Sensor system and method for sensing a physical quantity

A sensor system for sensing a physical quantity, comprising:

• an excitation source which is configured to generate an excitation signal;
• a sensing volume comprising one or more quantum systems, wherein the sensing volume is arranged to receive the excitation signal, wherein the excitation signal excites resonant transitions between two energy states in the one or more quantum systems, wherein the excitation signal induces an emission and/or an adaption of an optical signal by the sensing volume, wherein at least one characteristic of the optical signal depends on the physical quantity;
• an imaging system which is configured to apply a transformation to the optical signal, thereby generating a transformed optical signal at an image plane;
• a spatially dependent attenuator which is arranged at the image plane and which is configured to attenuate the transformed optical signal;
• an optical sensor which is configured to capture the thus attenuated optical signal and to detect an image pattern of the attenuated optical signal;
• and
• a processor which is configured to extract an information on the physical quantity from the captured image pattern.