Development of advanced photoacoustic, photothermal and photocarrier techniques and biosensors for biomedical and optoelectronic diagnostics

建议的研究包括四个不同的领域：1)引入低注入光载流子辐射测量法(PCR)，用近红外光电倍增管代替InGaAs光电二极管来监测半导体硅中的重金属污染(Fe，Cu)。在实际工业运行条件下，低注入条件对于评估光子和微电子半导体器件的电子质量至关重要。2)傅立叶域生物医学深度选择性光声断层成像(FD-PAT)，利用专用的压电式超声换能器阵列对软组织中的癌病变进行成像。完全开发后，这项技术有可能提供超声波质量的图像分辨率，并以极低的成本提供可与磁共振成像(MRI)相媲美的健康和癌症组织之间的对比度。3)一项潜在的突破性生物热光子技术的引入，导致了一种灵敏的、非侵入性、非接触式的糖尿病患者血糖监测设备的开发。4)开发一种光热辐射(PTR)和调制发光(Lum)相结合的动态锁定成像技术，用于实时评估非常早期的龋损。将使用两个摄像头来捕捉LUM(近红外相机)和PTR(热红外相机)的动态锁定图像。这一牙科成像项目的成功可能会带来一项突破性的安全牙科临床成像技术，在临床环境中与电离X光片竞争。拟议的研究计划旨在(1)通过改进质量控制提高加拿大在工业电子设备和材料加工方面的竞争力；(2)开发突破性技术和生物传感器仪器，以尽可能早地检测出疾病，如乳腺癌病变、糖尿病和牙齿脱矿龋齿，这将使所有加拿大人受益；以及(3)在加拿大有活跃业务并必须继续在国际上竞争的关键工业和卫生部门领域，或在它应该找到竞争机会的新增长领域，为HQP提供关于多学科问题的高级培训。

The proposed research encompasses four distinct areas: 1) the introduction of low-injection photo-carrier radiometry (PCR) to monitor heavy metal contamination (Fe, Cu) in semiconductor silicon with a near infrared photomultiplier instead of an InGaAs photodiode. Low-injection conditions are crucial for assessing the electronic quality of photonic and microelectronic semiconductor devices under realistic industrial operating conditions. 2) Fourier-domain biomedical depth selective photoacoustic tomographic (FD-PAT) imaging of cancerous lesions in soft tissues using specialty piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer arrays. When fully developed, this technology has the potential to deliver ultrasonic-quality image resolution, and to provide contrast between healthy and cancerous tissues rivaling that of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at a fraction of the cost. 3) The introduction of a potentially breakthrough biothermophotonic technique leading to the development of a sensitive noninvasive, non-contact device for blood glucose monitoring in diabetic patients. 4) The development of a combined photothermal radiometric (PTR) and modulated luminescence (LUM) dynamic lock-in imaging technique for real-time assessment of very early dental carious lesions. Two cameras will be used to capture dynamic lock-in images of LUM (near-IR camera) and of PTR (thermal-IR camera). The success of this dental imaging project may lead to a breakthrough safe dental clinical imaging technology to compete with ionizing X-radiographs in clinical settings. The proposed research program is aimed at (1) boosting Canadian competitiveness in industrial electronic device and materials processing through improved quality control; (2) developing breakthrough techniques and biosensor instrumentation for the earliest possible detection of diseases such as breast cancerous lesions, diabetes and dental demineralization caries which will benefit all Canadians; and (3) offering advanced training of HQP in multidisciplinary problems in key industrial and health sector areas in which Canada has an active presence and must continue competing internationally, or in new growth fields in which it should find opportunities to compete.