Development of a novel fluorescence lifetime measurement method using entangled photon pairs

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K15237
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 32010:Fundamental physical chemistry-related
• Research Institution: Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: Matsuzaki Korenobu 国立研究開発法人理化学研究所, 開拓研究本部, 研究員 (70830165)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 量子もつれ光 / 蛍光寿命 / イメージング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Fluorescence lifetime measurement, which evaluates how long it takes for a molecule to emit fluorescence, is a unique method that gives us insight into the local environment surrounding a molecule. To perform fluorescence lifetime measurements, it is necessary to excite a molecule at a well-defined instant. For this reason, a pulsed laser is typically utilized as a light source for those measurements. In contrast, we propose in this study that the same measurements can also be performed by exploiting the temporal correlation among the photons in entangled photon pairs. To realize this concept, we constructed a new experimental setup that allows us to perform fluorescence lifetime measurements using entangled photon pairs as the light source. We demonstrated that it is indeed possible to perform a fluorescence lifetime measurement and its extension, fluorescence lifetime imaging, based on the new measurement principle proposed in this study.

Free Research Field

物理化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

量子もつれ光に代表される量子光は、古典電磁気学では記述することのできない特殊な状態の光であり、これまで分光測定にはほとんど用いられてこなかった新規光源である。このような新規光源は、従来の常識を覆すような新しい測定を実現できる可能性を秘めている。本研究では量子もつれ光を用いることにより蛍光寿命測定という時間分解測定を実現したが、これはまさに「時間分解測定にはパルスレーザーが必要である」という従来の常識を覆すものであり、学術的に興味深い成果である。