MRI-R2: Nano Photonic Imaging System

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

0960331 Bouwmeester U. of California-Santa Barbara TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). A rapidly expanding field of research concerns the development of new techniques for optical imaging of nanometer to micron scale structures, such as biological molecules with integrated functional elements, semiconductor optoelectronic devices and cells. The investigator team proposes to develop an unconventional optical instrument capable of resolving structures on the scale of a few tens of nanometers, by using special correlated states of light (such as entangled two-photon states) in combination with an ultra stable optical platform with nanometer resolution scanning capabilities and recently-developed signal processing algorithms. In order to probe the special light-matter interactions that occur when phonon-induced dephasing is minimal, the system is designed to operate at cryogenic as well as ambient temperatures. The wide wavelength range of this nano-photonics imaging system would enable investigation of structures ranging from semiconductor nanodevices to DNA scaffolds to living cells. The research team consists of experts in the key technological aspects: quantum optics, high resolution optical imaging and high speed image processing, ultra-low vibration and low-temperature operation, and biological system design. LAYMAN ABSTRACT: This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Finding ways to use light to probe smaller and smaller structures, down to the tens of nanometer (nm) sizes of emerging synthetic DNA structures and the molecular machines within cells, is of enormous importance for current and future developments in science, technology, and medicine. Because traditional light microscopes can't see structures smaller than a few hundreds of nm, most of today's sub-micron imaging is done using non-optical, atomic force and electron microscopes, which can damage or obscure delicate structures within cells and nanodevices. To achieve high resolution together with the gentle, non-invasive imaging provided by light, the scientific team proposes to build a new type of optical instrument. The features that offer greatly improved resolution, of just a few tens of nm, are use of very special quantum-correlated states of light combined with high stability scanning methods and advanced data processing algorithms. To enable imaging of a wide range of nanoscale systems, the instrument will operate over a large range of light wavelengths, both at room temperature and at the much colder temperatures needed to prevent thermal agitation from degrading special quantum effects of the light on the tiniest, molecular-scale structures. The research team has the appropriate expertise in spectroscopic techniques, quantum optics and cryogenics techniques to be successful in developing this advanced nano-photonic, variable-temperature imaging instrument.