Calgary quantum researchers discover rule-breaking new uses for diamonds

There’s an old saying about girls and diamonds. It probably hasn’t aged well. A more appropriate saying in 2026 might be that diamonds are a quantum scientist’s best friend—particularly thanks to a discovery at the University of Calgary.

In early December of 2025, researchers at the University of Calgary’s Quantum Nanophotonics Lab published a paper outlining a discovery into the fundamental properties of diamonds and their relation to use in quantum nanophotonics—basically, tiny structures and the physics of how they interact with light.

The paper outlines how researchers were able to demonstrate what’s known as second-harmonic generation—or the conversion of one colour of light to another through changes to the frequency and length of a lightwave—in diamonds. Prior to this discovery, diamonds were widely believed to be too symmetrical in their crystalline structure to achieve such optical transformation.

“Not only are we kind of breaking the rules by seeing these effects, but we’ve done so in a way where we can control how strongly we are breaking the rules.”
Dr. Paul Barclay,
University of Calgary

“Diamond is not traditionally a material that would be compatible with the effects we’re seeing in our paper,” Dr. Paul Barclay, a professor with the university’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and lead of the Quantum Nanophotonics Lab, told BetaKit in an interview. “There is a whole class of applications relating to wavelength conversion that aren’t possible in diamond for reasons that are fundamental and related to the nature of the diamond crystal. So, not only are we kind of breaking the rules by seeing these effects, but we’ve done so in a way where we can control how strongly we are breaking the rules.”

By leveraging tiny defects in the crystal structure of diamonds, the research team was able to circumvent pre-existing limitations, allowing for new diamond uses in the field of quantum nanophotonics.

“Diamond is very good at handling a lot of laser power—you can have a lot of power coming in without breaking material,” said Sigurd Flågan, a postdoctoral scholar with the lab who led the experiments leading up to this discovery.

“So what we can do with our discovery now is, in principle, create an optical switch, laser, or modulator that can handle a lot more power than is currently achievable,” Flågan added.

Practical examples, Flågan said, might include use cases in things like data centres, high-powered laser fabrication, and optical processing.

While the lab’s findings were published in December, Flågan said research has been ongoing for several years, with researchers first observing the phenomenon three years ago.

“Those experiments took place at the end of 2023 and carried into 2024. However, we didn’t have the final intuition and model of what was happening until the beginning of 2025,” Flågan said.

BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.

Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Bas van den Eijkhof.