Quantum microscopy: reaching and surpassing the quantum limits to biological imaging
Abstract
This project will develop new microscopy tools using quantum correlated photons and quantum optics techniques. These quantum microscopes will allow measurements of sub-cellular and single molecule biological processes in their native state, without the use of biological labels, and with higher temporal resolution than has been possible previously. They will provide a new tool to study cellular and neuronal signaling pathways with lower light intensities and without requiring labels or genetic modifications. Combined, this could allow important questions in biophysics to be resolved, including the effect of radio and optical frequency radiation on the machinery of living organisms both at the single molecule level and at microsecond time scales within a cell. Answers to these questions would contribute to the understanding of mechanisms associated with fatigue and performance changes, and the signals they produce in human bio-circuitry. Specific techniques which the project will develop include: sub-diffraction limited nanoscopy techniques to probe the motion of single unlabeled motor molecules in two dimensions that use optical intensities beneath known thresholds for photo-induced changes in structure or functionality; quantum-enhanced stimulated Raman microscopy to extend imaging frame-rates beyond the limit usually imposed by the quantization of light, and to improve the measurement signal-to-noise of action potentials associated with signaling in native bio-circuitry; and smart microscopy techniques to improve the bandwidth of two-photon, fluorescent lifetime, and Raman microscopes, and the resolution of microscopy using coherent ultrafast photography.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 11, 2017
- Source ID
- FA95501710397
Entities
People
- Warwick Bowen
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Queensland