Resolution Enhancement for a Quantum Microscope

在显微镜中，光敏材料的成像一直是一个持续存在的问题，因为被研究的样品可能会被照明本身改变或损坏。最小化这个问题的一个简单方法是简单地降低照明强度。不幸的是，这样做是以增加噪声为代价的，这大大降低了图像的对比度和清晰度。因此，该提案要求提供资金，用于购买光学参量振荡器系统，这将提高光敏生物细胞成像的分辨率。OPO系统能够产生被称为压缩相干态的光的特殊量子态，其可以克服噪声问题并且对相位变化更加敏感。我建议使用这些特殊的状态，与所要求的OPO系统，在一个新的量子成像技术，我已经开发了在过去的两年：“无相互作用的幽灵成像”（IFGI）。IFGI能够大大减少样品上的光子照射，同时提供改进的图像质量。由于压缩相干态的相位敏感性，这种混合量子成像系统将有能力实现微米尺度上的高分辨率成像，即在生物细胞的尺度上。因此，这个系统将使我能够实现第一个量子显微镜，以获得具有增强分辨率和增强对比度的光敏生物样品的结构信息。所要求的OPO系统是实现这一目标的关键，也是确保培训这一领域高素质人才的关键。如果没有所要求的OPO系统，并且考虑到社区对量子显微镜的广泛兴趣，我（和加拿大）可能会错过第一个开放和开发这一研究领域的机会。

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 naïve 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.