LongPath Technologies
CU Boulder spinout using quantum cascade lasers to detect methane leaks for oil and gas operators. Quantum sensing applied to industrial infrastructure monitoring.
LongPath Technologies is a CU Boulder spinout that applies quantum sensing to one of the most pressing industrial monitoring problems of the decade: methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure. The company uses quantum cascade lasers, a class of semiconductor laser whose emission wavelength is tuned at the quantum level, to detect methane plumes at distances and sensitivities that conventional sensors cannot reach. LongPath represents the broader 'quantum sensing' category of commercial quantum technology, which includes any application where quantum mechanical effects (precision atomic clocks, magnetometers, gravimeters, gas sensors) provide measurement advantages over classical hardware. Quantum sensing is in many ways closer to commercial maturity than quantum computing, and LongPath is one of the clearest Colorado examples of a quantum sensing business with real customers and active deployments.