Collaborative Research: Room-temperature Superfluorescence in Multi-fluorophore Protein Cages and Its Origins

合作研究：多荧光团蛋白笼中的室温超荧光及其起源

• 批准号: 2232717
• 负责人: Bogdan Dragnea
• 金额: $ 37.5万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-03-01 至 2026-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2232717&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Room; temperature; Superfluorescence

Ordinary light from an incandescent lamp is emitted by the independent excitation and relaxation of atoms in the filament. Twice the number of emitters makes the light twice as bright. Atoms are no ordinary emitters and can synchronize when certain conditions are met. When synchronization happens, the ensemble becomes super-radiant, and doubling the number of emitters quadruples light intensity. Synchronizing quantum emitters is easier said than done, but can be achieved under certain conditions. In this project, hundreds of molecular dyes will be chemically bound to the protein shell of a small plant virus. After a fast excitation pulse, the dyes spontaneously synchronize and collectively emit a burst of intense light. This project will tease out the mechanism by which the virus scaffold promotes coupling and synchronization of the dyes, at room temperature. Project outcomes could lead to future technologies for high contrast bioimaging. The research project will be complemented by STEM outreach activities, including opportunities for students to explore the innovation to invention pipeline.The spatial scale and the symmetry afforded by a virus scaffold have not been sufficiently explored in relation to emergent behavior, mainly due to the lack of comparable structural control. The preservation of quantum coherence at room temperature is especially intriguing. Emission occurs after pulsed excitation, as a delayed intense burst of ∼ 10 ps duration. Such non-classical dynamics contrast those of the much slower conventional exponential decay of uncorrelated chromophores. As a consequence, optical power density at deep sub-wavelength spatial scale, maximum turnover rate, and signal-to-background ratio dramatically increase. The project’s goal will be pursued through a theory-experiment collaboration. Approaches will couple experimental spectroscopic and molecular biology manipulations with predictive all-atom simulations that examine the structure and emergent dynamics of engineered virus-like particles. Proof-of-principle experiments are envisioned that exploit super-radiance and illustrate improved microscopic imaging contrast in single-particle analysis applications. The outcomes of this project could inspire future biophotonic technologies, providing control and understanding of the relationship between molecular structure and dynamics, and improved photonic properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

白炽灯发出的普通光是由灯丝中原子的独立激发和弛豫发出的。发射器数量的两倍使光线的亮度增加一倍。原子不是普通的发射器，在满足某些条件时可以同步。当同步发生时，整体变得超级辐射，并且发射器数量增加一倍，光强度增加四倍。同步量子发射器说起来容易做起来难，但在某些条件下是可以实现的。在这个项目中，数百种分子染料将被化学结合到一种小型植物病毒的蛋白质外壳上。在快速激发脉冲后，染料自发同步并集体发出强光。这个项目将梳理出病毒支架在室温下促进染料偶联和同步的机制。项目成果可能导致未来的高对比度生物成像技术。该研究项目将辅以STEM外展活动，包括让学生有机会探索从创新到发明的途径。空间尺度和病毒支架提供的对称性在紧急行为方面还没有得到充分的探索，主要是由于缺乏可比的结构控制。在室温下保持量子相干性是特别有趣的。发射发生在脉冲激发后，作为持续时间约10 ps的延迟强爆发。这种非经典动力学与非相关发色团慢得多的传统指数衰减形成对比。因此，深亚波长空间尺度的光功率密度、最大周转率和信本比显著增加。该项目的目标将通过理论与实验的合作来实现。方法将结合实验光谱和分子生物学操作与预测的全原子模拟，以检查工程病毒样颗粒的结构和紧急动力学。原理验证实验设想利用超辐射，并说明在单粒子分析应用中改进的显微成像对比度。该项目的研究成果可以启发未来的生物光子技术，为分子结构和动力学之间的关系提供控制和理解，并改善光子特性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。