Course Title: Quantum Biophotonics 

Course Level: Advanced Beginner (Basic understanding of topic is necessary to follow course material)  

Course Description:

Light is an electromagnetic disturbance propagating in space-time, and it comes in packets of energy called photons. Photons exhibit many properties of quantum-mechanical particles; they can be quantum-mechanically entangled, and they can come in a stream where their arrival is ordered, not random. One kind of an ordered stream of photons is a beam of squeezed light. Photon entanglement and squeezing often result in drastic differences in light-matter interactions, which can be explored in novel types of spectroscopic sensing. One of the several goals of this short course will be to explore this quantum nature of light-matter interactions and the resultant enhancements in sensitivity and resolution of spectroscopic measurements. A good extended title for this course would be “Quantum, nonlinear-optics and near-field sensors and tools for biophotonics”.

Biophotonics is a vibrant interdisciplinary field exploring the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and biological materials such as sub-cellular structures and molecules in living organisms. Biophotonics research utilizes quantum optics techniques leading to applications in agriculture & life sciences and producing tools for medical diagnostics and therapies. This short course will focus on the ideas, approaches and phenomena behind recent advances toward ultrasensitive spectroscopic probing of various bio-molecules, cells and organisms. The emphasis will be on laser spectroscopy aided by plasmonic surfaces, structures, and nanoantennas, as in tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). We will delve into the plasmon physics, aiming to achieve both qualitative and quantitative understanding of the resultant electromagnetic enhancement mechanisms. An additional enhancement in spectroscopic sensitivity and speed is obtained by employing quantum molecular coherence, as in femtosecond adaptive spectroscopic technique (FAST) for coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS). The combined approach shows promise for nondestructive label-free biosensing with molecular-level sensitivity and with spatial resolution down to a fraction of a nanometer. Nonclassical sources producing squeezed light and entangled photons can further increase spectroscopic signal and suppress noise. Basic molecular biology will also be briefly covered in so far as it pertains to biomolecular sensing and enables device function. 

Benefits and Learning Objectives: 

This course should enable participants to confidently discuss interaction of light with metal structures and molecules of a sample.  The participants will be able to compute and quantify the magnitude of molecular coherence prepared in a sample by laser pulses, as well as the resultant enhancement in the Raman-spectroscopic signal. The participants will be able to discuss photon entanglement and squeezed light, and their implications for spectroscopic sensing. The course will enable participants to summarize advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to enhanced spectroscopy of biomolecules, with the emphasis on a fuller and more intuitive understanding. 

Intended Audience:

The course targets graduate students and early-career professionals with basic knowledge of quantum mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and undergraduate-level optics, interested in biological, agricultural and medical applications of laser spectroscopy aided by plasmonics, molecular coherence, entangled and squeezed light etc. 

Instructor Biography: 

Dr. Sokolov is a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy and a Stephen E. Harris Professor of Quantum Optics at the Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University. Sokolov’s foundational work on molecular coherence preparation and usage has evolved to enable sensitive detection of bio-molecules. This work has been recognized by a number of prestigious awards, including the Lomb Medal (OSA), the Hyer Award (APS) and the Lamb Prize (PQE). Sokolov’s research interests include temporal and spatial laser field shaping, studies of ultrafast molecular processes, and applications of plasmonic nanostructures in quantum sensing.