QuSeC-TAQS: Sensing-Intelligence on The Move: Quantum-Enhanced Optical Diagnosis of Crop Diseases

霜霉病是对瓜类作物危害最大的病害之一，利用经典的传感技术很难在侵染初期检测到霜霉病。霜霉病发现较晚，会导致作物减产和过量使用杀菌剂，从而造成重大的经济和粮食损失以及环境污染。量子传感作为一种革命性的技术，由于它利用了纠缠和压缩光等非经典资源，已经证明了它有能力超越经典传感的极限。该项目团队由来自不同学科的首席研究人员组成，包括物理、计算机科学、光学、生物学和农业科学，他们将合作开发为霜霉病快速准确诊断量身定做的量子传感器。该项目促进了国家食品安全，促进了基础科学和应用科学研究，符合国家利益。此外，通过当地的外展活动，该项目将使北卡罗来纳州的当地种植者、K-12学生和代表性不足的大学生受益。这个QuSeC-TAQS团队将专注于三项协同研究：(1)新理论和算法的开发，(2)团队预先建立的量子传感设备的优化，以及(3)利用霜霉病感染的叶片样本进行实验评估。具体地说，PI将开发一种纠缠的光子源，该光子源由声光光束导向装置引导到叶片样品上，以便进行快速和广角扫描。为了解决农业环境中高光子损失的问题，将开发一种经过自适应学习系统增强的量子接收器，该系统可以根据实时测量优化接收器电路配置。PIS还将种植黄瓜植株，给它们接种霜霉病孢子，并收集叶片样本用于实验室内的量子传感实验。预计的结果是将检测窗口从最先进的4-5天缩短到霜霉病感染后1-2天的新纪录。这个团队的科学目标进一步得到了多样化劳动力的培训的补充，优先考虑在STEM中代表性不足的学生。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Downy mildew is one of the most threatening diseases to cucurbit crops, and it can be hardly detected at the early stage of infection using classical sensing technologies. The late detection of downy mildew can cause reduced crop yields and excessive fungicide application, thus leading to significant economic and food losses and environment pollution. Quantum sensing, as a revolutionary technology, has demonstrated its ability to surpass the limits of classical sensing, owing to its utilization of nonclassical resources such as entanglement and squeezed light. The project team, comprised of Principal Investigators from diverse disciplines including physics, computer science, optics, biology, and agricultural science, will collaborate to develop quantum sensors tailored for the fast and accurate diagnosis of downy mildew. This project serves the national interest for its advancement of national food safety and promotion of basic and applied scientific research. Moreover, through local outreach activities, this project will benefit local growers at North Carolina, K-12 students, and underrepresented college students. This QuSeC-TAQS team will focus on three synergistic research thrusts: (1) the development of new theories and algorithms, (2) the optimization of the team’s pre-established quantum sensing devices, and (3) the experimental evaluation utilizing the leaf samples infected by downy mildew. Specifically, PIs will develop an entangled photon source that is directed by an acousto-optic beam steering device to leaf samples for fast and wide-angle scanning. A quantum receiver enhanced by adaptive learning system that can optimize the receiver circuit configurations based on real-time measurements will be developed to remedy the problem of high photon losses in the agricultural environment. PIs will also grow cucumber plants, inoculate them with downy mildew spores, and collect leaf samples for in-lab quantum sensing experiments. The anticipated outcome is to shorten the detection window from the state-of-the-art of 4-5 days to a new record of 1-2 days following the downy mildew infection. The scientific thrusts of this team are further complemented with training of a diverse workforce, with priority given to underrepresented students in STEM.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.