies and these can be associated to different
parts of the global mid-oceanic ridge. Using this anomalies, Earth’s magnetic field maps have been
developed.

How is the Dark Ice Doing it?

At the core of Dark Ice is a synthetic diamond. A diamond is much more than a jewel, when it is
engineered accordingly. A continuous carbon lattice makes a diamond structure. Many defects can
be artificially induced in this lattice.

Originally pure diamonds are transparent in the visible light, but certain defects are known to impart
colors to them, and hence are referred to as ‘color’ centers. Once such defect is the Nitrogen-
Vacancy (NV) Color Center. It imparts pink color to the diamond. The defect is obtained by taking out
2 adjacent carbon atoms from the lattice- then replacing one of the voids with a nitrogen atom while
leaving the other void as it is.

These diamonds function at ambient temperatures, without any special requirements and happen to
be top-notch magnetic sensors. The free electrons associated with a nitrogen vacancy center forms a
triplet state. These electrons can be exposed to a higher energy level using a green laser. They emit
red light while returning to their ground state. The intensity of the surroundings magnetic field is a
function of this photoluminescence. The variation in the light emitted by the NV center has the
capability to detect smallest magnetic fields.

Then this information regarding the magnetic field is overlaid on the earth’s magnetic field map to
pinpoint the location. The technology however is not capable of providing the accuracy and
precision achievable via GPS.

The magnetic properties of NV Diamonds are already been used in several applications in various
fields. For example, it is used to increase accuracy of MRI scans by the researchers at University of
Melbourne. It is also expected to be used for magnet-aided communications on land were reaching
of radio signal is difficult.

Making an accurate NV Diamond requires some serious skill. Quality control for accuracy and
required properties of such intricate products becomes a bottleneck in its production process.

It is a technology that has all the qualities of a ‘covert’ device. It doesn’t transmit or receive any kind
of signal, making it practically impenetrable to any kind external attacks.

To quote Michael DiMario, principal engineer on the project at Lockheed Martin “The technology is
totally passive, it doesn’t signal or transmit anything. It can’t be hacked or jammed. A nuclear blast
might jam it, but not a lot else,”

For obvious reasons the quantum magnetometer will find its initial application in militaries.
Researchers are still working on a solution to filter out the magnetic field generated by all the metal
that makes up a huge battleship or an aircraft carrier.

The Quantum Magnetometer is still making progress in the scientific labs and is yet to make it to the
real world. If it makes its transition from proposition to practical, the Dark Ice may mark the
beginning of magnetically navigated ships.