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

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。发射器的数量增加一倍，光的亮度也会增加一倍。原子不是普通的发射器，当满足某些条件时可以同步。 当同步发生时，系综变得超辐射，并且将发射器的数量增加一倍，光强度增加四倍。同步量子发射器说起来容易做起来难，但在一定条件下可以实现。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。在一个快速的激发脉冲之后，染料自发地同步并集体发出强烈的光。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。项目成果可能会导致未来的高对比度生物成像技术。该研究项目将辅之以STEM外展活动，包括让学生探索创新到发明管道的机会。病毒支架提供的空间尺度和对称性与涌现行为的关系尚未得到充分探讨，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特别有趣。发射发生在脉冲激发后，作为一个延迟的强烈爆发的10ps的持续时间。这样的非经典动力学对比那些慢得多的常规指数衰减的不相关的发色团。因此，在深亚波长空间尺度的光功率密度，最大周转率，和信号与背景比显着增加。 该项目的目标将通过理论实验合作来实现。方法将实验光谱和分子生物学操作与预测性全原子模拟相结合，以检查工程病毒样颗粒的结构和涌现动力学。设想了利用超辐射的原理验证实验，并说明了在单粒子分析应用中改进的显微成像对比度。该项目的成果可能会激发未来的生物光子技术，提供控制和分子结构和动力学之间的关系的理解，并改善光子特性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.