Quantum enhanced bioimaging and sensing for bioenergy

Statement of the problem or situation that is being addressed: Critical to the development of biofuels is understanding the chemical and physical environments within individual plant cell or organelles as well as cellular interactions with its environment. The ability to track the chemical exchanges between plant cells and microbial communities in environmental settings could improve the efficiency of microbial conversion of plant-based biomass into biofuels or help identify metabolic bottlenecks where biofuel and biofuel precursors are produced directly in the crop. Statement of how this problem or situation is being addressed: In this SBIR/STTR, we will develop a new quantum enhanced Raman-based microscopy technique that will improve sensitivity over existing stimulated Raman microscopy techniques and use this technique to perform detection of biofuels, biofuel precursors, or other metabolically important chemical compounds in plant and microbial systems non-destructively. What is to be done in Phase I?: In Phase I, we will develop and test our proposed technique for quantum enhanced coherent Raman microscopy. Improvements will be examined, and we will detect test samples to demonstrate the level of quantum enhancement. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Our improved, quantum enhanced, coherent Raman microscopy instrument will significantly transform the microscopy market with cell biology, biomedical, energy materials, bioenergy, and environmental science applications. Improvements will have applications in medicine, Homeland Security, and nano- and meta-materials.