Quantum sensing goes bio

Vibhas Chugh, Adreeja Basu, Ajeet Kumar Kaushik +1 more

The 5th/6th generation bio-sensing technology is an emerging field which connects smart technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Machine Learning with efficient micro/nano-enabled sensing platform for making point-of-care (POC) devices to investigate health management strategies. Recently, the integration and interfacing between quantum measurement, signaling, and optimized bio-actives has led to investigate the minute biological events with anomalous sensitivity. Such technologies are expected to provide the possibility to measure and record changes at quantum scales with varying pressure, temperature, and electromagnetic fields. Considering current scenarios, this perspective critically highlights state-of-art quantum sensing technology along with their challenges and prospects.

Lincoln D. Carr

Julian Haas, Mario Schwartz, Ulrich Rengstl +3 more

Modern quantum technology currently experiences extensive advances in applicability in communications, cryptography, computing, metrology and lithography. Harnessing this technology platform for chem/bio sensing scenarios is an appealing opportunity enabling ultra-sensitive detection schemes. This is further facilliated by the progress in fabrication, miniaturization and integration of visible and infrared quantum photonics. Especially, the combination of efficient single-photon sources together with waveguiding/sensing structures, serving as active optical transducer, as well as advanced detector materials is promising integrated quantum photonic chem/bio sensors. Besides the intrinsic molecular selectivity and non-destructive character of visible and infrared light based sensing schemes, chem/bio sensors taking advantage of non-classical light sources promise sensitivities beyond the standard quantum limit. In the present review, recent achievements towards on-chip chem/bio quantum photonic sensing platforms based on N00N states are discussed along with appropriate recognition chemistries, facilitating the detection of relevant (bio)analytes at ultra-trace concentration levels. After evaluating recent developments in this field, a perspective for a potentially promising sensor testbed is discussed for reaching integrated quantum sensing with two fiber-coupled GaAs chips together with semiconductor quantum dots serving as single-photon sources.

Ning Wang

Magnetic nanoparticles have wide applications in various fields, e.g., magnetic recording in information science, magnetic resonance imaging, and magnetic therapy in bio-medicine. In this chapter, we will review recent applications of magnetic nanoparticles or magnetic complexes in the cutting-edge field of quantum sensing, especially in hybrid quantum sensing. Quantum sensing is a quantum technology for ultrasensitive detection, which is particularly useful for sensing weak signals at the nanoscale. The quantum systems that offer unprecedented sensitivity, resolution, and/or flexibility include superconducting qubits, defect centers in solids, atomic vapors, cold atoms, and so on. Usually, they have spin properties and possess excellent magnetic-field sensitivity; but they are insensitive to temperature, electric field, pressure, etc., and even immune to some bio-parameters (e.g., pH and glucose concentration). Recently, hybrid quantum sensing has offered new possibilities. By converting the insensitive or immune parameters into magnetic signals, the range of detectable parameters of quantum sensing can be broadened significantly. In this chapter, we first give a brief introduction to diamond quantum sensing, then review the applications of magnetic nanoparticles or magnetic complexes in diamond quantum sensing and nano-magnetism, and finally, discuss the potential applications and challenges for hybrid diamond quantum sensing.

Manijeh Razeghi, Gail J. Brown