Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

In microscopy, the imaging of light-sensitive materials has been a persistent problem, as the sample being studied may be altered or damaged by the illumination itself. One nave way to minimize this problem is to simply reduce the illumination intensity. Doing this, unfortunately, comes at the cost of increased noise, which greatly reduces the contrast and clarity of the image. Thus, this proposal requests funding for the purchase of an Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) system, which will allow for the improved resolution in the imaging of light-sensitive biological cells. An OPO system is capable of producing special quantum states of light known as Squeezed Coherent states, which can overcome the problem of noise and are much more sensitive to phase changes. I propose to use these special states, produced with the requested OPO system, in a novel quantum imaging technique that I have developed over the past two years: ""Interaction-Free Ghost-Imaging"" (IFGI). IFGI is capable of greatly reducing the photon illumination on a sample while providing improved image quality. Due to the phase sensitivity of the squeezed coherent states, this hybrid quantum imaging system would have the ability to achieve high-resolution imaging on the micron scale, i.e. on the scale of biological cells. Thus, this system will allow me to realize the first Quantum Microscope to gain structural information of light-sensitive biological samples with enhanced resolution and increased contrast. The requested OPO system is key to realizing this goal, as well as ensuring the training of high-qualified personnel in this field. Without the requested OPO system, and given an extensive interest in the community for a quantum microscope, I (and Canada) could miss the opportunity to be the first to open and develop this area of research.