Diamond is a remarkable and useful material because of its rare beauty, hardness and extremely high thermal conductivity. At the microscopic level, the gem has crystal defects that are proving to be extremely useful for creating a range of quantum technologies.

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, Daniel Twitchen of the company Element Six talks about the unique quantum properties of diamond defects and how they are finding a wide range of applications including quantum computing and quantum sensing.

Caleb Rich was captain of this year’s winning team on the BBC’s University Challenge quiz show. He talks to Physics World’s Matin Durrani about his brush with fame and also gives some tips about how to win and set quizzes.

Indeed, Rich has set this week’s quiz on Physics World which focuses on quantum mechanics. Have no fear, there are no equations.

This podcast is sponsored by Teledyne Hastings Instruments.