Ultrasensitive Optical Absorption Spectroscopy with Biomolecules

该奖项支持进一步开发一种基于法布里-珀罗的仪器，用于生物分子的腔增强光谱。该仪器将使用极高精细度的光学腔来提高激光吸收光谱的灵敏度，其配置允许研究液体溶剂或磷脂膜中的分子。这种方法有可能提供有关单个生物分子动态行为的信息，这是现代生物学中的一个重要主题。该装置将使用细菌光合作用反应中心的一种成分--细菌叶绿素进行测试。虽然人们对电子转移的动力学和此类反应中心的原子结构已有很多了解，但这些信息来自对大量分子整体性质的研究。关于单个分子动力学的信息有可能为理解反应中心结构和功能的相互关系提供实质性的改进。这项研究的更广泛影响反映了来自广泛学术学科的研究生和本科生的参与，以及由于该仪器将使生物物理研究活动成为可能，在量子光学和光学计量学领域具有很高的知名度。这种可见性可能会鼓励这些领域与生物科学之间进行更多的技术交流。加速开发用于生物实验的高度复杂的光学仪器可能会对用于生物研究的技术的未来进步产生重大影响。

This award supports further development of an instrument based on use of a Fabry-Perot for cavity-enhanced spectroscopy of biological molecules. The instrument will use an extremely high-finesse optical cavity to enhance the sensitivity of laser absorption spectroscopy, in a configuration that allows the study of molecules in liquid solvents or in phospholipid membranes. This approach has the potential to be able to provide information about the dynamic behavior of individual biological molecules, an important theme in modern biology. The device will be tested using bacteriochlorophyll, one component of the bacterial photosynthetic reaction center. Although much is known about the dynamics of electron transfer and the atomic structure of such reaction centers, the information comes from studies of the bulk properties of large numbers of molecules. Information about dynamics of individual molecules has the potential to provide substantial improvement in understanding of the interrelationship of structure and function in the reaction center. The broader impacts of this research reflect both the participation of graduate and undergraduate students from a wide range of academic disciplines and, as a result of the biophysical research activities that the instrument will make possible, high visibility in the quantum optics and optical metrology communities. This visibility is likely to encourage greater technical cross-fertilization between these fields and the biological sciences. An acceleration of the development of highly sophisticated optical instrumentation for biological experiments could have substantial impact on the future progress of the technology used in biological research.